GANA Art Busan will present Lee Kang Wook’s solo exhibition 《Shifting Colors》 from March 17 to April 10. This exhibition marks the artist’s first solo presentation in Busan and features approximately 40 works from the ‘The Gesture’ and ‘Invisible Space’ series.

Lee Kang Wook’s practice begins with contemplation and inquiry into the concept of the ‘self.’ While searching for clues that might define his own existence, the artist turned to biology, and through the observation of cells under a microscope, he entered the microscopic realm. From this minuscule scale of existence, he discovered a new dimension called ‘space,’ coming to realize that the microcosmic and the macrocosmic are fundamentally interconnected.

The artist presents a spectrum of colors that constantly transform alongside geometric forms generated by the traces of his own performative actions. What deserves particular attention here is the notion of ‘layer.’ On a pristine white canvas, where the beauty of empty space is pronounced, the artist applies a single color, then creates a semi-transparent layer atop it using white paint.

For the artist, the flat surface of the canvas is perceived as a volumetric space in which infinite cellular expansion unfolds through color. Within this space, he visualizes the complex and multifaceted emotions of human beings as ever-shifting chromatic phenomena, allowing viewers to experience colors that are sensed differently according to their own emotional states.
 
Just as the principles of the universe reside within a single human being, Lee Kang Wook’s abstract paintings—endowed with a free yet disciplined order of form—contain restrained insights and contemplations directed toward the self.

Ultimately, the artist hopes that his works may serve as a medium through which people living in the contemporary moment can come to understand and reflect upon themselves in their own ways. Through this, he wishes for viewers to gaze into the universe within themselves and, in doing so, to take time to contemplate our existence within that universe.

References

• 《변화하는 색 (Shifting Colors)》