▲ Untitled-4820, Oil on canvas, 116.8x91cm, 2021 ⓒ Kwang-ho Lee, Kukje Gallery

Korean realist painter Kwang-ho Lee will holds a solo exhibition, 'Blow-Up' in Seoul.

Lee is one of Korea's leading realist painters and the exhibition is his first solo exhibition in nine years since 2014. He will reveal 65 new works in the exhibition.

The artist creates works in a variety of genres, including figure painting, still life, and landscape painting, through traditional painting techniques and modern painting techniques. He has focused on how to express the object regardless of the object.

▲ Untitled-2501, Oil on canvas, 140x130cm, 2021 ⓒ Kwang-ho Lee, Kukje Gallery

The exhibition was planned after his accidental visit to a wetland near the Kelper Track during a trip to New Zealand. He fills the canvas with realistic descriptions against the wetland backdrop and elegant techniques to feel the atmosphere of the space.

The exhibition features the artist's large-scale landscape painting on display for the first time. Consisting of 60 pieces in total, the series was inspired by countless photos of the artist's wetlands. The series named 'Untold 4819', magnifies an image and then divides it into 60 sections, where each canvas becomes part of the entire landscape.

▲ The installation view ⓒ Kwang-ho Lee, Kukje GalleryThe name of the exhibition, 'Blow-Up' is derived from Michelangelo Antonio's movie in 1966. 'Blow-Up' is the word means expanding a photograph or movie, hinders viewrs from attempting to read the entire landscape outside the canvas, drawing new interpretations.

In the exhibition, the artist intentionally expands the red and white mosses of wetlands to give them abstractness so that each audience can interpret their work in their way.

The exhibition will be held at Kukje Gallery in Jongro-gu, Seoul, from 14th to 28th January.▲ Untitled-2366, Oil on canvas, 133.3x162.2cm, 2020 ⓒ Kwang-ho Lee, Kukje Gallery

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com