Mother of abstract art to display works in Guangzhou

By Kwaak Je-yup

Surrounded by canvases full of Hangeul characters, artist Lee Bo-suk sat in her studio with a proud posture, like a matriarch in a grand family portrait. She said she was confident visitors to her upcoming exhibitions in the Chinese Guangdong province will see the beauty of her works.

She will get a chance to observe the reactions herself soon, as she is invited to present her latest works at the Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou from July 8 to 26 and Dongguan Guancheng Art Museum, Dongguan, from July 27 to Sept. 1.

Painter, installation artist, curator and performing arts producer, Lee has toured the world since 1996 with her body of surrealist and abstractionist works. The two outings to Southeast China are Lee’s 26th and 27th invitational exhibitions.

Since 2000, which she calls the beginning of her “late period,” she has adopted Korean themes like Hangeul characters and erotic paintings of Joseon Kingdom (1392-1897) artist Shin Yun-bok. All works to be displayed in China have such references.

During her formative years as a student at the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, St. Petersburg, Russia, she said she was struck most by Russian abstract art painter Wassily Kandinsky, who is recognized for revolutionizing fine arts with the first purely abstract works, just using points, lines, and planes without any reference to real life.

“People call Kandinsky ‘the father of abstract art,’” said Lee. “So I told myself: I want to be the mother.”

During her mid-period of the 1990s, she said she had felt the limitations of working with Western art. She wanted to strive to achieve “something better than what (Western artists) could do.” That is when she adopted Korean themes.

With starry eyes, she recalled the definitive year of 1996, when she first used “Obang” colors, literally five directional colors consisting of yellow, blue, white, red, and black found in Three Kingdoms Period (57 BCE-668 CE) costumes.

The initial reaction to the sudden change was hostile: “One woman protested to me, ‘that’s not yours!” referring to the color choice.”By 2000, the evolution was complete; her heart was set on Hangeul characters.

Lee claims the shapes of Korean consonants and vowels are perfect subjects for abstraction. Following the Eastern philosophy of viewing a human being as “a small universe,” a microcosm, she believes that the universe is just as ingrained in the characters.

Her palette largely contains primal colors in her touring collection, but her singular focus seems to be variation. While her typographical subjects appear in virtually all of her works going to Guangzhou, there is no other motif or style that links her separate series of paintings.

“People often ask me at galleries how I can come up with such a wide variety of ideas,”said Lee, referring to her freedom, or the absence of distinguishable style. “The mysterious energy of the universe seems to lead my thoughts. I feel a certain divine power has seized me.”

She seemed carefree as she spoke, almost unconcerned by the reception of her words and works. Instead, she seemed happy to discover places unseen and be struck by new inspirations ― but with a purpose.

“I am devoting my life to spreading the beauty of Korea through my works,” she said. “I believe what is Korean is (also) global.”