INYONG LEE

SPACE 1

Exhibition dates : 1 - 13 December 2026
Opening reception : Wed 2 December 2026, 6:00 - 8:30pm

Inyong believes art should play a role in healing wounded souls. His work aims to convey hope and courage to the viewer.

Inyong has always felt like he was falling behind others and, in that process, he was often misunderstood and hastily judged. Embroidery is slow but transparent. Because each stitch clearly reveals the process, embroidery becomes a medium through which he can express his true self without misunderstanding.

We live in an era where society promotes the survival of the fittest through endless competition. This is a society that forgets that humans cannot live alone and must support one another to thrive. Moral reflection must be restored, and solidarity among people strengthened.

Eastern Literati Painting (Poetry-Calligraphy-Painting) captured his attention because its form aims for moral self-reflection. However, historically, the form remained focused on inner cultivation and was an exclusive culture of the aristocratic class. It did not seek to communicate with the public. This exclusivity of the art form resembles the elitism of today's art world.

Inyong paints Literati Painting not with aristocratic knowledge but with the heart of the common people. The brushstrokes of calligraphy break free from letters to convey emotions more freely, while the forms on the canvas represent his aspirations. Each stitch of needlework becomes his spiritual discipline and prayer. His creative practice is an act of liberating art from elitism, making it an object of feeling rather than understanding, and an attempt to achieve both inner reflection and meaningful communication with others.