Lee Yong Deok's Inverted Sculpture: Criticism on the Index
Chung Yeon Shim (Professor of Art History and Theory, Hongik University)
Lee Yong Deok established a distinct experimental field in the history of Korean contemporary art by pioneering what he termed "Inverted Sculpture." This innovative approach has been the subject of numerous critical texts by leading art critics. While his innovative approach has been the subject of numerous critical texts by leading art critics, there remains a noticeable lack of discussion on the physical properties of negative space (concave forms), the role of photography in his creative process, and the concept of the index that closely aligns with his practice.
Beginning in 1984-85, Lee participated in the Hyun-Sang Jeon (現像展, Present-Image exhibition) alongside sculptors such as Kim Youngwon, engaging in experimental sculptural practices that broke away from the dominant modernist and abstract traditions in Korean sculpture at the time. This period was marked by intense debates within the art world over modernism and minjung art, as well as the introduction of postmodern art into Korea. However, Lee found neither the aesthetic ideals of modernism nor the minjung art advocated by the art collective Reality and Utterance offered the answers he was seeking in his pursuit of a new sculptural language.
Lee Yong Deok's work underwent significant transformations, particularly influenced by his period of study in Germany during the 1990s. His early works, produced before his time abroad, focused primarily on explorations of the human figure through artistic transformation.[1]After returning to Korea, his first solo exhibition featured installation elements that were far more prominent than in his earlier works, although the human body remained a central theme in his practice. Key concepts and processes that later became integral to his work were already evident in his late 1980s sculptures,[2] such as meditation in autumn, from the ground, and driving a stake into the sky, as well as in drawings like wake up (1986) and the threshold (1996). For instance, the figure on the right in meditation in autumn shows a planar approach in both its pedestal and human form, in contrast to the two figures on the left. Similarly, in Driving a Stake into the Sky, the figure that appears to take flight conveys a dynamic sense of upward motion. The surrealist imagery in wake up depicts a human figure emerging from a sculptural mass, while the autobiographical drawing the threshold portrays humanity in a liminal state. Together, these works exemplify Lee's distinctive exploration of boundary-crossing themes, such as here and there, relief and concave forms, and the interplay between two-dimensional and three-dimensional space. Such exploration of ambivalence and multidimensionality is also evident in sculptures like mirroring (1995, 240x40x120 cm, dyed plaster, wood), where reflective or opposing forms mirror each other or face one another, creating a pairing or a double.
As a spatial art form, sculpture inherently constrains temporal qualities. However, Lee's work reveals these constraints through flatness and abstract formalism, presenting "art as a process." One of the most intriguing passages from the artist's notes encapsulates his critical process of observing objects, drawing them, and transforming them into memory through the medium of sculpture: "... A window hollowed by darkness came into view, holding clouds from the high sky within. The 'eye I draw' could never fully satisfy these mysterious memories. Thus, I repeatedly drew, observing and returning to the act of 'drawing the eye.' Since then, everything I saw seeped into my memory, allowing me to revisit it whenever I wished to see it again."[3]
The human body functioned as the most fundamental "window" and "field" through which the world is perceived, underscoring the need for the introduction of a third entity-a new dimension that is perceptible yet beyond conscious recognition. Although his early sculptures were not yet identified as "Inverted Sculpture," they embodied both a new form and new content. These two aspects supported and mediated one another, forming an intermediary space. At the core of Inverted Sculpture were the human body and this elusive third entity, with the earliest works in this mode emerging in 1983.
An interview with the artist reveals that Lee Yong Deok's Inverted Sculptures are uniquely mediated by photography, with the human body playing a central role. In the early 20th century, abstract styles dominated the sculptural landscape. Although sculpture expanded into site-specific and non-site-specific installation art during the postmodern era, the human body never entirely disappeared. Still, within postmodernism, conceptual installation art, and contemporary sculpture (or sculptural installations), the human body was often dismissed as a relic of tradition or reinterpreted in new ways to challenge conventional forms. The works of Maurizio Cattelan, Jeff Koons, and Duane Hanson prominently feature the human figure, but their approach often involves subverting modernist sculpture, satirizing contemporary society, or representing consumer culture through pop icons or hyperrealistic contexts. In contrast, Lee Yong Deok's use of the human figure-or his Inverted Sculptures-speaks an entirely different language. Instead of focusing on the volume and mass of sculpture, his work emphasizes negative space, creating a new sculptural vocabulary.
The negative space in Lee's sculptures resonates with the broader currents of contemporary sculpture, where individual artists explore distinct themes and content. Notably, Anish Kapoor's uncanny sculptures from the 1970s and 1980s exemplify this approach. By carving holes or creating cracks in walls and floors, Kapoor evoked a sense of unfamiliarity and the uncanny in his audience. Similarly, Michael Heizer, a land artist with a background in English literature and sculpture, developed a new grammar of negative space through acts of excavation in nature and the earth. Concepts such as “dual negation” and “de-pression” exemplify this grammar, as he envisioned and constructed new kinds of cities in the remote wilderness of the United States. However, both Kapoor and Heizer's practices remain deeply rooted in the act of sculpting itself.
