LEE SEA HYUN
b. 1967, South KoreaLee Sea Hyun lives and works in Seoul. Lee Sea Hyun’s paintings are epic depictions ofKorea’s mountainous terrains, rendered in a visual style reminiscent of traditional ink throughmonochromatic washes of paint.
The tranquility that his landscapes conjure belie the fact thatthey depict the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) cutting across the Korean Peninsula. Lee uses thesepaintings to contemplate his own national identity and the profound sense of loss that hasalways punctuated his experience as a South Korean citizen.
His works approach the NorthSouth border with two main ideas, utopia and melancholy, and are fuelled by a deep desire torecapture the beauty once harnessed by the expansive stretch of land that once united—instead of divided—a collective people. To quote Lee, ‘The landscape no longer exists, andso I have to paint it.’ Lee’s red-on-white realist landscapes illustrate a timeless utopia and ahuman- inflicted dystopia in equal measure.
Text courtesy The Columns Gallery.
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