Artist: Eunu Lee
Works at: Seoul Art Space_GeumCheon
Stays in: 2012
Genre: Visual Arts
Profile:
Education
2008 MFA in Visual Art, School of Visual Arts, Korea National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea
2005 BFA in Visual Art, School of Visual Arts, Korea National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea
Solo Shows
2012 “I know, I know, But...”, Seoul Art Space_Hongeun, Seoul, Korea
2009 “Event Horizon”, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul, Korea
Selected Group Shows
2012
“Unfinished Journey”, CAIS Gallery, Seoul, Korea
“Play Time”,Culture Station Seoul 294, Seoul, Korea
“Open Index”, Art Sonje Center Lounge, Seoul, Korea
2011
“Map of Thought”, K-arts Gallery, Seoul, Korea
“Buy One Get One Free”, Shinsegae Gallery, Seoul, Korea
“EMAP 2011: The Techne-Space”, Ewha Women University, Seoul, Korea
“Uncountable Collection”, Sangsangmadang Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2010
“Milk & Honey”, K-arts Gallery, Seoul, Korea
“Dual Mirage Part 2 / Tourists Dream”, Iniva, London, UK
“Intuition”, Gallery Hakgojae, Seoul, Korea
2009
“Novel 01: in search of Junho Lee”, Takeout Drawing, Seoul, Korea
“Que Sera Sera”, the room (Total Museum of Contemporary Art), Seoul, Korea
2008
“Everyday is not the Same”, Gallery 175, Seoul, Korea
“Everyday is not the Same”, Biz-art Center, Shanghai, China “Society for Artistic Publication”, Gallery Factory, Seoul, Korea
“Everyday Art”, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2007
“Makto Iyagi”, Alternative Space Pool, Seoul, Korea
“People Don’t Even Know What They Have in Their house”, Gallery 175, Seoul, Korea
2006
“Somewhere in Time”, Artsonje Center, Seoul, Korea
“Deceive”, Gallery 175, Seoul, Korea 2005
“The Story of Love House”, Supplement Space Stone and Water, Anyang, Korea
“Suksoo Art Project”, Supplement Space Stone and Water, Anyang, Korea
Residencies
2013 Bundanon Trust, West Camberwarra, Australia
2012 Seoul Art Space_Geumchon, Seoul, Korea
Seoul Art Space_Hongeun, Seoul, Korea
2008 Anguk Residency Program, Seoul, Korea
Artistic Publications
“300,000,000 KRW, Korea, 2010”, Mediabus, Seoul, Korea,2010
“National Flags: Colors and Shapes”, Self-publishing, Seoul, Korea, 2008
Publications“Everything Has Its Own List”, A-Land, Seoul, 2012
Publications“Everything Has Its Own List”, A-Land, Seoul, 2012
“Artists’ Talk”, Artbooks, Seoul, Korea, 2010
“Dual Mirage”, Seoul, Korea, 2010?“Novel 01 : footnotes without text”, roundabout, Seoul, Korea, 2009
Quarterly Graphic Magazine Magazine “Graphic”, Issue 10, Propaganda,Seoul, Korea, 2009
Quarterly Magazine “Walking Magazine”, Issue 6, Walking Magazine, Seoul, 2009
“D. T. 2”, D. T Group, Hong Design, Seoul, Korea, 2008
“SK MoMA Highlights: 350 Works from the Museum of Modern Art”, Specter Press, Seoul, Korea, 2009
Catalogues“Unfinished Journey”, CAIS Gallery, 2012
Catalogues“Unfinished Journey”, CAIS Gallery, 2012
“Buy One Get One Free”, Shinsegae Gallery, 2011
“Uncountable Collection”, Sangsang Madang Gallery, 2011
“Intuition”, Gallery Hakgojae, Seoul, Korea, 2010
“Everyday Art”, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, Korea, 2008
“Somewhere in Time”, SAMUSO, Seoul, Korea, 2007
“People Don’t Even Know What They Have in Their House”, Gallery 175, Seoul, Korea, 2006
Works:
Referential Projecst 1 & 2,plywood, lumber, tile, molding, polyurethan wheel, lighting, 250cm height, 2012Installation at Culture Station Seoul 284
Referential Projecst 1 & 2,plywood, lumber, tile, molding, polyurethan wheel, lighting, 250cm height, 2012Installation at Culture Station Seoul 284
A Being on the Referential Projects,performance, performer: Hyun-joon Chang, Min-jin Choi, 15 min, 2012
A Being on the Referential Projects,performance, performer: Hyun-joon Chang, Min-jin Choi, 15 min, 2012
A Being on the Referential Projects,
performance, performer: Hyun-joon Chang, Min-jin Choi, 15 min, 2012
Eunu Lee
A Being on the Referential Projects,
performance, performer: Hyun-joon Chang, Min-jin Choi, 15 min, 2012
Rainbow,
plywood, interior molding, tile, 97×97cm each; 4 parts, 2012
“Who Inspires Us and Instills in Us a Desire to Learn?”,
light ad balloon, sticker, 270cm diameter, 2012
Installation at Seoul Art Space_Hongeun
In Bartleby, the Scrivener,
lacquer spray on plywood, 60×120cm, 2011
Dear John, I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art
pencil on paper, 30×1100cm, 2011
Dear John, I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art
pencil on paper, 30×1100cm, 2011
Eunu Lee
Three Questions for the Artist Eunu Lee by the Curator Hong Bora
Hong Bora (Director, Gallery Factory)
