Exhibition view of 《Promenade》 at NEW YORK Gallery LLC New York (USA), 2019. ⓒPerrotin Gallery.

Perrotin New York presents 《Promenade》, an exhibition from Korean artist Lee Bae, based in Paris, France and Cheongdo, South Korea. For his first solo presentation with Perrotin New York, the artist has created a physically immersive environment that expands upon his ongoing aesthetic and material experiments with charcoal. This concise collection of drawings, paintings, and sculptures represents three distinct bodies of work: 〈Issu du feu〉, 〈Landscape〉, and his most recent works on paper, 〈Untitled〉. Charcoal has figured prominently in Lee Bae’s practice since 1990, when the artist first moved to Paris and took up the ubiquitous material out of economic necessity. In this time of transition, charcoal also provided a cultural link to home, recalling the soot-based India ink used in Korean calligraphy but also the material’s many domestic applications: In Korea, it has been used in homes as a natural purifying agent for thousands of years. Lee Bae’s artistic practice involves a deep commitment to the cyclical transformation of charcoal, ushering the raw matter on its journey from wood to fire to carbon to powder. The works in 《Promenade》 loosely trace this transformation, allowing viewers to experience the surprising aesthetic multiplicity of charcoal.

Further information:
https://www.perrotin.com/exhibitions/bae_lee-promenade/7698