Lee inseob_Artcentral - Suppoment Gallery Announces Lee Inseob’s Participation i
Suppoment Gallery / 2025-03-06
Suppoment Gallery is proud to announce that Lee Inseob (b. 1952, Busan) has been selected as one of six pioneering artists featured in the inaugural Legend section at Art Central Hong Kong 2025. Curated by Enoch Cheng, this special program highlights artists whose groundbreaking contributions have shaped contemporary art in the Asia-Pacific and continue to inspire new generations. The fair’s tenth edition will take place from March 26?30, 2025, at Central Harbourfront, Hong Kong, with a VIP preview on March 25.
An Artist Who Paints Time
For over five decades, Lee Inseob has explored the themes of time, transformation, and rebirth, establishing himself as a pivotal figure in contemporary Korean art. His practice extends beyond traditional painting, transforming the canvas into a space where nature, human experience, and the passage of time converge. At Art Central Hong Kong, he will present 15 new works alongside his large-scale installation, Accumulation; Metamorphosis (적(積); 탈피(脫皮))?a poetic meditation on time’s relentless accumulation and the cycles of change.
A Journey of Observations and Transformation
Lee’s artistic journey began in the 1970s, shaped by influences from American Abstract Expressionism and Dansaekhwa, Korea’s avant-garde movement. While his early works engaged with monochromatic materiality, he quickly departed from this approach, forging his own path that deeply engaged with the rhythms of nature.
By the 1990s, he gained critical recognition for his Land of Prophecy (묵시의 땅) series, where he used charcoal and raw textures to create meditative surfaces that embodied both presence and absence.
In the early 2000s, Lee embarked on an extended period of exploration in Eoseongjeon, an eastern Korean village where he immersed himself in the shifting landscapes and seasonal transitions. His experiences in this environment led to the development of his Observations on Eoseongjeon series, where he experimented with new materials, gestural abstraction, and the interplay between natural cycles and artistic expression. This phase was not merely a transition but a pivotal recalibration, laying the foundation for the expansive, immersive works that define his practice today.
Painting as Performance, Time as a Medium
Lee’s From Nature: Accumulation; Metamorphosis series represents the culmination of these inquiries. Working on hand-stretched burlap, he paints with a 1.5-meter-long custom brush, engaging his entire body in the act of mark-making. His process is a physical dialogue with time itself, as each layer of pigment, ash, and texture records the rhythm of movement, change, and endurance.
Gold leaf, a recurring element in his recent works, further amplifies these ideas?its delicate brilliance symbolizing both the fragility and persistence of existence.
At the heart of his Art Central presentation is a weathered door, a motif that appears throughout his work. More than a simple object, it serves as a threshold?a portal between past and future, memory and transformation. Viewers are invited to step into this liminal space, reflecting on their own journeys through time.
Lee Inseob’s Place in Contemporary Art
Lee Inseob has held solo exhibitions at major institutions such as Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul Arts Center, and Danglim Museum, solidifying his role as a leading figure in Korean contemporary art. His works have also been widely exhibited at international art fairs and biennales, bridging Korean aesthetics with global conversations.
His practice weaves together influences from Dansaekhwa’s meditative materiality, Abstract Expressionism’s raw energy, and Arte Povera’s embrace of organic materials, while deeply engaging with the cycles of nature. Rather than merely depicting time, Lee materializes it, crafting works that embody the rhythm of change and impermanence.
> “What traces has time left on your life? And how have those traces shaped you?” ? Lee Inseob
Suppoment Gallery is honored to present Lee Inseob’s visionary work at Art Central Hong Kong 2025, inviting visitors to experience the poetic weight of time and transformation.
For more information, visit gallerysuppoment.com.
