Mire Lee, Sculptor of Body Horror, Joins Sprüth Magers
Lee is part of a group show now on at the gallery. Her Hyundai Commission will go on view in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall from October 2024.
Mire Lee. Photo: Jihyun Kim. Courtesy Sprüth Magers.
German gallery Sprüth Magers today announced its representation of Korean artist Mire Lee.
Sprüth Magers, which has spaces in Berlin, London, Los Angeles and New York, will represent Lee in partnership with Tina Kim Gallery in New York and Antenna Space in Shanghai.
Lee is currently showing in Sprüth Magers' Berlin gallery in the group show territory, which runs through 27 July.
Lee is known for her use of myriad materials—including silicone, clay, and engine lubricant—to create abject works, including kinetic sculptures, that suggest viscera and bodily fluids.
Her creations have drawn inspiration from the margins of medicine and human desire, including Harlequin babies, who are born with skin hardened like a shell, and vorarephilia, the desire to eat or be eaten by another person or creature.
Speaking to Ocula in 2022, Lee said she found vorarephilia 'very romantic'.
'It's something you crave but can never get,' she said.
Lee said that her interest in the body stemmed from an early obsession with death.
'For a long time, I was terrified by the thought that I would stop existing, but as a fixation, it can get a bit much, so I decided to approach that fear and deal with it through art,' she said.
'Since then, I have been working vigorously, and it feels good.'
Lee will present a new commission inside Tate Modern's Turbine Hall from 8 October 2024 to 16 March 2025.
'We look forward to seeing how she transforms the iconic Turbine Hall with her subversive, multi-sensory forms,' said Karin Hindsbo, Director of Tate Modern. —[O]