Unlike these artists, Lee Yong Deok's Inverted Sculptures — though not photographs themselves — incorporate elements that intersect with photographic acts and characteristics. In an interview, Lee expressed his fascination with the "moment" and its capacity to absorb everything.[4]
He articulated a desire to capture, through sculpture or Inverted Sculpture, the memory of a moment when disparate elements-fluttering fabric, the condition of cloth, the blowing wind-converge in a single instant. His work ultimately reveals how these elements coexist within the interstitial space and temporality of memory, tethered to present reality, the act of releasing the camera shutter, and the conditions that frame this process. The temporality of Inverted Sculpture thus resides in the threshold between past and present. More precisely, it refers to the interval between the present moment and what Roland Barthes described as the moment a photograph is taken, transitioning into the present participle—it-has-been(ça-a-été, noème). (While the Korean language lacks the concept of the present participle, this temporality could be considered part of the past.) Lee's early participation in the Hyun-Sang exhibition may also reflect his attraction not to the literal phenomena of objects but to the group's exploration of alternative temporalities and spatialities within objects.
Lee Yong Deok's Inverted Sculptures are realized through a process involving the photographing of an object, close study of the resulting image, and an iterative navigation across multiple dimensions. This methodology enables the artist to investigate the temporal, spatial, and material conditions surrounding the object from various vantage points, ultimately shaping the negative space that constitutes the concave form. Were the artist to remain stationary and engage from a fixed perspective, he would be unable to access the multidimensional depths intrinsic to the object. As a result, his viewpoint, position, and bodily posture shift continuously throughout the process. Through this gradual transformation, the material form dissolves—its surface receding to reveal a negative space—leaving behind an empty volume. This transformation parallels the visual experience of viewing tonal contrasts on analog film negatives, evoking the temporality and memory embedded in once-material objects.
Unlike painting or (traditional) sculpture, photography is the medium most closely associated with our past memories. It is particularly intriguing that Lee Yong Deok's process of creating Inverted Sculptures parallels the act of taking photographs. His Inverted Sculptures navigate the boundaries between two- and three-dimensional forms, the inside and outside of sculpture, and negative and positive space, ultimately creating a gap between reality and memory-what Lee describes as the "moment" or the "threshold" that his work seeks to capture. This "threshold" represents a simultaneity of time and space that only Inverted Sculpture can achieve-a quality not easily discernible in reality. It does not reflect an eternal or immortal time but instead embodies a fleeting, transient nature. As the artist explains, it is an expression of "yin and yang" and "form is emptiness (色即是空)," encapsulating the ambivalent qualities of both materiality and immateriality. Lee's Inverted Sculptures, therefore, reflect a parallel between the immaterial process of taking a photograph and the material process of developing or printing it. This interplay is evident not only in his Inverted Sculptures but also in his installation work kl.k.7d.24.10.1920 berlin (1995, terra-cotta, plaster, 33 pieces, each 65×55×150cm), created during his time in Berlin. This installation incorporates a series of human figure sculptures that reference an actual photograph taken on October 24, 1920. Lee himself describes this project as follows:
The starting point of this work became a pivotal moment in shaping the overarching concept of my practice. One weekend at a flea market in Berlin, I stumbled upon an old class photograph of a group of elementary school boys. On the back of the photograph was inscribed "kl.k.7d. 24.10.1920., berlin," indicating the date, location, and subject of the image. My encounter with this photograph was not born out of any particular connection or causality-it was entirely coincidental. Yet, I was profoundly struck by the boys in the image, and I found myself completely captivated by it.[5]
When examining the processes behind Inverted Sculpture and photography, it becomes evident that both mediums are closely connected to the concept of indexicality as proposed by Charles Sanders Peirce. Peirce defined the "index" as a type of sign that directly points to its referent, much like how the presence of smoke indicates fire, or how footprints, fingerprints, and X-ray images provide evidence of a person's identity. Indexicality is directly tied to the identity of an actual object or its physical trace, enabling one to trace the moment when it once existed, even in its absence. Though seemingly absent, these traces attest to the object's former presence. Art historian Rosalind Krauss argued that Marcel Duchamp was the first artist to incorporate indexicality into his works in modern art. In her essay, Notes on the Index: Seventies Art in America, Krauss describes Duchamp's Tu m'(1918) as a "panorama of the index."[6]
The indexical "moment" that Lee Yong Deok's Inverted Sculptures seek to capture aligns with the concept of inframince, articulated in 46 notes written by Marcel Duchamp between 1912 and his death in 1968 (now housed at the Centre Pompidou). Duchamp described inframinceas an undefinable, subtle, or imperceptible quality that exists only through examples. Paul Matisse, interpreting Duchamp's archives, explained that inframince refers to "the warmth of a seat (which has just been left)," the whistling sound produced as velvet trousers brush together while walking, two objects cast from the same mold, or reflections from mirrors or glass. Duchamp's inframince exists momentarily and fleetingly—ultra-thin in its presence—and is not easily perceived by the naked eye. Lee's inframince, in turn, manifests as an indexical panorama, taking shape as Inverted Sculptures. The leisurely strollers, brisk walkers, and everyday objects featured in his works serve as subjects through which he expresses the delicate, fleeting moments of inframince in sculptural form. The emphasis on movement in his works stems from this very principle, as demonstrated in dancing 085181 and going 085181, both created in 2008, and further developed in the extensive synchronicityseries produced throughout 2009. These works stand as sculptural records of such ephemeral moments.
