SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025 24th Solo Exhibition, POV gallery, Seoul

2025 23rd Solo Exhibition, Shinpung Art Museum, Yecheon

2024 22th Solo Exhibition, Sejong Museum Gallery, Seoul

2024 21st Solo Exhibition, Neo Art Center, Cheongju

2024 20th Solo Exhibition < 緣 - Destiny >, Museum Wave, Seoul

2023 19th Solo Exhibition < 緣 - Destiny >, Jeju Grean Hyatt Dream Tower, Jeju

2023 18th Solo Exhibition < 緣 - Destiny >, Chungdam Beaux Arts Gallery, Seoul

2022 17th Solo Exhibition < 緣 - Destiny : Communication with the world Ⅱ >, Samwon Art Gallery, Seoul

2022 16th Solo Exhibition < 緣 - Destiny : Communication with the world >, Sungkok Museum, Seoul

2022 15th Solo Exhibition < 緣 - Destiny : Communication with the world >, Insa Art Plaza Gallery, Seoul

2020 14th Solo Exhibition, Gallery Hongju, Ganghwa-do

2018 13th Solo Exhibition, Gallery Hongju, Ganghwa-do

2014 12th Solo Exhibition, Hankyung Gallery, Seoul

2014 11th Solo Exhibition, Gallery AKA Space, Seoul

2014 10th Solo Exhibition, Sejong Gallery, Seoul

2012 9th Solo Exhibition, Goyang Aramnuri Gallery, Goyang

2012 8th Solo Exhibition, Asan Gallery, Seoul

2011 7th Solo Exhibition, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul

2010 6th Solo Exhibition, Seosan Gallery, Seosan

2010 5th Solo Exhibition, Beijing 798, China

2009 4th Solo Exhibition, Seosan Gallery, Seosan

2007 3rd Solo Exhibition, Yeli Gallery, Seoul

2005 2nd Solo Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center, Uijeongbu

2002 1st Solo Exhibition, Chohyung Gallery, Seoul

GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND ART FAIRS

2025

MODA Gallery: Masters of Contemporary Korean Art, Seoul

2024

BIAF: Busan International Art Fair, Bexco_Busan

KIAF: Korea International Art Fair, Coex_Seoul

2023

The Korean Art Exhibition, Pune University_India

KIAF: Korea International Art Fair, Coex_Seoul

BAMA: Busan Annual Market of Art, Bexco_Busan

World Art Dubai_UAE

2022

Singapore International Art Fair

2021

KIAF: Korea International Art Fair, Coex_Seoul

2019

News Star Exhibition, Insa Plaza Gallery_Seoul

Beijing Biennale, Beijing_China

2018

ART TALK, Gallery Piran 8th

Daegu Art Fair

Mumbai Biennale, Mumbai_India

Art Gwangju, Kimdaejung Convention Center

2017

BIAF: Busan International Art Fair, Bexco_Busan

Amsterdam Art Fair_Netherlands

Chennai Biennale, India Inco Center_India

Korean Art Support Project, Ghana Insa Art Center_Seoul

2016

Houston Art Fair_USA

Busan International Art Fair, Bexco_Busan

Korea Blue Chip Artists 5 People Invitation Exhibition, India Inco Center_India

2015

Exhibition of Gusangjeon, Seoul Museum of Art_Seoul

Chennai Biennale, India Inco Center_India

Hong Kong Hotel Art Fair

Taiwan Taipei Art Fair

2014

Hong Kong Contemporary Art Fair

Seoul World Open Art Festival-City and People_Seoul

Taiwan Caochon Art Fair 2014

Shanghai Art Fair

Busan International Art Fair

Emotion 10 Exhibition

Korean Artists Exhibition, Gunpo Art Center_Soeul

Korea International Art Festival, Ara Art Center_Seoul

20 People's Perspective and Vision Exhibition, Yale Gallery_Seoul

Umchannarae 100th Exhibition, Geumboseong Art Center_Seoul

Korean Modern Art Booth, Hangaram Art Museum_Seoul

10th Sejong Gallery Invitational Exhibition, Sejong Hotel Gallery_Seoul

11th Leaders Aka Gallery Invitational Exhibition, Aka Gallery_Seoul

12th Korea Economic Daily, Hankyung Gallery Invitational Exhibition_Seoul

2013

Chennai Biennale, India Inco Center_India

Way to the Arboretum Exhibition_Pocheon

Korean Artists Exhibition, Gunpo Art Center

Gusangjeon Regular Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center_Seoul

