Kyu Sang Lee

Kyu Sang Lee’s photographic artistic practice draws on his experience within distinct regions and cultures of the world. Born in Seoul, Korea in 1993 and having moved to Cape Town in 2005, his artistic practice exhibits strong influences of Eastern, Western and African cultures. Working in predominantly black and white photography, presents an interesting juxtaposition to ideas of the “lost” and are driven by the concept of time and fate. Interlocking these notions with photography, he focuses on constructing the realm of the metaphysical, the spiritual and the surreal.

Photography in South Africa indeed has been a violent one. People use images to influence and invade others minds. Posters and news, as images are works in a similar way. Just like a heavy rain, one lives in a world with an overflow of information where one cannot always identify what is true. The more information flows, the more one forgets about oneself and eventually one’s life become dominated by oblivion.

As an art student, Kyu Sang Lee was awarded the Simon Gerson Prize in 2016 for his graduating body of work and previously had been awarded the Cecil Skotnes Award for Most Promising Artist, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town in 2014. After graduating from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2016, Lee won the Celeste Prize for Photography & Digital Graphics in 2017. Lee has exhibited with Eclectica on numerous occasions and has exhibited both locally and internationally.

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Select Exhibitions:

2018 Also Known as Africa, Le Carreau du Temple, Paris, France

2017 Marked, Eclectica Print Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2017 Paradise Regained, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

Select Works:

Kyu Sang Lee
Dancing Along Alone
2017
Archival light jet
59,4 x 42cm

Kyu Sang Lee
Ein kleines Nachtfoto No.1
2018
Hahnehmuhle Baryta
12 x 15 cm
SOLD

Kyu Sang Lee
Ein kleines Nachtfoto No.2
2018
Hahnehmuhle Baryta
12 x 15 cm
SOLD

Kyu Sang Lee
Selfportraits with Figure of Madonna behind white paint
2016
Photomontage with paint
124 x 100 cm
SOLD

Kyu Sang Lee
The Trembling Soul Where the Time Flows Quietly Over the Waves
Giclee print on Hahnemule Baryta – 1/5 + 2AP
42 x 50 cm

Kyu Sang Lee
Self Portrait with Tulip
Giclee Print on Hahnemuhle Baryta
1/5 + 2AP
25.4 x 31.8 cm

Kyu Sang Lee
The Universe
2017
glicée print, 3/5
54.5 x 65 cm (framed)
SOLD

Kyu Sang Lee
Goldberg 2/5
2017
glicée print
84.1 x 118.9 cm (unframed)
SOLD

Kyu Sang Lee
Matisse and the People of the night
2017
glicée print on Hahnehmuhle Baryta
1/5 + 2AP
84 x 117 cm
SOLD

Kyu Sang Lee
The Festival of Insignificance (diptych)
2016
Inkjet natural archival print
221.5 x 139 cm

Kyu Sang Lee & Martin Wilson
The Sound of Light
2019
Mixed media installation
88.5 x 64.5 x 13 cm(each)
(Photographer: Martin Wilson)

Kyu Sang Lee and Martin Wilson

The Sound of Light

The Sound of Light – Sequences I – III (2019) is a triptych which generate anatomical body of music passing through a prism of light and to capture the combination of arrangement and rhythm of light expressed by energy in a light-sculptural organism. The work contemplates on time-consciousness and creates a relationship between time and man, using a medium of light and sound as a catalyst. Sound is a typical method for one to understand passing of time which has direct link to the question of the end of one’s time as time and death are inseparable. On the contrary, an element of light is used in this work as symbolism of life. There is an ironic interplay between death and life as the system in the artwork constantly translates sound into light energy.