The Page Gallery presents the works of Eunsil Lee, Jinn Bronwen Lee, Hyunwoo Lee, and Jin Han, who are active both in Korea and internationally. The exhibition title, The Weird and the Eerie, is derived from Mark Fisher's 2016 cultural critique essay of the same name. Fisher defines 'the weird' as the anxiety from encountering the inexplicable and 'the eerie' as the discomfort and ambiguity when the familiar becomes strange. Both concepts are connected to the external world and act as portals to deeper truths about the human condition. The exhibition features works that confront the inexplicable, embrace the unfamiliar, and engage with the ambiguity that disrupts our cultural landscape.
Eunsil Lee explores a society where instincts and desires are taboo and concealed through the use of traditional Korean painting materials and techniques. Lee metaphorically represents the fragmentation of individuals and the disintegration of family or social communities in an oppressive society through twisted spaces, parts of bodies or organs, and exaggerated and distorted animal forms. The artist explores points of conflict and contradiction, attempting to rethink society through suggestive images.
Jinn Bronwen Lee's oil paintings on irregularly shaped elliptical or arched canvases filled with dark colours and textures are a response to various aspects of the external world, from music to physical experiences. For the artist, who believes balance can only be found through deviation and decomposition, painting is a vessel, in which existential processes are accommodated and fermented. The artist describes her process of approaching the unknown and embracing uncertainty as 'flipping over stones in a swampy forest' to see what she might find.
Hyunwoo Lee discovers new aesthetic value in isolated parts of natural objects, such as a turtle's shell or a rhinoceros beetle's head, viewing them as independent visual entities. He repeatedly deconstructs, combines, and overlays these parts with other materials, thereby eliminating conventional values and standards and horizontally positioning them as forms of matter. By reversing established causality and plausibility, he explores the essence of existence through a visual experience that redefines the perception of objects
Jin Han attempts to visualise states that are not visible to the naked eye through meticulous drawings and multi-layered oil paintings. For the artist, 'sound', which is sensed when time and physical space collide and waves undulate, is a crucial element. Jin Han uses her unique sound waves to scan the unseen cracks and surfaces of the world. The canvases, filled with roughness and smoothness, regularity and irregularity, may appear strange and abstract, but the artist asserts that a clear subject is present.
Since its inception in Seoul Forest in 2011, Page Gallery has established itself as a hub that mediates the development of the contemporary Korean art scene and introduces cutting-edge international art to the Korean audience. The gallery represents not only many top Korean Artists, including Choi Myoung Young, founding member of the Dansaekhwa group, IM Heung-Soon, Silver Lion winner of the 2015 Venice Biennale, and Yeesookyung, recognised worldwide for her 'Translated Vase' sculptures but also international artist such as a Turner Prize nominee Nathan Coley. The gallery endeavours to challenge viewers with unfamiliar visual practices and engage with museums and institutional organisations to promote these artists and their thought-provoking practices. Page Gallery aspires to contribute and communicate with the audience as a cultural and artistic venue for sharing ideas and elevating the Korean art scene.
