Lee JinWoo李鎮雨
Lee JinWoo (b. 1959 in Seoul, Korea) is a Korean artist based in Paris, France. He graduated from Sejong University in Seoul in 1983 before moving to Paris in 1986 where he attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. Lee is part of a younger generation of Korean artists that comes after Park Seo-Bo and Lee Ufan, but is influenced by the Dansaekhwa.
Lee creates works characterized by monochromatic surfaces with unique textures. He does this by placing hanji (Korean paper) on top of charcoal and hitting it with an iron brush. This process is repeated many times to create a densely layered but fine surface. The ascetic way of Lee’s creative process and artistic expression serves as a sort of meditation. In it Lee expresses ‘something’ within himself without the intervention of his ‘mind’. This also resonates with the “repetition,” “training,” and “spirituality” features often seen in Dansaekhwa works.