CNC Gallery Exhibition_Busan

Modern Artist Regular Exhibition, Hyehwa Art Center_Soeul

Planning Invitation Exhibition, KEPCO Art Plaza

SIAF: Seoul International Open Art Fair, Coex_Seoul

Shanghai Art Fair_China

KIAF: Korea International Art Fair, Coex_Seoul

BIAF: Busan International Art Fair, Bexco_Busan

2012

2012 Beijing Art Fair, Beijing_China

Gyeonggi Court Goyang Branch Office Exhibition_Goyang

DongSangDongMong 22 Exhibition, Hyun Gallery

Gyeonggi Police Office Opening Memorial Exhibition_Uijeongbu

The Field of Modern Art, Seoul Museum of planning_Seoul

Knock, knock, knock Exhibition, Aram Nuri Art Gallery_Ilsan

Naepo Modern Art Festival_Hongseong

12 Exhibition of 11 Modern Art, Yeil Gallery_Seoul

Korea-China 20th Anniversary International Art Exhibition, Beijing798_China

Regular Exhibition of Artists in North Gyeonggi, Kyungmin Museum of Art_Uijeongbu

Art Ulsan: The Field of Modern Art_Ulsan

Modern Artists Society-History, Art & Exhibition, Kyungmin Museum of Art_Uijeongbu

Invitational Exhibition of Gwanak Art Association_Seoul

Ilsan Artist Association Dong-gu Office Exhibition_Ilsan

Korean Modern Art Festival Solo Exhibition Booth, Hangaram Museum of Art_Seoul

Korea Housing Fair-Art Collection Exhibition, Coex_Seoul

BIAF: Busan International Art Fair Booth Exhibition

Beijing Art Fair, Beijing Trade Center_China

Tongyeong Art Fair

Daegu Hotel Art Fair

Daegu Art Fair, Bexco

Shanghai Art Fair_China

Singapore Art Fair

8th Invitational Exhibition, Asan Hospital Asan Gallery_Seoul

9th Goyang Artist 365 Invitational Exhibition, Goyang Aram Nuri Gallery_Goyang

2010

Korea Art Festival One Million Won Exhibition, Kintex_Ilsan

Planed Korea Support Exhibition, Hongdae Gallery_Seoul

Tsingtao Mingjia Museum of Art 100 Artist Invitational Exhibition_China

6th Seoul Art Association Numbers' Exhibition, Seoul Museum of Art_Soeul

Communication & Coexistence Exhibition, Hosu Gallery_Ilsan

At the and of the load, Mulggobang Gallery

Modern Artists Invitational Exhibition, Seosan Gallery_Chungcheongnam-do

Modern Art Special Exhibition: Breathing, Ansan Danwon Museum of Modern Art_Ansan

Korea & China International Art Festival, Taishan Culture Center_China

Gyeongju World Culture Expo Invitational Exhibition, Gyeongju World: Culture Expo Park_Gyeongju

Neepo Modern Art Festival, Hongseong Library_Chungcheongnam-do

Open Sympathy Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Museum of Arts_Seoul

Korea Art Festival Artist's Day Special Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Museum of Arts_Seoul

Korea Artist's Day Donated Artwork Special Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center Gongpyeong Gallery_Seoul

Contemporary Excellent Artwork Exhibition, Booth Solo Exhibition In Beijing_China

