Revealing the Bi-polar Structure of “Being”
Kim Young-Ho (Art critic, art historian)
The sculptures by Lee Yong-Deok presented in this exhibition might be baffling to those viewers who are used to understanding sculptures in the conventional sense. The choice of non-traditional, everyday objects as sculptural material, or the way in which the sculpture only becomes complete by the engagement of the viewer, might both be unfamiliar aspects. Even for viewers who are well acquainted with his earlier works (prior to his leave for Germany), will require a new frame of reference to fully appreciate his more recent works. Regardless of the peculiarity of his materials, and the different expressive methods employed, his recent art works are strongly determined by the artist’s passionate quest for revealing the constitution of the “being”. What is more, the religious and philosophical questions raised by the art reach beyond the vacuum that was left behind by postmodernism and the confusion; we explore options for new theorems instead.
The main medium that Lee Yong-Deok has used for his recent works is fluorescent paint and light projectors. When the need arises, he also made use of readymade objects and materials such as chairs or plywood – not forgetting his use of photography and video projections. Additionally, his work also engages with the notion of process art, as his sculptures tend to actively engage the viewers who enter the exhibition space. The transfer of the viewer’s shadow, a result of the optical properties of fluorescent paint, is an important element in his works. It introduces notions of temporal dimensions, which in turn elicits interesting philosophical discourses. Among the six sculptural installations that are shown in this exhibition, the three pieces that are located in the exhibition spaces on the lower level are works that represent the artist’s interest in probing questions about the essence of existence and being. By following the exhibition via the route laid out by the artist, the viewer will gradually come to realize the ideas and concepts relayed by the artist.
Dual Mechanism of “Encounter”
“Lake of Narcissus” which was placed on the floor at the entrance of the exhibition is made up of a square frame that is filled up with water, and the box is juxtaposed against a figure with stretched arms, suspended just above the surface of the water. It is a work that captures the moment when a figure is crashing down towards the water – except that the sculpture represents this encounter devoid of speed and gravity, to produce the image of a man seemingly hovering over the water. The gaze of the viewer is captivated by even minute movements of the figure. The mathematical calculation and the meticulous execution involved in producing the exact balance of this encounter are clearly perceivable. Furthermore, the delicate relationship between the encounter of the water surface with the human body produces a tension that animates the surrounding space, which stimulates the viewer’s perception.
In the second exhibition space, the work entitled “Confrontation-Encounter” comes into view, which consists of two structures that are built with 134 sheets of plywood. One of the structures is cubical, and the outer surface is marked by human silhouettes that are positioned as empty spaces. The other structure is in the shape of human figures as taken from the silhouettes on the former cubical structure. In each of the structures, the human silhouette, when viewed from one side, is compounded with the silhouettes of two figures on the other side of the structures, so that in fact three different silhouettes appear at separate points in space. The two silhouettes that are
connected across a dark space create a conceptual illusion, tromp l’esprit, which exceeds a simple phenomenological illusion of tromp l’oeil. The V-shaped volume that emerges from the intermediary space created by a fictitious silhouette is a visualization of the bipolar realms of absence and presence, being and non-being.
In the third exhibition space, the work titled, “Confrontation-Itinerary”, is an image project that bespeaks of “being”. This work is also composed of juxtaposed beings, one of which is a silhouette of a full figure, and another is an enlarged photographic image of the human skin. The stationary image of man processed as a composite of signs, and the moving gaze of enlarged images across the skin – like an ant moving across the earth – are both placed within a single installation format in which the different dimensions of time are realized within the space, and where the space is conceived through time.
A Shadow That is Detached From the Body
The expressive method used by Lee Yong-Deok to visualize the bipolar nature of being – the employment of light, shadow and time – produces uniquely personal set of art works that have developed into a higher degree of spiritual density. The work titled, “Shedding”, in the first exhibition space, consists of a 650cm radius circular wall that has been covered with fluorescent paint. There is light projecting from the centre of the space and rotates full-circle to beam a strong light against the wall at regular intervals. The light beam ejected from the projector casts a shadow of the viewer entering the exhibition space against the wall. Due to the properties of the fluorescent paint, the shadow of viewer becomes then detached from the viewer’s body; the shadow becomes an autonomous image that is independent of the viewer’s motions. After a few minutes time, the shadow’s imprint gradually disappears from sight, and during that time, the viewer is able to encounter yet another self-detachment from himself. Light, shadow and time are contextual elements that allow such an experience; an experience that one’s self has become the Other. Such experience is also alluded to by the inscriptions that are on the wall.
The search for the bipolar configuration of being becomes more defined by the work titled “Greetings and Farewells” in the second exhibition space, located on the lower level. On the two screens, there projected upon the fluorescent paint are images of people at the site of birth, and another at the site of death. The viewer is illuminated by the light that comes from a projector across the gallery, and his silhouette is inserted in the spatial setting alongside the group of people in the images. The people on the wall act as setting for the image of the Other rendering itself to the context of the image. In this encounter, the viewer comes to recognize himself as the objectified third person that hovers in between the spheres of presence and absence.
In another variation playing with the concept of the silhouette, “The Absence”, installed in the last exhibition space, consists of a life-sized seated figure and a chair opposite it – and the installation is only made complete by the entrance of the viewer, who sits upon the empty chair. The two figures seated across one another on a table are momentarily illuminated by a spark of light and shadows are cast against the fluorescent wall. In the next moment, the gallery is dark again, and the figures strongly profess their materiality and presence due to the silhouettes forming upon the wall. But when the viewer leaves the gallery, his silhouette remains stationary upon the chair. The viewer’s body hovers like a ghost in front of the silhouette, but the silhouette exists through time deprived of its source, and this startling visual effect brings forth interesting conceptual discourse.