Hong Bora (H): Perhaps it is because I am organizing an exhibition on the theme of mobility, I am currently interested in artist residency programs. I was able to easily discover the theme of mobility being connected to nomadism. In other words, one can see artists working while migrating like birds as the art-making environment of artist residencies have emerged. The same with exhibitions, it becomes a career experience and, for artists who do not have a studio space and although they do not afford stability, residencies become indispensable conditions enabling them to become more productive. However, even if it is mid-to-longterm, the environment of artist residencies in which artists must move every year or so must affect the artists’ work somehow. It appears that such environments would affect artists’ subject matter, themes and furthermore the ways they work and how they exhibit their works as well. What relationship has this special creative environment and work formed for you?
Eunu Lee (L): I have been artist-in-residence at a total of three studio residencies thus far, and am currently in residence at Seoul Art Space_Geumcheon. For many artists, myself included, an artist residency program offers more than just the convenience of their facilities for studio work- they also afford us the kinds of experiences we need as artists through various exchange programs (You and I first met through one of these programs as well). I believe that this “experience factor” of residency programs was particularly potent when artist residencies were first being set up in Korea. I am skeptical, however, of the present currency of the idea that ‘Nomadism’ applies to the identities of artists participating in residencies. This is because while I acknowledge that ‘Nomadism’ is already a dead word, it would also greatly contrast with the ultimate reason I take advantage of residency programs. In my own case an artist residency program provides a sense of belonging similar to that of a short-term contract job. Whether some ‘exchange’ is made between an institution and an artist in residence is abstract every time but certainly exists. In any case, there are times I must resolve unforeseen situations or problems through such ‘exchange’ relationships and in each of those cases I feel the materialization of existential issues as an artist. I believe that such existential issues stem from my own ideas of my ‘obligations as an artist’ becoming ceaselessly readjusted and expanded while the institution, external gazes, also, and I continually collide.
H: Since the visual arts (art), unlike other performance arts, is centered on a very personal work process, so it appears not to be a field of art most optimal for collaborative structures. I.e., it occurs to me that compromise/conference in the area of aesthetics may be a kind of fantasy, and perhaps therefore most cases of collaborations are very limited in their methods (i.e., collaborations in which collaborators have very limited roles and are subject to the lead artist’s orders). However, you seem to have attempted a somewhat different approach through collaborative projects with a number of designers thus far. Personally it appears that the flexibility afforded by also working in administration allows you to have such collaborations. Or it could also be your personal traits. Along with a general perspective on an artist attempting collaboration, would you tell us about the reason or significance, to you personally, of your attempts in various methods of collaboration?
L: As you have said, visual art appears to be a field of art which is laced with single artists’ arbitrary motions. There are also the preconceptions, provided by social customs, regarding ‘artistic self-consciousness.’ However, recent contemporary art is so diverse in its aspects that I would be reserved against making value judgments regarding collaboration in visual arts. However, I am quite negative regarding the aforementioned ‘ar tistic self-consciousness’ and the social conventions and preconceptions regarding it, as these appear to me to be a kind of bluff or defense mechanism, and therefore I always make an effort not to repeat after artistic ‘preaching.’ I believe collaboration to be a kind of division of labor. Therefore, there is a range of responsibilities or ‘tasks’ assigned either to myself or my collaborator in order to complete a certain job, and people are each to honestly tend to their respective responsibilities. Additionally, collaboration for me also sets specific boundaries on an artist’s unlimited freedom, which to me is still awkward and difficult to manage. Such restricted freedom provides me with psychological comfort, and activities I engage in with ‘friends’ are always enjoyable. New ideas would emerge unexpectedly during conversations with them, and I would feel a seedling of a momentary sense of achievement and satisfaction whenever that happens.