Korea - Chian Art Exchange Exhibition, Tsingtao Myeonggawon Art Gallery, China

Korea Festival Exhibition, Hosu Gallery_Ilsan

Unjeong Station Vivaldi - The Four Seasons : Feast of Spring Exhibition, Halla Vivaldi Model House

Communication & Coexistence Exhibition, Hosu Gallery_Ilsan

History & Culture of Goyang-si Meets The Art, Goyang SPART Complex and Park_Goyang

Spring Party Exhibition, Ulsan Hyundai Arts Center Art Gallery_Ulsan

Neo-Renaissance of Korea Modern Arts, Seoul Arts Center Gongpyeong Galley_Soeul

2009

Korean Main Artists Invitational Exhibition, Gunpo Culture & Art Center_Gunpo

'Going Together' : Art and Love, Seoul Arts Center_Seoul

Gusangjeon Members Regular Exhibition, Gwanghwamun Gallery_Seoul

Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Special Exhibition_Busan

Meeting of Flower and Art_Goyang

12 Modern Artists View and Prospect, Yeil Gallery_Seoul

2008

100F Exhibition to Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Gusangjeon, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts_Seoul

Exhibition of Artists in North Gyeonggi, 2nd Govemment Complex of Gyeonggi-do

Modern Artists Exhibition, Banweol Art Hall_Pocheon

Korea Fine Arts Association Exhibition, Seoul Arts Center Hangaram Museum of Arts_Seoul

Early Spring Plan: 'MUJA12' Exhibition

08-09 New Year's Eve 24 Artists Invitational Exhibition, Yeil Gallery_Seoul

Ilsan Artists' Exhibition, Goyang SPART Complex and Park_Goyang

Goyang Art Association Exhibition, Goyang Aram Nuri_Goyang

View and Prospect of Modern art, Yeil Gallery_Seoul

Invitational Exhibition for The Opening of Gallery BU, Gallery BU_Ilsan

Meeting of Flower and Art Exhibition, Goyang SPART Complex and Park_Goyang

2007

Gusangjeon Members Exhibition, Seongnam Arts Center_Seongnam

11 Modern Artists Invitational Exhibition, Yeil Gallery_ Seoul

DMZ: 2007 North Gyeonggi-do Area of Peace, 2nd Government Complex of Gyeonggi-do

Gusangjeon Members Exhibition, WS Art Center_Bundang

Encore Alaska, Invitational Gallery of Contemporary art

13th Invitational Horticulture Goyang: Flower and Art - Art and Bloom March, Jungle Book Gallery_Ilsan

2006

Gusangjeon Members Exhibition

Commemoration of Invitational Horticulture: Flower - Fanfare and Art, Hosu Gallery, Goyang

Heim Ville Gallery 50 Invitational Artists Exhibition, Heim Ville Gallery_Goyang

Art-in-Music Exhibition, Seoul Art Center_Uijeongbu

Planed for The Invitational Horticulture Goyang, Korea: Painting with Flowers, Kintex_Ilsan

Encounter Exhibition, Goyang SPART Complex and Park_Goyang

Nambu Hyundai Art Festival-Way to Unification, Banweol Art Hall_Pocheon

05-06 New Year's Eve 24 Artists Invitational Exhibition, Yeil Gallery_Seoul

Mark Rothko, an abstract painter, pursued a complete abstract painting by eliminating all reproduced points on vague and unclear borderline canvas and thus aroused a wave of various emotions from despair to joy. This emotion can be interpreted as sublimity and sadness.  “I am not an abstract painter. I simply try to express a man’s basic emotions”, he said.

Lee, Hee-don, despite sharing a common character as an abstract painter, works on a different perspective and a form from the aforementioned. Instead of expressing a basic emotion or idea that is  ‘from where and for what we live for’, the painter sets a conceptual idea of ‘match’ as his art theme. Enduring and fighting back his painful path cataloged with intense work and continuous hardships molded him to a post-monochromatic today. His works indicate an influence by great abstract painters Chung, Chang-seop and Cho, Yong-ik.

