Artist: Lee Kun-Yong

Pace presents an exhibition of pioneering Korean performance artist and painter Lee Kun-Yong at its gallery in Geneva.

The exhibition includes paintings and drawings that are emblematic of the spectrum of Lee’s practice, as well as photographs documenting a 1976 performance. This exhibition marks the artist’s first-ever presentation in Switzerland.

Lee Kun-Yong is widely regarded as one of Korea’s most influential experimental artists. His practice, which spans performance, sculpture, installation, and video, has been instrumental in shaping the trajectory of contemporary art in Korea and beyond. Emerging in the 1960s and 1970s, Lee was at the forefront of the avant-garde movement in South Korea. Alongside contemporaries such as Ha Chong-Hyun, Jung Kangja, and Kim Kulim, Lee helped to cultivate a distinct Korean dialect within the broader context of Conceptual art. This movement did not merely replicate Western trends but developed a unique voice rooted in the sociopolitical landscape of the time. His work challenges the conventional boundaries of art by emphasizing the physicality of the artist's body as a medium of expression.



In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Lee was a key figure in the Space and Time (ST) movement, which sought to explore the relationship between art and the physical presence of the artist. This movement, characterized by its focus on the experiential and temporal aspects of art, represented a radical departure from traditional art forms. Lee’s involvement in ST was marked by his innovative use of the body to create art, often through performances that highlighted the transient nature of human actions and their impact on the surrounding environment.

“My art is not special,” Lee has said. “It’s not unique. It’s about communicating with things that are close to us. So, if the audience looks into it deeply, we’ll be able to find things that relate to us both.” This approach has led him to create art that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. Lee’s practice often involves making marks on canvases with simple bodily actions, capturing the essence of human movement and its inherent limitations.

The exhibition at Pace will feature seven paintings and four works on paper from Lee’s seminal series Bodyscape series (also known as his The Method of Drawing series). These works exemplify Lee’s innovative use of the body in creating art. Filled with traces of his movements, the canvases are vibrant and alive, reflecting his belief that art is about communicating with things close to us. Photographs from a 1976 performance will also be on view.

Earlier this year, Lee was featured in Only the Young: Experimental Art in South Korea, 1960s-1970s, a major exhibition that travelled from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. In August 2023, the artist also performed Snail’s Gallop (1979/2023), at Pace’s flagship gallery in New York. Documentation of this event can be found on Pace’s Journal.