Artist Lee Jin Woo
Year: 2019
Medium: Charcoal and Hanji paper
Dimensions: 37.5H x 50.75W in
Original Artwork Price: $45,000
The artist believes in constant training and repetitive practice not concept. Through a daily practice he demonstrates the role of an artist in society, as a labor practice and as a meditative understanding. "Art has the role of evoking the meaning of human existence. Humans true dignity can be revealed through art. We observe and appreciate art in its completed form. However, art is about the trajectory of an artists life. Artists share this journey of creating inspired by their life and their attitude towards life as a whole is revealed through their artwork." -Lee Jin Woo
He creates artworks of such depth by randomly placing charcoal on acrylic-covered linen, covering the surface with hanji, which he then scapes off with a metal brush. The traditional korean materials of hanji and charcoal mix and lump up together, adding both weight and depth to the work. Dragged with force by a metallic brush, the artist subtracts from the built up surface through a strenuous and repetitive movement.
On the surface, it creates rough and steep reliefs referring to a possible interior landscape. It is this process of subtraction of charcoal and its spirit of alchemy that drives Lee Jin Woo’s work into silence: A silence that transforms the “object” into abstraction. For Lee Jin Woo the artistic discipline is not a purpose in itself, but a channel of meditation where he develops his work in long periods of development, becoming a philosophy of life.
