Forming a compliant relationship
Taking the first step on a long voyage, Myungjin Lee focuses her interests on the "relationship" between subjects and others, or objects. That mirrors the relationship with the broad world surrounding her. The relationship with the world an individual should enter into as a constituent member in a society is complicated and intricate. She is exploring the subject of this hard relationship-forming in a phenomenal way. She presents it as the fundamental structure of the work, understanding the phenomena of forming relationships with the complex world as the feature of pieces of a small unit being connected. If so, each piece can be an "individual space" where Lee meet the object world in various ways. The artist expresses that by making small pieces everyday, she created a "space that she can rest in". The phenomenon of patching up the space where the artist met and rested and other individual spaces is a metaphor for the different worlds engaging with each other and forming a relationship.
The images of figures, stairs, and doors appear repeatedly in Myungjin Lee's individual space. Some individual figures are anonymous and some photographic works include the images of her family. The insertion of these somewhat autobiographical elements connotes human relationships by displaying family as the essence. Besides figures, often appearing images of stairs and doors are a mediator and mark to connect to the other world. The image of a human being, especially, going up and down the flights makes me feel human desire and ambition to move on to the other world. Particularly, it is noticeable that by joining the images of these anonymous figures to the stairs in a subtle way, it is simultaneously showing the expectation and uneasy tension of the man at the starting point to enter into a new relation with the unknown world. Representing the relationship with other worlds directly is the image of the door. Doors are a mystery towards other world. Besides, she realized the possibility to replace her own familiar space with a completely new one through the image of doors, and that's why her special interest is in there. These images leave visitors a pleasant burden to form a relationship with others or unknown other worlds.
Myungjin Lee's work looks like a relief composed of irregular small pieces. The artist expresses them as "puzzle pieces", but this is not a complete puzzle that is intentionally planned. Although a puzzle is generally processed in a way to put shapes or definite numbers together, she didn't plan a deliberate model picture but concentrated on making an individual unit, above all. And when the pieces are collected to a certain point, she starts to connect them. I would like to call it a compliant relationship. The artist's fair intuition and instantaneous judgment are important in the procedure when a piece joins other pieces. For that reason, her work is likely to be continued. However, her work is a coordinated structure in the whole context, although she concentrated on the unit of individual pieces. The effect of similar texture and color is the reason. Wood panel was all used as a basic material, and the color sense of similar chroma with a pastel tone was applied.
Myungjin Lee's work, formed in a compliant operation, look like an architectural structure as a whole. A Variety of visual effects are created by the combination of two-dimensional and three-dimensional images, and of illusion and real images. This architectural effect is groped in numerous ways. She brings out an illusion by drawing perspective lines for the sense of distances, exposes the sense of space by patching up pieces with various sizes and thicknesses in one panel, and materializes three-dimensional nature of architecture by making a model picture of actual stairs and doors. That results in a unified structure by this combination of individual units like handicrafts of all kinds. Myungjin Lee is pleasantly enjoying the clash of different relations. Her work is a harmonious airscape to show a compliant principle of relationships.
By Jee-young Kim / Curator of Seoul Museum of Art
Relationship
To make something is still more three-dimensional than to paint
something. I prefer making to painting. By nailing, sawing, and
sandpapering, I work on the piece with my whole heart as if I make an article of
furniture. At times it is hard to labor on cutting, shaving, and nailing
wood, and to make a door, then a room(space). But witnessing the
process the piece is forming a concrete one, I even brim with accomplishment.
Again I paint something over the three dimensional space that I just
made. While I scribble over it like I doodle on the blackboard, it
appears to be a completed work before I was aware of it.
To me, working is just like building a house. Everyday I keep making my
own space which I can rest in and nobody can get in without my
permission. On the other side of the little tiny door(In the little tiny door),
I put my memories that I want to hide and embarrassing features of
mine(embarrassing moments of mine). That space is a remedy and
reconciliation to me and a room where I can stay for a moment to leave(escape) from
the past memories. I don't know yet how the result of the whole
procedure, processed like puzzling or building block, will be completed.
Completed one by one, it will become a huge space to bolster me someday, and
be the reason of the relationship surrounding me. That is what I only
know.