The painter seeks constant communications with the world through his works ‘match’ series reflecting his past. Well around two thousands of his works painted in vertical and horizontal grids prove the point. He associates himself with the endless ‘match’ encountered everyday and tries to share his messages in a form of colors and shapes.  And yet, his working methods are never easy nor simple.

The painter invented a punching method, which is to make small holes on canvas, and used it as his unique language. By adding a grinded paper mulberry on a surface of canvas that requires a troublesome process, the painter created three-dimensional images. Such persistence resulted in obtaining an invention patent on the material. A combination of paper mulberry fiber and paint creates the originality to his marvelous works.

Accumulating and crossing the materials to form shapes and adding colors in between allows a visual-effect depicting a strong vitality. This is a clear way to deliver a natural message from the painter, ‘match’. The expressing method or colors of ‘match’ can be reminded by other paintings or painters and yet, how it is presented and made is original.

The painter once stated there were no other ways to express ‘match’ with conventional methods or paints. Colors mixed with paper mulberry fibers and well organized shapes of grid on canvas with his own hands embody the painter’s art and are reckoned as his brand and signature.

His hidden philosophical intent conveying his aesthetic definition as a Korean with a mixture of abstract art lies there. It is also a refinding of the flatness in abstract painting by Lee, Hee-don, a character of a solitary disciplinant. Though it shows three-dimensional forms, the painter’s early works started from removing images. And his returning to flatness is based on uniformity of canvas. It used to be the sole and long-lasting method of the painter to create flat structure on a canvas using various colors and surfaces.

However, he tries changes to winds, rhythms, and shapes of the flatness.  These changes are shown in dynamic formations: pushing back as if breathing against the giant canvas, paralleling two or three components, or juxtaposing colors. It is a technique to let viewers feel their breath in a still and tranquil view.

 The painter’s pursuit of original patterns to be organic and interactive on the surface enables the experience. And now, the painter is revealing his intention to break free from the flatness and structure. His recent pushing and rolling methods and magnifying subjects sighted noticeably are most throbbing challenges to predict his original perspectives.

Diagonal and deviated lines, oval-shaped geometric formations, and combination of splitted shapes and colors are new achievements showing the latter period of Lee, Hee-don’s paintings. A bold line laid in the center, three lines, so called three brothers, laid one after another offer visual pleasure. The formations might be seen as a simple change from a perspective of formative arts. However, it is fresh enough from a perspective of change. Using various colors; blue, red, yellow, green, pink, and so on, represents hope for ‘match’ visually.

“Korean monochromatic painting is an ‘art of mind” said Yoon, Jin-seop, an art critic. Lee, Hee-don paints the mind to explore ‘match’ on canvas. The painter has already approached the nature of painting and obtained universality. Associating the vitality of paper mulberry ‘DAK’ with connection with the others ‘match’ is clearly an act of art. For the reason, the painter’s work to repeatedly paint and form shapes on canvas is compared to a ‘silent performance’. 

“A work is not a result of a random process on the surface of paper. It is a process of absorbing my breath, spirit, and endeavors into a paper that's been mixed and pounded by hands” said the late Chung, Chang-seop. Lee, Hee-don’s works that realizes ‘match’ is no difference.

For Lee Hee-don, his works would be completed when tranquil silence and intense colors come together with his original DAK. Stories of ‘match’ crossed and shaped into grids are spoken in the least language increases our expectations. The painter, unleashed from conventional monochromatic paintings, is now forming his own creative art. This is witnessed in the pushing methods, relieving expressions, audacious forms and use of colors and now expressing ‘match’ between mind, nature, and a man.

Contemplating his vast works in his studio, a dance of his colors and shapes ruminates on the past ‘match’. Each color and shape are a man’s life and collectively a wave of lives. Lee, Hee-don’s accomplishments and completion to visualize ‘match’ will reach a pinnacle riding this wave and transcending the flatness behind. 

