Name: 김진영(Jake Kim)

Grade: 11

School: TLCI

The Herald Insight

Title: Insight into the Old Times

What does art mean for 21st-century contemporary artists? And what is the social role
and meaning of their work? How can modern art communicate with the public, without being
limited by the conventional obsession with visual aesthetics? An exhibition, Lee Bul Beginni
ng, has broken down some of these personal questions.

Lee Bul is a world-class installation artist and performing artist. She is well known as
a proud feminist, but above all, she is known as an artist who breaks social conventional wisd
om about the performance and development of her time with a work full of experimental mat
erials and new techniques. As I started to learn about her exploratory approach and challengin
g spirit, I could not miss the opportunity to experience her work in person at the Lee Bul Begi
nning exhibition. The exhibition was like a comprehensive gift set that combines "Soft Sculpt
ure" and "Performance Documentations," which she had focused on for more than a decade e
arly in her career.

As soon as I walked into the lobby, I encountered a work called Hydra. The huge ball
oon is connected to several pumps to capture the audience's attention. Unknown bizarre figur
es are printed with a figure of a woman decorated with a variety of costumes and decorations
that are in disarray, such as a geisha, a shaman and a wrestler. Most of the monuments and sta
tues were set up in honor of male figures and are made of hard materials such as metal, where
as this monument was a huge, soft balloon, which gave me a fresh feeling. Through the conve
rgent and unique images of Asian women such as dolls, geisha, shaman and female wrestlers,
I thought the purpose of her works was to criticize the simple and limited view and prejudice
toward women that men had at the time of their creation. The contrast between the strong ima
ge of hydra, which does not die even if her head is cut off, and the image of a fragile balloon,
made it possible to get a glimpse inside her mind and understand her intention.
[A photograph of an exhibition/ Seoul Museum of Art]

As I passed through the lobby and entered the first exhibition room, I saw, in my opi
nion, Lee’s most impressive work. It is her Monster series that she began working on in 1988.
From the first impression to the shape and material, it looked very strange and new. This wor
k is also made of soft material — in this case fabric and cotton. At the time of its creation, Le
e Bul was skeptical about Korean art education, which was rigid and traditionally emphasized
using a limited set of materials. For an artist who has to think outside of the box and consider
various ways of expression, having to make works with only hard stones and metal must have
been a big challenge for her to overcome. It is something that many young students, including
myself, can sympathize with. Unlike the material used to create Monster, the form of this wor
k seems to represent the dark side of human nature. It looks like a deformed creature created
by being exposed to radiation, and some body parts such as the human limbs make this work
even more grotesque. The artist's intention to project a pessimistic future rather than the positi
ve potential of humankind could be clearly understood. I could not help but reflect on the pro
blems that social development and technological advancements have engendered and will con
tinue to bring in the future. Since then, her endless questions continue into the exhibition roo
m. Through more than 10 of her past performance records, she was able to capture the limitati
ons of current styles of art, preconceptions about gender, and her exploratory spirit and energ
y for new art materials and space.
[Artist Lee Bul Hydra/ Seoul Museum of Art]

Lee Bul has a special ability to deliver powerful messages to the public's eyes by sho
wing conflicting properties and values such as beauty and ugliness, hardness and softness, an
d light and darkness at the same time. Experiencing her exhibition was a valuable and thought
-provoking opportunity for me, and I was challenged to reflect deeply over her core value as
an artist and the social role of art.
[Lee Bul Beginning Information Booklet/ Seoul Museum of Art]
[ consent form for photography / Seoul Museum of Art ]