source: ionawhittaker
For Lee Yong-Baek’s latest solo show, the atrium of Pin Gallery has been festooned with garlands of fake flowers and models of soldiers, their bodies camouflaged in floral military gear, interrupted only by black army boots and the occasional white hand clutching a gun. Brushing through this gussied-up zone of hyperreal color, one finds Lee’s video from which it is taken—Angel Soldier_Video (all works cited, 2011)—wherein real figures, again in flower-print fatigues, perform barely discernible movements to a gentle sound track of nature noises. Elsewhere in this expansive solo show are vivid simulacral paintings of fishhooks (Plastic Fish), large sculptural installations of mannequinlike figures and their molds, a mixed-media Culture Wall of notes and political criticisms, and a room lined with the motion-sensitive works constituting Lee’s “Broken Mirror” series, wherein virtual glass (depicted on a monitor in a wooden frame) breaks violently as the viewer approaches. Thus, the assembled works lead visitors along a varied path of sensations and perceptions, from visual intrigue and shock to impressions of emptied, disorientated humanity.

Lee’s work is enjoying particular attention on the heels of its presentation in the Korean pavilion at the Venice Biennale. It is important to understand what conditions his practice, which elaborates on existential themes such as religion, the sociopolitical ego and its origins and conflicts, and the consuming nature of (virtual) reality. Lee’s mother lost her siblings and father during what the artist calls a period of “military dictatorship”—the First Republic of Korea under Syngman Rhee, who was in office from 1948 to 1960; At that time an art student, the twenty-one-year-old Lee witnessed the riots and tear gas of 1987 in Seoul. Sensing that Korea’s art at that point had fallen, in his words, into a “political, social, and educational slumber,” the artist sought to raise questions that would rouse the discipline and open up “neutral” aesthetic spaces—unfettered from ideology and beyond preexisting borders—from which to create anew. Thus illuminated, these pieces represent a unique and finely tuned response to the environment by an artist with a deep personal investment in his art’s concerns.
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source: arkoorkr
Artist Lee Yong-baek has been chosen to hold a solo presentation in the Korean Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in Italy next year, Arts Council Korea announced Friday.

Lee is best known for his single-video channel installation works but actually presents a wider range of works including sculptures, kinetic arts, paintings and performances. His pieces cover themes such as religion, politics and philosophy.

The kaleidoscopic artist earned a B.A. degree from Hongik University and a M.A. degree from The Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design in Germany, both for western paintings.

Lee Yong-baeks biggest strength is that he has a wide spectrum of works both in terms of genre and contents, based on his use of various technologies. The Venice exhibition will also introduce many genres of his works like videos, paintings, sculptures and installations, said Yun Chea-gab, the pavilion commissioner, at the press conference last week at Arts Council Korea in Hyehwa-dong, central Seoul.

Venice Art Biennale is arguably the worlds biggest art festival. The Korean Pavilion there was established in 1995 and a commissioner, who selects an artist or a group of artists to present in the pavilion, is designated every year by Arts Council Korea.

Yun, former director at the Alternative Space Loop and also former executive director of the Arario Gallery until earlier this year, was chosen as this years commissioner in August.

Lee will be showcasing upgraded versions of his existing works that gained approval at the international level through biennales and exhibitions.

I will showcase various reconstitutions of my series like Broken Mirror or Angel Soldier, taking into consideration the structure of the Korean Pavilion which has glass walls instead of being a white cube. I will fly over to Venice next week to see the space for myself, said Lee.

Angel Soldier, considered Lees representative work, consists of images and videos of soldiers decked in flower prints marching through a flower-filled space. Broken Mirror, features a mirror screened in a flat-screen TV which shatters with a loud explosive sound as soon as a viewer stands in front of it. Pieta series combines molds and cast-molded figures in forms of Jesus or Maria.

I think I am now past the age when I would be thrilled simply because I am selected to present my works at an exhibition. Venice Biennale is so powerful that it is sometimes a goal for some artists. But I am considering it a step for the future, said Lee.