Lee Heedon is an artist of tenacity that first thought of a technique of ‘punching (punctuating)’ holes in the late 90s, gradually experimented with it, and transformed it into his clear formative lexicon in the 2000s. He is often misunderstood as a Dansaekhwa (‘monochrome painting’) artist, but the artistic spectrum he pursues is broader than that. He refuses to be confined in a specific zone as he simply produces works from one monochrome to another. In this aspect, he would be a boundary man. And yet, he is the one with a sense of resistance against the social paranoia of demanding one to be explicit in political ideology – be it leftist or rightist. It is because a color could be the symbol or a signifier of one’s ideology as in the colors ‘red’ and ‘blue.’ He fundamentally is opposed to such a distinction.

In this sense, Lee is not so much a Dansaekhwa artist but an ‘experimenter of color tones and techniques’ because given his 40-year artistic career in his life journey, his life can be dubbed as a period devoted to the experiment of these two. True, the mission an artist/painter is to deal with colors and techniques, one might question, but in Lee’s case, he can be called that way because his style in dealing with these two was more desperate than others, which was crystalized in a series of outcome.

There is another reason why Lee needs to be considered differently: it is the fact that he is a self-learned artist that does not belong to any artistic cliques of Korean universities. He learned to paint in art studios near Gulraebang Dari (Bridge) in Ahyeon-dong, Seoul, which was clustered with small art studios after he completed his military service in 1972. The fact that he went around different private art studios to learn painting means that what he learned was utterly different from systematic art school curricula. It manifests that he was completely free of academic or personal ties, which are the biggest advantages one can get out of regular art education in universities. True, it was the way he voluntarily opted for, but it must have been a very harsh condition for him to be a professional artist, considering the general circumstance in the artistic circles in the 70s.

What Lee decided to do to earn money by selling art supplies and produce artworks was to open an atelier/art shop, which he thought was the optimal job for him. He was fortunately talented in woodwork. He opened an atelier near Chugye Art School (predecessor of Chugye University for the Arts) which sits atop in Buk Ahyeon-dong in Seoul. He could financially get by and produce artworks now and then. During that time, he produced Christmas cards and painted illustrations for a poetry-painting exhibition with works of well-known poets to enjoy a financially stable life, and got married and had a family.

Ⅱ.

It is almost impossible for an unknown self-learned artist to succeed in the artistic circles in Korea where cliques are severely formed around artistic and academic connections. Although such chronic practices have been greatly diluted, it was almost impossible for an artist to succeed unless you get the attention from dominant coalitions in the 70s.

Against this backdrop, Lee’s decision to run an atelier was a great boon for him. The biggest benefit was that he could meet renowned artists of the artistic circles. Artists that impacted him hugely back then were: Professor Cho Yongik at Chugye University for the Arts, artist Lee Waljong, Professor Jang Liseok at the school of art in Chung-Ang University, senior artists including Do Sangbong, Son Eungseong, Byeon Jongha, Jeong Changseop and Son Changseop and professors Yu Gyeongchae and Ryu Hiyeong of the Creative Art Association. Lee’s ties started with them by making frames for them or selling paints to them, but the knowledge and experiences he gained by frequently visiting art studios of many well-known artists reaped substantial effects that would outweigh formal college education. His ties with Korea’s prestigious senior artists were sustained because of his down-to-earth character, and impacted him all his life. His encounter with these artists – albeit consequential – must have greatly empowered him to grow further as a professional artist.

His self-portrait painting of 1974 depicts him in his youth neatly dressed up and wearing a kind smile. It was a period when he got very used to managing his atelier. His ties with seniors artists including Son Eungseong and Do Sangbong as well as Professor Jang Liseok at Chung-Ang Universities influenced him to be keen on the figurative painting style, and close relationships with Professor Cho Yongik at Chugye University for the Arts triggered Lee to open up for modernistic paintings. In particular, his ties with senior Dansaekhwa artist Cho Yongik in his late 80s and late Dansaekhwa artist Jeong Changseop are of note because they are closely related to the formation of Lee’s work style.

