Eunsae Lee captures the illogical incidents and accidents that she encounters in her surroundings, and the uncomfortable moments derived from them. The scenes detected from the Internet, media, or the everyday life, and the artist’s rebellious imagination towards these scenes become the subjects of her paintings. Compared to her earlier works, which could be seen as a metaphoric scenery about incidents, it is notable that Lee focuses on the expression of figures in her recent works presented in this exhibition. It is distinctive that the artist turns around from collecting subjects from the extensive world including all kinds of media and focuses on actual incidents that have occurred around her. Lee presents a new perspective towards the hastily objectified figures in the media. By reproducing the incidents and figures that the artist witnessed personally on the picture-screen, Lee aspires to question the images and ideas produced by the media.
Eunsae Lee bestows independence to the figures that are declared as objects. The figures placed in various situations distinctly stares and glares towards the opposite side of the picture-screen. In Staring Eyes (2018), a set of eyes are fiercely blazing in front of a vivid light-green background. The artist used a politician’s poster in which the eyes were vandalized as her subject. The figure’s eyes scorch black as if intimidatingly warning her adversary who mocked her confidence for one last time. In Come Closer (2018), a female figure, standing precariously with her bottoms stripped is exposed. Her penetratingly flashing eyes are menacing. The contour of the eyes painted with lines fleetingly passing on top of the picture-screen hollowly yet directly gazes at the reality. The female figure is the object, as well as the principal subject.
Eunsae Lee was born in Seoul, 1987. She graduated from Hongik University with a Bachelor’s degree in Painting in 2010, and received her Master’s degree in the School of Visual Art, Korea National University of Arts in 2014. She has held solo exhibitions at institutions such as Alternative Space LOOP (Seoul), Gallery 2 (Seoul), Gallery Chosun (Seoul), and more. She also participated in group exhibitions at institutions such as Art Center White Block (Paju, Korea), Amado Art Space/Lab (Seoul), Space K (Gwangju, Korea), Gallery 175 (Seoul), and more. Her works were appraised in various projects such as The 10th Unlimited Edition (2018), The Scrap (2016), Goods (2015), and more. She has been a participant of K’ARTS Studio (Seoul), and her work is included in the public collection of Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul). She is currently living and working in Seoul.