Within the partnership between GANGWON ART & CULTURE FOUNDATION (GWCF) & BERLIN ART INSTITUTE (BAI) in the BAI Residency Program, currently artist Young Lee has been selected for a fully funded residency and takes part in Block 13: 12/06 – 12/31/2021 of the BAI Studio Program.
BAI and GWCF are partners in the Cultural and Art Exchange Support Project, which supports overseas residencies for arts professionals who have more than 3-year-experience in visual art activities. After the Open Call among Korean artists, curators, and art critics organized by the Gangwon Art & Culture Foundation, the GWCF provided a shortlist of finalists.
Young Lee holds a M.F.A by Korea National University of Arts, Seoul Korea (2011 ), as well as an B.F.A from the College of Fine Arts Keimyung Univ., Daegu Korea (2007) and participated in a number of group exhibitions and solo exhibitions include, Manmul-sijang (Everything Market), Label Gallery, Seoul, 2020; Jujube and Bee, InsaArtSapce, Seoul, 2019; 35-1: The Stone Tower, InsaArtSapce, Seoul, 2015; You, Out of Sight, Gallery175, Seoul, 2009; The Door, GalleryBoda, Seoul, 2007
Awards
Photographic and Video Contest of Mother, GyeongGi Cultural Foundation, Excellence Award, 2008
The Planning Contest of Whanghak-dong, Market of All Things, Chungmu Cutural Foundation, Excellence Award, 2007
Residency
Toji Cultural Foundation, Studio Support, 2011
”There are various plants among the city’s artificial objects for natural or aesthetic, emotional, and functional reasons. For example, a bench named City Tree is designed to improve air quality by placing moss all over the city. This brings the functions and elements of nature into the artificial framework. I think this method is very effective. And in another way, there are natural things that exist as life itself. It intertwines with various structures of the city and creates a unique landscape. Contrary to what I think, the two are not at the opposite point. Nature and man-made structures form a newly expanded ecosystem. I have a plan to show that artificiality is not on the other side of nature, but one of the other ecological species in nature through the photographic records of various urban landscapes.
The reality of a mixture of historicity, locality, and sociality is recorded through personal narrative based on photographic methodology. It uses various materials and objects such as signboards, St. Mary’s statue, stone pagodas, urban scenery, and daily life. Believing that normality is the virtue of a photographer, he moves at eye level with the objects around him. He hopes that his narrative will be applied in the crowd and makes steady attempts to expand his scope. Ultimately, he wants the universality and specificity obtained from his background to be revealed in pictures through different environments, different objects and materials.“ (Text by courtesy of Young Lee, 2021)
More information on the GANGWON ART & CULTURE FOUNDATION Website.
