Lee Bae has worked for more than three decades with charcoal as a fundamental material, developing a practice rooted in monochromatic, calligraphic abstraction. Through this sustained exploration, he has become a defining figure in contemporary Korean art and an influential presence on the international stage.
At Platform 2026, Johyun Gallery presents a new group of paintings from the artist’s signature Brushstroke series together with a large bronze sculpture. The presentation offers a distinctive installation in which plane and volume, gestural mark-making and spatial experience come together to propose a new way of experiencing the work.
The Brushstroke, originally realised on white paper as a swift gesture charged with the cyclical and elemental energy of charcoal, appears in this installation as a condensed and transformed bronze form placed within the space. A stroke that once remained on the surface is translated into a sculptural form that asserts its presence in physical space. The paintings installed alongside the sculpture reflect and extend this dialogue between plane and volume, creating an installation in which the gesture of the Brushstroke unfolds across the entire environment. Moving between the paintings and the sculpture, viewers encounter the many variations of the Brushstroke and experience not only the material qualities of charcoal but also the energetic force contained in each stroke.
The Brushstroke that once existed as a flat, charcoal-charged gesture on white paper reappears here as a condensed and transformed bronze form situated within the exhibition space. As a stroke that once belonged to the plane becomes sculptural, it asserts a gesture expanded into real space. The newly presented paintings, installed in dialogue with the sculpture, further extend this exchange between surface and volume, creating an environment in which the Brushstroke unfolds across multiple spatial registers. Moving between paintings and sculpture, viewers encounter the series’ various iterations, experiencing not only the materiality of charcoal but also the energetic force embedded within each stroke.
Lee has exhibited at major institutions and venues including the Venice Biennale, Rockefeller Center’s Channel Gardens in New York, Musée Guimet in Paris, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Daegu Art Museum, Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne, and Today Art Museum in Beijing. His accolades include the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea’s “Artist of the Year” (2000), the Korean Cultural Center in Paris Artist Award (2009), the Korean Art Critics Association Artist Award (2013), the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier, 2018), and the Korean Presidential Award for Culture and the Arts (2023).