Lee Yong Deok has moved away from the eternal and immortal symbolism traditionally associated with human figure sculpture in art history. Instead, he focuses on creating transitional spaces that are ephemeral, empty, or filled. From this perspective, the threshold can be seen as a representation of Lee standing within such a transitional space. Furthermore, his earlier experiments, such as driving a stake into the skyand from the ground, reflect his exploration of space and time, which appears to find its resolution through his Inverted Sculptures. Artists who have similarly expressed the indexical qualities of photography in sculptural works include Antony Gormley, who cast his own body to create life-size sculptures; Bruce Nauman, who cast the negative spaces beneath chairs to create Untitled (One Hundred Spaces) (1995, resin, 100 units; overall dimensions variable); and Rachel Whiteread, whose Ghost (1990, plaster and steel frame) cast the interior of a room. Lee's work can be compared to these artists, as his approach also emphasizes what lies beyond the visible form of objects.[7] At times, objects reveal more about human identity and the human/non-human divide through what Lee terms the "Inverted Image/Figure," rather than through their external appearance.
The intrigue of Lee Yong Deok's Inverted Sculptures, grounded in their indexical qualities, lies in their conceptual and visual strategies that fracture the representational logic long dominant in traditional Korean figurative and human form sculpture. Lee's central concern is with the gaps or fissures produced by these ruptures. Through the lens of indexicality, these gaps situate him in a critical dialogue with Duchamp—despite the temporal and cultural distance—rather than aligning him with his Korean contemporaries. The oscillation or tension between the representational aspects of sculpture and its indexical features functions as a conceptual and critical trajectory within his inverted sculptural practice. In contrast, artists such as Bruce Nauman and Rachel Whiteread, along with other contemporary sculptors, engage more directly with the materiality of the object itself or the specificity of the site it occupies. For instance, Duchamp's With My Tongue in My Cheek (1956, housed in the Centre Pompidou), created near the end of his life, provides a conceptual parallel to Lee's critical methodology. Viewed through Peirce's semiotics, Duchamp's work juxtaposes a profile view of a face—rooted in the mimetic logic of painting—with a plaster-cast replica of the artist's tongue, embodying its indexical characteristics. This juxtaposition creates a surreal manifestation of inframince. Similarly, Lee extends Duchamp's exploration of indexical traces, pushing these concepts further through his Inverted Sculptures and works like mirroring, culminating in his 2009 piece, oscillating bride 094181. Unlike terms such as "negative" or "dual negation," Lee prefers the term "inverted," which reflects his unique perspective on observing objects. His childhood curiosity—turning a shoe pouch inside out, observing objects illuminated by sunlight, or examining photographs—reflects his enduring fascination with the subtle traces of objects or their unseen "images." It all culminates in his defining the surface of sculpture as the linear temporality of the present, while integrating the hidden attributes embedded within images through a photographic process, thereby realizing his distinctive methodology.
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About the Contributor :
Chung Yeon Shim is a professor in the Department of Art History and Theory at Hongik University and holds a PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, She previously taught as an assistant professor in the Department of Art History at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY. In 2000 Chung served as a researcher for the Nam June Paik retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and in 2018-19 she was a Fulbright fellow and a visiting research professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU.
She is currently researching the intersection of Korean Dansaekhwa and Experimental Art for a book that is forthcoming from Phaidon in 2026.She co-authored and co-edited Korean Art from 1953: Collision, Innovation, Interaction (Phaidon, 2020). Chung served as co-curator of the 2018 Gwangju Biennale. Her major publications include Korean Installation Art (2018) and Contemporary Space and Installation Art (2015). A new book on the correspondence between Kim Whanki, Kim Tschang-yeul, Park Seo-bo, and Lee Ufan was Published from Miller Publishing, New York, in 2025.
[1] Park Ilho, “A Game That Makes Us Think About Human Existence: BOTH SIDES OF EXISTENCE – Lee Yong Deok. June 10 – July 9, Moran Museum of Art,” Misul Segye, no. 188 (June 2000): 42–44.
[2] Yoon Youngseok, “[Young Artists] The Manifestation of Conceptual Everyday Life: Sculptor Lee Yong Deok,” Misul Segye, no. 49 (November 1988): 70–73.
[3] Ibid., 73.
[4] Interview with Lee Yong Deok, February 26, 2024.
[5] “Interview: Lee Yong Deok in Conversation with Biljana Ciric,” in Lee Yong Deok: Exhibition Catalogue (Seoul: Pyo Gallery, 2009), 91.
[6] Rosalind Krauss, “Note on the Index: Seventies Art in America,” October3 (Spring 1977): 68–81.
[7] For a similar comparison, see Kate Lim, “Narrative of the Inverted Existence.”