H: When I peer into your works, one by one as if browsing through them (although I unfortunately have never seen your work outside of books and in actual exhibition environments, I am learning about your artworks through your web site), it occurs to me you are taking out and showing various individual elements which have been segmented, one by one. One may call it a feeling of things which will ultimately become one but are still separated from one another. Perhaps for such reason you yourself had said you were planning a ‘studio in business form,’ I also anticipate whether the founding and running of that studio itself may be a kind of a very long-term art project. It is like elements which had been segmented thus far being ignorant of one another’s existences and finally confirming the reason for their existence, of why one another was created, when they are all gathered in this studio. Although it should still be ambiguous, nonetheless, please share about the direction in which you are slowly turning your body to advance toward. Rather than specific contents, at least of your method of approach and attitude?
L: To be clear, I wish to have a studio which is secure structurally. It is related to my situation that I always have several jobs at the same time to support myself financially. I in fact worry about how to use the time and energy given to me in the current circumstances in more efficient ways. Anyway, if such studios can serve functions as long-term art projects, I vaguely imagine whether they would not consist of how the items ‘produced’ as ‘products’ in these studios are ‘distributed,’ of an optimized new form of work in the process of such ‘ordering-manufacturingdistribution’- this entirety. ‘Distribution’ may be an entry into a typical art market, but it could also be another something in the form of a factory edition. If one may consider art to ultimately be a physical ‘object,’ then I ask myself what the conditions are which determine between objects and products and objects as works of art. I believe that the forms, functions and distribution channels of the object, certainly, and the producer’s attitude toward the objects as well, can be indispensable conditions. The rejection toward the ‘artist’s bluff, preaching’ mentioned above, and the pleasure and sense of achievement of collaborations can be in tune here as well.
A Question by the Artist Eunu Lee for the Curator Hong Bora
L: I have viewed the range of your factory edition through your factory web site, and I was greatly curious about your installation work of an edition concept you had mentioned before, but was unfortunately unable to view that piece. In any case, the condition of objects as products and objects as artworks, which I had mentioned earlier, it appears, also applies to factory editions. I am sure you are aware, but the group consisting of the market, deals and consumers is tremendously abstract while also incredibly specific, so that it is challenging for me to even make any estimates, and I believe that thoughts regarding the condition of this object and that object too may be mere naïve and idle imaginings before such a market. I expect you would always witness such conflicts while developing your factory editions, how do you make your judgments and by what standards in those instances? I expect that your predictions and results regarding the variables of the level of completeness of your goods, the prices of your products and your sales rates, etc. would always miss their mark.
H: I had undergone vicissitudes with a space-installation-style edition project earlier and realize this was not something we could deal with at our present stage, and did not even keep documentation of them. Spaceinstallation- style edition work was planned after I had listened to the opinions of several artists and seen outstanding foreign examples, etc., so recalling them now I figure I must have begun out of just wanting to show off (a form of ‘contemporary art syndrome,’ if you will). I also realized that although I am familiar with all of these words of space, installation, concept, art and edition, etc., I had not yet formed internal concepts of them. Therefore I went back to the drawing board and, while avoiding any concepts which I have not yet firmly internalized, and unlike the spatial-installation-style editions whose entire processes depend on the artist (apart from the costs), I got another start with projects in which large parts could be resolved internally at the factory without weighty expectations or pressure on the participating artists. We are developing products from small items to designer furniture, and it appears that edition work also, in the fashion of how factories organize exhibitions, will be made one by one as chance encounters and internal plans and organizing meet in the future as well.
As you have mentioned in your question, artists are naïve before the great concept of the market and also harbor many hallucinatory thoughts, hinging high hopes on even trivial things, sometimes becoming disappointed. It was as such when I was publishing the magazine Versus and it is something I repeatedly experience while doing the edition work.
