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Artist Lee Bae's solo exhibit questions his understanding of art and interrogates his farming roots

Published: 07 Apr. 2026, 13:50

LEE JIAN
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An "Issu du feu" sculpture by the artist Lee Bae is featured at the entryway of Museum SAN's main building in Wonju, Gangwon. [MUSEUM SAN]

WONJU, Gangwon — Seven tons of charred chunks of wood, strapped together with ropes, form one inky, undulating monolith rising eight meters (26 feet) outside Museum SAN’s main gallery hall.

Some may recognize a similar piece from the 2023 installation at New York’s Rockefeller Center.

The carbonized sculpture, “Issu du feu,” is a signature work by Lee Bae, one of the most internationally sought-after Korean artists today. He is best known for his minimalist, abstract aesthetic, primarily created with charcoal.

"Brushstroke" paintings made with charcoal ink by the artist Lee Bae are displayed at Museum SAN's lounge area. [MUSEUM SAN]

Though based in Paris and Seoul, his exhibitions have taken place more frequently abroad than at home in recent years.

Helming a full solo exhibition at Museum SAN — a bold venue designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and a stark departure from the white cube — in Wonju, Gangwon, was “an honor” for Lee, but also a deeply vulnerable experience.

“I call myself an artist, but as I prepared for this exhibition, I found myself reflecting on how much I truly understand art,” Lee told reporters at the museum on Monday. “It led me to contemplate my roots: who I am, where I grew up and what I had dreamed of until this point.”

Artist Lee Bae speaks to reporters about his solo show "En attendant: Waiting" at Museum SAN in Wonju, Gangwon, on April 6. [LEE JIAN]

In particular, he returned to his identity as the son of a farmer.

Born in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang, in 1956, Lee comes from a long line of farmers. When he told his father that he wanted to become an artist, his father strongly opposed the idea, as he had hoped that Lee would follow in his footsteps.

“I have many memories of that time,” Lee said. “Being the son of a farmer remains a significant part of who I am.”

So Lee decided he would approach the exhibit “as a farmer digging the earth while praying.”

In doing so, he realized that “waiting isn’t a passive act but a kind of longing — a state of mind marked by an incompleteness, by a lack and by a lingering sense of something missing.”

A "Brushstroke" sculpture, front, by the artist Lee Bae and a video clip of him farming at his hometown, Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang, are on display at his solo show "En attendant: Waiting" at Museum SAN in Wonju, Gangwon, on April 6. [LEE JIAN]

The resulting show, “En attendant: Waiting,” which opened on Tuesday, unfolds as a meditative procession of 39 sculptures, installations, paintings and videos. While many of the pieces are new, they act as extensions of practices he has sustained over the past three decades.

The artworks are staged to be in conversation with Ando’s architecture and Wonju’s lush landscape.

Ten-meter-long (32.8-foot-long) bronze "Brushstroke" sculptures are scattered throughout Museum SAN's Stone Garden as part of the artist Lee Bae's solo show "En attendant: Waiting" in Wonju, Gangwon, on April 6. [LEE JIAN]

Lee’s six bronze, totemic sculptures, collectively named “Brushstroke,” for instance, stand in the museum’s Stone Garden and overlook the rolling mountains. At 10 meters tall, they intentionally match the height of Ando’s structure and the surrounding trees. The sculptures were inspired by Lee’s visit last November to the site of a massive wildfire in Gangwon that scorched roughly 360,000 square meters (89 acres).

The 16 calligraphy-inspired paintings, also titled “Brushstroke” and made with charcoal ink, are scattered around what was previously the museum’s lounge area, where its floor-to-ceiling window lets in ample sunlight.

“This exhibition was conceived so that the material of the works, the architecture [of the museum] and nature closely resonate with one another, allowing visitors to experience the space rather than simply view art,” said a representative from the museum on Monday.

Artist Lee Bae performs his signature brushstrokes on the soil taken near his studio and hometown in Cheongdo, North Gyeongsang, at Museum SAN in Wonju, Gangwon, on April 6. [LEE JIAN]

Lee situates himself within today’s contemporary art landscape as an Eastern liaison in what he describes as a still “West-centric” art world.

After graduating from Hongik University’s department of fine arts, he relocated to Paris in 1989 to expand his artistic horizons. It was there that he first began working with charcoal, a medium that would become central to his practice, and has since received numerous accolades, including the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from France in 2018, the “Artist of the Year” award from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in 2000 and the Korea Culture and Arts Award in 2023.

“If you look at the vocabulary [used] in Western contemporary art, even the language surrounding Eastern art still feels insufficient. Traditions such as ink painting and calligraphy are not easily understood,” Lee said.

“Charcoal itself is neither new nor unfamiliar. It’s even somewhat conventional [especially to Asians],” he continued. “But I continue to use it in the hope that, through my work, Western audiences may come to better understand Eastern art and culture.”

“En attendant: Waiting” runs through Dec. 6

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]