The figure in the artistic circles Lee most frequently encountered while running an art gallery near Chugye University for the Arts was Cho Yongik. Cho was a major figure in the contemporary art circles that contributed to the formation of modernism art in Korea in the 70s, following his entry into Informel art movement in Korea in the late 50s. As Cho’s many titles reveal – representative member of Actuel, commissioner of the 5th and 6th Paris Biennale (1967-9) and vice-chairman of the Korean Fine Arts Association – Cho was one of the iconic artists of monochrome painting in the 70s in Korea. It seems that Lee frequented Cho’s studio to take a closer look at Cho’s Dansaekhwa paintings he was working on. Buildup of Lee’s experiences is assumed to have been a background for giving birth to Lee’s flat paintings as we see in the 2000s, after 20 years from then on because an individual artist’s work style cannot be formed overnight.

Ⅲ.

There are not that many works of Lee that remain today. The biggest hurdle for me as I write this is that there is no work to look into his early-day style – even no photos to trace back. It is utterly regrettable to find no works to convey the circumstances of the 70s and 80s. His early works – according to him – had to be disposed of because his underground studio was once flooded with water one day.

The remaining works of his of the late 90s show the climate of his punching technique he himself developed. These works composed of somewhat figurative elements including the moon, mountains and people have commonalities of geometrical shapes including horizontal symmetry, but explicitly reveal the flat features borne out of the punching technique. Flat paintings of mono and polychromes from punching could be generated based on it.

For an artist, there is no distinction between art and life. Highly sensitive artists are easily hurt and fall prey to desperation more so than any other professions. Lee was no exception. He focused on work to overcome the pains after he was shocked and hurt by family misfortunes in 1999. During the period, he excessively experimented with materials. Since he could not drink alcohol, he simply focused on producing artworks to get away from psychological pain.

As he ran an atelier for long, he could easily get materials of different sorts. During the period, he could continuously carry on diverse color tone experimentations using many paint samples from foreign paint makers. Countless artworks were produced, but he has disposed of three trucks loaded with many of incomplete works. After undergoing and overcoming such hardships, he had a big turning point in his artistic career to properly and professionally paint again.

Ⅳ.

It was in the 2000s when his experiences with modernist paintings in the 70s were embodied in full swing. It was in the 2000s when he clearly perceived the flatness as an existential pre-condition of paintings. He developed the punching technique in around 2002 after many years of psychological instability.

The punching technique for him is a framework to understand the world and an instrument to perceive it. For him who went through pitiless fetters and psychological wandering, the world he encountered has been a continuum and buildup of relationships. Painting was an outlet and a means for him to ease deep resentment of his own. For him, the world was a cloth that was weaved by many people – or Indra's Net (the Jewel Net of Indra, in Mahayana Buddhism as a sumptuous metaphor for the emptiness and interpenetration of all). Encounters and ties with so many people that are referred to as numerous horizontally and vertically intersected dots, and the diversity of all the five desires and seven emotions. In order to forget numerous intervening thoughts that endless burst out deep in his mind, he manually punched countless holes on cardboards for box making – a process of asceticism. Or, he has done it again and again, which has become an ascetic act. Punching numerous holes with a certain interval was a course of asceticism through the repetition of acts. The gist of his work was to make consistent hopes, repeatedly flow the acrylic paints repeatedly to form layers of paints. The punching technique he has carried on for about 20 years is a key element in Lee’s paintings along with the production of jute he developed later on.

