Hyosook Lee
I ask myself “Would it be possible to capture a transient and immaterial idea from what I’ve done?” The motive of making a work often starts from noticing a soft and quiet voice from what I’ve encountered in life. Making a work, my thought is linked with the external world, which might be from physical to cultural things. My concern is about internalizing what I’ve experienced in the external world.
The vocabulary of my work is both observation of materiality and interpretation of it using my own hands. They are humble and ordinary work and hours and hours work is continued. I love to handle light and thin papers and stitch them using a fine long thread as my mark making. Waiting for the final form which emerges only when I’ve finished is also my language.
Connecting with the world, my perception centers on the things are silent and ephemeral. From them I’ve made sense of human existence. My thought has been inspired by one of key elements, i.e. water described in Tao Te Ching. Water in natural world is cited, deciphering as ‘pursuing the natural way’.
Through trial and error, I respond obediently to materials that I’ve chosen. They have their own nature such as stubbornness, limitedness, fragility etc. Repetitive work is also my drawing. I try to reduce my personal taste to a minor thing. Ongoing processes such as cutting, dyeing, drying, stitching and ironing make an internal space and time which is specific to me.
