Young artist Wonwoo Lee opened a new solo show at PKM Gallery’s temporary space in Jongno-gu this week. The exhibition features an almost alarming array of diversity, with sculpture, installation, photography, video, and even performance work included.
Lee takes his varied life experiences and reinterprets them into art forms, using aluminum, steel, and clay throughout his work. The exhibition title of “Welcome, Take Care” refers to the multitude of topics within the space, encouraging visitors to view the show as a conversation with the artist. Hence, the opening “welcome” and closing “take care” salutations.
The show largely takes the witty approach, playing with text and forms for a biting message. “Fat Coke” shows a dense, compressed version of a balled can, while “Diet,” a minimalist wall installation is sharply titled “If you're happy and you know it then your face will surely show it.”
Yet Lee’s paintings show yet another, more classical hand. A figurative landscape illustrates elements of European landscapes, humorously trivialized with the title, “The day after boredom was born.”
The artist himself was born in 1981. Lee studied sculpture and Hongik University and earned a master’s degree from London’s Royal College of Art. He held a solo exhibition last year at the alternative Gallery Loop and was a resident at Seoul Museum of Art’s Nanji Residency the same year. Lee has participated in various group shows at Artsonje Center, Hangaram Art Museum, Mullae Art Space, and London’s Pump House Gallery.
“Welcome, Take Care” runs through December 13.