Throughout the period, he has undergone numerous changes. First, it is the change in forms. Various patterns emerged which were developed to stir a change on a flat pictorial plane. The act of embracing a flat canvas plane – be it in mono or polychrome – is with burlap along with the punching technique. Paints on top served as pictorial means that were rubbed on top. It was definitely a physically challenging work. Repeated punching, repeated painting on top, weaving burlap with holes by repeatedly intersecting the warp and the weft of jute threads, and repeatedly stroking the specially developed paints on top are made possible through the physical asceticism. What Lee ends up reaching through the repeated hand movements is a materialistic domain – and not a psychological one. This is what makes him different from the first-generation Dansaekhwa artists. Even though he uses polychromes quite often, the ultimate impression one might get from Lee’s works even when he uses a monochrome is ‘literality’ of materials. It is not a psychological aspect: instead, it is related to the one-dimensional sensible perception found in a material. Some of the expressions one might think of by looking at Lee’s paintings are: bouncy, rough, thorny, smooth, bubbly, tough and flaky. These words are related to expressions of texture, having nothing to do with the psyche. When asked on why he does such a repeated act, he said, “to forget psychological pain.” It is contrary from the argument made by the first-generation monochrome artists in many cases. As some said, it is not to do the act of asceticism towards a psychological destination but to utilize a material to forget the realistic psychological pain. In order to understand if art is an end or a means of an act, one needs to understand a state a performer (artists) is in, and what social performative situations unfold for the person.

In order to give a change to the exactly same outcome of the endlessly repeated act of punching and of using jute, Lee came up with various patterns. Patterns in works where diagonal lines are drawn after smoothing out the top or bottom parts of a canvas in a rectangular form as well as the long and wide brushstroke traces emerge in an irregular cycle without any specific time being predetermined. Such changes in forms manifest that Lee does not care so much about the logical development. Lee is a patent holder for a material he developed to gain a more effective outcome for his works. The patent which was completely registered in 2015 is a material of a unique paint. He grinds the raw material for paper mulberry, soaks it into the water, mixes it with paints and produces paper mache in different colors. This material will full of fibers is used when brush stroking on a punched flat plane or hand-weaved burlap. A higher-speed brush stroke on a canvas would result in long and thick fibers(threads) of paints, and a slower one would make them look short, putting a limit in diversity of expressions. He repeatedly strokes the brush horizontally and vertically over dozes of times until he reaches a desired state. Paints might be of the same colors, but might differ in colors, so a closer look would enable one to see a subtle combination of colors and their nuanced differences.

Recently, Lee is immersed in burlap work where it is thickly sagging outward from the surface of the canvas. The spool of jute thread richly sagging outward is mixed with paints, which enriches a sense of materiality more. Lee’s work tendency has been recently to focus on producing works where highly pure primary colors including Obangsaek (the color scheme of the five Korean traditional colors of white, black, blue, yellow and red) strike a harmony by being partitioned in a squarely form. This type of experimentation has turned three-dimensional, so various three-dimensional forms including a cylindrical type of a rectangular parallelepiped resulting from the punching technique are diversely experimented.

Ⅴ.

Lee Heedon is an artist engaged in labor-intensive work to produce artworks, so his works tend to have a higher density in proportion to the time of input. And yet, he does not reveal his works to be ‘declarative.’ His paintings are felt to be sensual than conceptual. The primary colors sometimes looking sexy might reach a risky threshold of a high-level aesthetic tendency, which is closer to the vitality of folk paintings – the flavor of ‘what is raw.’ There is a full of chewy vitality of the flesh coming out of what is totally raw. The world of art he pursues is not a sublime taste coming out of what is fully ripen but the aesthetics of ‘what is raw’ where vitality bursts out. It is rooted down in the resistance of color tones and resistance of forms, which might have a straightforward wit and paradox as it would be the case with others.

• National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Government Art Bank)

• Hyowon Cultural Training Center

• U.S.A.

• Golden Color Korea Office

• National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Art Bank)

• Shinchon Severance Hospital

• Cheil Investment & Finance

• Yangpyeong County Museum of Art

• Osan Municipal Museum of Art

• Seoul National University Hospital

• Yangpyeong County Museum of Art

• National Assembly Building, Press Center

• Gwangju Museum of Art

• India, TVS Motor Group, Chairman Venu Srinivasan

• And Many Others