Jiyen LeeStain-Rainbow Forest 5
Current Exhibition
Domgasse 6
1010 Vienna
21 May – 28 Jun 2025
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We are delighted to present Jiyen Lee's first solo exhibition at the gallery. Under the title Stain-Rainbow Forest 5, current sculptures and objects by the Korean artist will be on display. “We may appear to shine alone, but our light exists only in the reflection of another”: Jiyen Lee uses this metaphorical expression to describe the essence of her series entitled Stain-Rainbow Forest. It is a notion that is as philosophical as it is poetic. Lee approaches this existential conception artistically through her installations, sculptures, and photo collages, which incorporate scientific and spiritual perspectives. In the exhibition, the artist reflects on how the accumulation of small fragments can reveal larger, universal narratives. For her installation of spatial objects, Lee has utilized technologies such as nano-pattern replication, 3D printing, and algorithms to experiment with fluid and transformable forms in contrast to traditional sculpture, which emphasizes material weight and permanence. In this process, she has been collaborating with a physicist to learn nano-pattern replication technology, and she has adopted the method of manually transferring nano- structures imprinted on semiconductor wafers onto film as a form of artistic expression. At the center of the presentation is a room-filling, yet ephemeral sculpture that is influenced by the environment in which it is installed as well as the light situation, with the concept of time serving as a crucial axis. Here, Jiyen Lee discovered a connection relating to her work between the observer effect in quantum mechanics and the principles of Buddhism. Just as the state of an object changes through the act of observation in quantum mechanics, the spectrum of light in the Stain-Rainbow Forest varies depending on the observer and the surrounding environment. Buddhism posits that all beings are interdependent, and they derive meaning only through their relationships – an idea that aligns with this work, as it is not a fixed entity, but rather an ever-changing existence intertwined with light, space, and human perception. The phenomenon of light is not an objective reality, but the truth of the moment revealed through interaction with the observer. The sculptures from the Stain-Rainbow Forest series, which remains unfixed and continuously open to transformation, generate structures that evolve and expand via relationships. Through this exploration, Jiyen Lee seeks to reimagine sculpture not as a rigid, static material, but as an evolving entity that organically transforms in response to time and its environment. JIYEN LEE, born 1979 in Korea, lives and works in Seoul. She studied Fine Arts at the Goldsmith University in London and Sculpture at the Hongik University in Seoul. Lee received several awards, among them the Seokju Selection Prize of the Seokju Cultural Foundation, Korea (2024) and the Sovereign Asian Art prize of the Sovereign Art Foundation Hong Kong (2014-2015). Solo exhibitions (selection): Art Sonje Center, 1F Project Space, Seoul (2022); Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Project Gallery, Ansan (2018); Interaction Seoul, Seoul (2017); MakeShop Art Space, Paju (2015); Space K, Daegu (2013); and salon de H, Seoul (2011). Group exhibitions (selection): Noor Riyadh Light Art Festival, JAX District, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2024); Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul (2023); Artience Daejeon, artist’ house, Daejeon Culture and Arts Foundation, Daejeon, (2021); Gyeonggi Creative Center, Ansan (2018); Le Tripostal Museum (Lille (2015); Espace Louis Vuitton, Hong Kong (2012); and SOKA Art Center, Beijing (2010).
Photo
- Markus Wörgötter
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