Seulgi Lee <br><em>YAMA MO SATO MO</em>, 2023

Presented in the bookshop's Vitrines from October 15, 2024

YAMA MO SATO MO was made using the techniques of sudare, the traditional Japanese blinds made of bamboo or other natural materials. Sudare are not only used to filter light, but also to divide and create spaces. Made in collaboration with a Kyoto craftswoman, this edition assembles very thin bamboo slats with colored threads, in a composition that evokes the refrain of a famous Japanese folk song depicting the cherry blossom. Using the horizontal bamboo lines as a score, Seulgi Lee pursues with YAMA MO SATO MO her ongoing artistic research on language and “translation” – in this case, from the oral and the musical to the visual.

Seulgi Lee was born in 1972 in Seoul. She currently lives in Paris.

Since the mid-1990s, Seulgi Lee has been developing an essentially three-dimensional and performative body of work that maintains a dialogue with various forms of craftsmanship. Through collaborations with artisans in different parts of the world, she creates installations, sculptures and functional objects, often with minimal forms and vivid colors, whose fabrication process is nourished by her anthropological research, her interest in language, and her sense of humor. For example, Lee has developed a project with a cooperative of basket-weavers in a Mexican village that is home to a vernacular language spoken by only four people; she has produced a series of candles with a ancient candle factory in the south of France; she has worked with the last potter of the Moroccan Rif to continue the tradition of making pots with animal dung. Seulgi Lee is also particularly renowned for her work with “nubi,” the traditional Korean blankets for which she has designed motifs that refer to vernacular proverbs. This series has led to numerous collaborations, including with Hermes and Ikea.

Seulgi Lee has exhibited in various international institutions and biennales, such as Palais de Tokyo (Paris, France), La Criée centre d’art contemporain (Rennes, France), Incheon Art Platform (Seoul, Korea), La Casa da Cerca (Almada, Portugal), Kadist Foundation (San Francisco, USA), and the Gwangju Biennale. She won the Korea Artist Prize in 2020.

She is represented by Galerie Jousse Entreprise, Paris and Galerie Hyundai, Seoul, Korea.

Bamboo sudare with hand-dyed threads
60 x 80 cm
Edition of 16 copies numbered and signed by the artist on a certificate, plus 2 artist’s proofs

© Keijiban