Hyungkoo Lee (b. 1969, lives and works in Anyang, Korea) has always focused on the human form and creates figures by amplifying and distorting it. He creates various works that visualize physiological movements in sculptural form. He is widely known for the 'ANIMATUS' series he started in 2005 which are three-dimensional skeletal images of anthropomorphized two-dimensional cartoon characters that have been analyzed anatomically.
Read MoreOther notable works include; 'The Objectuals' series (1999–) where he made devices for transformation such as a transparent helmet with convex lenses (Helmet 1, 2, and 3, 1999–2000) and a transparent gauntlet filled with water (A Device that Makes My Hand Bigger, 1999), 'Eye Trace' series (2010–), where he made devices that investigated and enabled the user to experience the visual and cognitive mechanisms of insects and animals, and Measure (2014) where he performed dressage wearing the Instrument 01 (2014) which visualizes equine hind legs that move along with the performer's movements.
Hyungkoo Lee graduated with a BFA in sculpture from Hongik University in 1998 and a MFA in sculpture from Yale University in 2002. He represented the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007 and held solo exhibitions at Gorky Park (organized by the Polytechnic Museum), Moscow in 2015, the Naturhistoriches Museum Basel in 2008, and Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul in 2004. He participated in multiple exhibitions at leading institutions, including Royal Academy of Art, London (2015, 2008), Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2010), Haunch of Venison, London (2009), Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris (2008), and Fondazione Sandretto re Rabaudengo, Turin (2006).
Text courtesy P21.