Interest in the Bipolar Structure of Being
As seen in Lee’s works mentioned in previous works, the objective of his works are very human- centric, and his concepts point towards a philosophical world of reason. The artist endlessly probes between phenomena and nature, and asks questions upon the ‘being’. Although his quest is speculative, it is firmly grounded on the materiality of the present reality. He reaffirms the reality of being through his juxtapositions of the state of being and non-being. Conceiving the truth of the rupturing gap between bipolar conditions requires the artist to discover and accept that the nature of being exists across ambiguous borders.
In retrospect, the artist’s interest in the bipolar structure of being had precedence in his earlier sculptures in which he balanced out relief and intaglio techniques. In these sculptures, he presented his ideas of bipolarity by employing opposite methods of creating sculptural volume within the same works. Such sculptures were exhibited in his solo show of 1991, and the figures each displayed different degrees of sculptural volume. The conflicting sculptural forms that were created and the visual ambiguity that occurred, were effects produced by the interplay of light and shadow. The artist thereby synthesized two images that were contradicting in spatial setting, and thus invented a new personal sculptural language. However, as time passed, his earlier obsession on sculptural methods that relied totally on the materiality of the image was gone, and Lee led on to search for alternative methods of sculptural expression.
Lee’s inquiry brought his art to grips with conceptual grounding. The bipolarity of images are made visible by the simple element of light as it comes into contact with a metaphysical sphere in which the negative and positive reside together; it is the recognition of such boundaries that is fatefully connected with the absolution of the state of being. The artist notes that the state in between adding and subtracting is a place that is absolute, and thus the contradicting volumes of his relief sculptures were recognized as a complete structure. The symbiosis of opposites, motioned towards the Easter philosophy of yin and yang, to find the contact point where ambiguous spaces come together and bridge the reality and the ideal – and eventually overcome such dichotomies. Lee’s work speaks about an aspect of Man’s nature which involves the acceptance of ambiguity and the overcoming of life’s irrationality.
The Reality of Irrationality
During the mid-1990s when Lee Yong-Deok was living in Germany, he began to take interest in the irrational aspects of reality. In some way, his interest in the bipolar structure of being came into contact with the distinctive milieu of Berlin; it was definitely the start of a more intense working period for the artist. Objects of Lee’s desire were of himself, or of others around him; people from the past captured in photographs – and his works with these figures became a critique of society and history. For example, his sculptures of head portraits in 1995 were modeled after his own features, then they were copied multiple times. Afterwards they were given variations in facial details. The sculptural installation in 1996 was based on a photograph of elementary school boys that was taken right after the First World War; similarly, a relief sculpture was also made from a National Geographic magazine photo of an impoverished child. All such works reflect the artist’s vested interest in the irrationality of reality.
One of his works involved figures which were modeled after his portrait head portraying different racial characteristics – an affirmative statement that the physical make-up of humans is the same among the world’s different races: this work professes cultural and spiritual unity. Like some of his earlier works, this work harbors a condition of double layering ambiguity. This is the identification of “me” as the Other; and that both co-exist in the same work. Lee’s work goes beyond a simple political critique of racial discrimination, or the problems of black, white or yellow colored skin, because at the core of the work lies a message of assimilation and harmony; it is more than a commentary on the irrationality of civilization.
Lee’s installation with 33 standing male youth figures that was exhibited at Schul Museum, Berlin, was a powerful allegory on human destiny and futility. These figures were documented by a photograph, and the artist transferred the images onto three-dimensional sculptural form. The realistic faces are waiting starkly to testify for starvation, fear and destitution in their reality – these young boys who survived one war were destined to be thrust once more into combat hell during the Second World War. Furthermore, the artist’s message reaches beyond Germany history; in fact, it deals with universal irrationality and the reality of existence. He has transferred the photographs – a medium that has captured a moment in time – onto sculptural form, and in the process, the artist recognizes the transfer between temporal and spatial dimensions. He presents the questions and problems raised by the different interpretations and versions of history that exist within the fissures created by transference.
Transfer of Time and Space
Lee Yong-Deok’s recent works conclude with the problem of transfer of time and space. As a matter of fact, such propositions as a bipolar structure of being, or the phenomenon of the conflict of ambiguity, are all based on the principle of transfer of time and space. His works which use mold casting, or installations using documentary photographs, can also be understood within such context. From an ontological perspective, photography is always a memory and document of time and space. As Roland Barthes has noted, the essence of photography is death. However, the artist transfers the time and space of the past into the present, and focuses on the fragmented identities caused by
such transfer: it is an attempt to come to grips with the reality of being.
Returning to the six art works that are presented in this exhibition, the transfer of time is materialized by the use of light and shadow. The shadow of a body produced by the mechanisms of light is fastened onto the wall, and the cast silhouette is a new reality; one might say it is the façade of the past – and therefore a revelation of the memory of being. The artist remarks such relationship as “multiplication and migration”, by which he means that with the transfer of temporal and spatial dimensions, the identity of being is “multiplied” or “migrated”. Lee sees this as a method of understanding all forms of life.
Lee Yong-Deok’s works make use of a variety of materials and techniques, but they all come together in the search for a unified theme. This is none other than the quest for understanding the bipolar structure of being, and he assimilates this understanding into the form of art. The aesthetics of the “conflict of ambiguity and its acceptance” that is raised by Lee remains relevant to our times.