Notes from the Director of The Metro Show

Korean Contemporary Aesthetic at Mindy Solomon Gallery Represented Artists in Their Own Words

Caroline Kerrigan Lerch - Monday, January 07, 2013

METRO Show newcomer Mindy Solomon Gallery (booth 305, St. Petersburg, FL) offers a selection of Korean works – both ceramic and two-dimensional pieces – showcasing a very consistent and uniquely Korean contemporary aesthetic. 

Sungyee Kim’s expressive application of paint mirrors contemporary minimalist abstract expressionism, as well as referencing the application of white slip to clay, done in the traditional buncheong style. Her complex textured surfaces are articulated through the use of a limited palette with a primary focus on white.

Kang Hyo Lee, Ree Soo-Jong, In-Chin Lee, and Lee Jung Do honor historic traditional ceramic forms and reinvent them in a contemporary platform.  In-Chin Lee uses wood-fire technique; Lee Jung Do creates buncheong inlay; Ree Soo-Jung, a senior member of the group and a highly-respected Korean artist, is the master of the brush; Kang Hyo Lee creates traditional pounchong pottery with a contemporary twist. HunChung Lee, a “Renaissance” artist working in many different forms, brings lively celadon wall paintings with brush and decal surface applications. Kang Hyo Lee's paintings featuring sumi ink on Korean paper are distinctly Asian, but evocative of Modern Abstract Expressionist works.  

We are delighted Mindy and her artists will be part of METRO this year.  We hope that you will explore the work on offer and get to know each of the artists!  Mindy Solomon Gallery, booth 305

 *** 

 

Ree Soo-Jong
Jar #2
Mindy Solomon Gallery

Ree Soo-Jong 
For me, simply the act of touching soil itself was heart throbbing work enough and freedom with unpredictable mystery. My work is through using manual kneading of soil in showing the natural and unprepared aspect of them and asks for the instant reflection for the work. Through the unification of soil and myself, I intend to loosen up the strong urge to reach the primitive essence. The refreshing fascination of nature that soil provides has been like an immortal sense of life and also a positive significance to my life.

 

Sungyee Kim
Meditation 30  Four Dots 8
Mindy Solomon Gallery

Sungyee Kim
A painting's artificial, two-dimensional surface requires pure belief in spiritual values. It opens a door to the ideal. Nature is not comprehensible. Neither is a good artwork, because it resembles nature. The incomprehensiveness of nature is the reason why all questions and communications start. We do not have any plausible answer to what life is, but we cannot stop thinking and talking about it. A good artwork can only show the endeavor to reach the answer. Rather than pursuing the trend in expression of social and political stance, five series of paintings aim to hold the mirror up to our spirit like pure, plain and tranquil water, which can reflect everything truly without self-assertion and in the taste of tastelessness. Five series of paintings incorporate the principle of I Ching with the Taoist pursuit of becoming one with material as in the Transformation of Things, the Buddhist concept of a universe in a single dust particle and the sword-polishing spirit of traditional metal-smiths.  


My images are unified as a whole but unclosed, unlimited and so, undefined. This ambiguity of structure requires active perception, which originates from a viewer's own desire but is also consistent with what I achieve. The broader and more general the image, the more it becomes a metaphor:  in the particularity of transformed material I discover commonality.   

 

Kang Hyo Lee
Buncheong Faceted Bottle with
Ash Glaze

Mindy Solomon Gallery

 

In-Chin Lee
Vessel 2
Mindy Solomon Gallery

Kang Hyo Lee
Kang Hyo Lee creates masterful works combining ancient traditions with earthly red and white clay materials from his homeland. “A true potter only speaks through vessel,” as he says. He attempts to show the right working attitude in modernizing the artistic sense and life style inherited by our forefathers to the people’s tastes of today.

In-Chin Lee
Through the great journey called life, I wish to be bold kneading soil. I crave to feel comfort in it.  I want to accept every moment of life that requires me to touch soil in the most positive way. Creating a figure involves a great deal of time and preparation process, and I wish to embrace the toil and sweat naturally. I want to believe that I am the only one who can truly feel and love all of these elements. And, I yearn to dream in this never-ending work of life.

 

Lee Jung Do
Buncheong Vase
Mindy Solomon Gallery

Lee Jung Do
I have always seen how most artists, despite of all the different fields, suffer from this obsessive conception that they need to create something new. I can’t be exempt from this reality since I am one of those artists.

I believe this kind of obsessive idea about creation first comes from the discord with one’s ego. Now I am trying to be free myself from this conflict with my “self”. This probably begins by realizing once again the need to be truly honest to oneself. My works are simply as they seem. It is rare that the result of my works would require another explanation for them because these apparent outcomes are easy for anyone to comprehend. My work is a continuing process of pursuing the complete beauty from simple and elegant appearance.

 

Hunchung Lee
Landscape
Mindy Solomon Gallery

HunChung Lee
I try to escape from the pattern of planning and following the plan, in my work because I have come to realize that forcing spectators to understand the artist’s intention and forcing artists to explain the work is a sort of intellectual violence, which blocks the flow of emotion on my heart. When I am freed from the obsession of the result of my creation, my freedom can give light to the memories in my heart so that I can re-live a spiritual journey.

 Travel is both the source and purpose of my work. Usually I travel into the past space and time of human beings through my eyes, heart and work. In these travels bring a value to my humble existence as a member of the human race and my role in the culture. The journeys are very sweet, but to taste these sweetness travelers are required to overcome the unbearable pain of chaos and the temptation of corruption, which entices the travelers in a mirage-like image. For me, the world is like a swift current, while the inside of my body is calm pond.

 I dip one foot into the swift current and the other into the calm pond.

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