The Seongbuk Museum of Art is set to present "Pine Trees Infused with Life", a solo exhibition by sculptor Lee Gil Rae, as part of its 2025 Public Art Project. The exhibition will be held at "Street Gallery," a cultural space adjacent to the museum, from February 26, 2025, to June 30, 2026. It will feature over 20 works, including Lee's latest piece, Pine Trees Infused with Life (2025).

Since the establishment of the Street Gallery in 2018, the Seongbuk Museum of Art has collaborated with prominent Korean contemporary sculptors and installation artists such as Choi Jeong Hwa, Kim Seung Young, and Jung Hyun. Through public art, the museum has highlighted the cultural heritage, artistic traditions, and natural landscapes of Seongbuk, a district known for its deep artistic roots. This year, Lee Gil Rae has been selected as the fourth artist to participate in this project.

With over three decades of artistic practice, Lee has delved into nature's vitality and generative principles. His early works involved crafting organic shapes from cut copper pipes. Since the late 2000s, he has developed a series centered on trees, eventually focusing on the pine tree as a symbol of Korean resilience and spirit. His meticulous process involves welding and layering hundreds to thousands of copper pipe fragments, forming sculptures embodying an "immortal pine tree."

Lee's work has evolved from depicting a single pine tree to exploring its intricate details—roots, bark, growth rings, and knots. Some pieces fuse pine tree elements with rocks, evoking a symbiotic connection between organic and inorganic matter. Others transform into hybrid forms, hinting at human or animal figures, or even new life forms born from nature. His relief-style sculptures, which resemble traditional ink paintings, further emphasize the influence of East Asian aesthetics in his work.

For this public art project, Lee weaves a narrative of Seongbuk’s landscape and its artistic legacy through the imagery of pine trees, roots, and stones. Seongbuk, once home to dense pine forests, inspired many painters who immortalized its scenery. Sculptors also sourced stones from its rocky hills to create their works. However, much of this natural landscape has vanished over time. Through Lee’s sculptures, these long-lost elements are resurrected and transformed into powerful symbols of endurance and eternal life.

Lee’s artistic philosophy, rooted in nature’s cyclical and primordial vitality, extends beyond individual works to encompass history, culture, life, and art. The outdoor setting of the exhibition allows visitors to immerse themselves in Seongbuk’s natural and artistic heritage, engaging with Lee’s sculptural forest on a sensory and intellectual level.

Sayart / Maria Kim, sayart2022@gmail.com