Lee Bae—Syzygy

Lee Bae's work honors the rituals and traditions of Korean folk culture and craft. While he uses wood, fire, and Hanji (Korean Mulberry paper) to produce sculptures, installations, drawings, and assemblages, his main medium is charcoal. The artist employs it as a transformational material, drawn from the elements and history of Korea, imbued with a rich aggregate of personal, cultural and spiritual associations. Lee Bae transforms charcoal into large-scale sculptures, assembled as wall-mounted surfaces akin to paintings, turned into ink that captures the physicality of the artist’s brush work.