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Alternatively, New Dan Bal Ryeong, Mang Geum Gang is presented on a single monitor. The origin of this work is from Jeun Sun, a Chosun Dynasty landscape artist. There are two mountains; one is the famous Geum Gang San (Diamond Mountain), which is presented on the left side of the work and Dan Bal Ryeong on the right. The space between two mountains is blanketed in clouds. Towers and statues from beneath the clouds begin to rise while the astonished pilgrims from the old painting descend the mountain in haste. The contrast between undisturbed nature and our modern material civilization is a point of contingency for Lee. |
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“Which begs the question: what do we still have to learn from these archaic scrolls in our digital age?”
By Soojung Hyun
Seminal artist, Nam June Paik, received international acclaim for his video work. And like many other Korean artists, he has produced some of the most advanced video art from a variety of different perspectives. Another such artist is Lee Lee Nam. And most recently, he presented his multi-paneled works at the Kang Collection during Asia Week New York 2012 from March 16 to 24. Born in 1969 in Damyang, near Gwangju in South Korea, Lee advocates that the medium of video is capable of expressing the “virtual imagination” in ways that exceed the concept of moving images employed by early cinematographers. While Lee’s works may appear cinema-graphic, his sensitive techniques combined with a highly original use of advanced technology provide viewers with a more engaging interrelation with time-based media.
Lee uses old masterpieces as the subject matter for his digital creations. Works, such as Ming & Qing Painting: Happiness and MukJuk Do, installed in the galleries at the Kang Collection are appropriations of traditional Asian brush paintings that have been re-contextualized through the use of animated graphics. These animations, along with the fascinating work New Dan Bal Ryeong, Mang Geum Gang, extend the possibilities for how we understand paintings from the past within our new media language.
Ming & Qing Painting: Happiness is composed of five vertical LED monitors. We see birds soaring from one screen to another, accompanied by views of the changing seasons and lackadaisical clouds. During this procession, two-dimensional images, pulled from the masters’ scrolls of the past appear on the screens. These images however, have been morphed from their flat, recognizable originals into new three-dimensional constructions.
MukJuk Do presents boughs of bamboo on a single monitor, an image borrowed from a famous painting by a Joseon Dynasty painter, Huh Ryun (1808-1893). Here, Lee used digital forms to give movement to the original work; snow piles up on bamboo leaves while the faint music of the Gayageum, a Korean traditional string instrument, plays. As the seasons pass, the snow melts away and the leaves quiver in a digitally constructed spring breeze. Lee’s work reminds one of the Transcendentalists of the late 19th century, and mimics the sensation one might experience while standing amidst nature.
Alternatively, New Dan Bal Ryeong, Mang Geum Gang is presented on a single monitor. The origin of this work is from Jeun Sun, a Chosun Dynasty landscape artist. There are two mountains; one is the famous Geum Gang San (Diamond Mountain), which is presented on the left side of the work and Dan Bal Ryeong on the right. The space between two mountains is blanketed in clouds. Towers and statues from beneath the clouds begin to rise while the astonished pilgrims from the old painting descend the mountain in haste. The contrast between undisturbed nature and our modern material civilization is a point of contingency for Lee. Which begs the question: what do we still have to learn from these archaic scrolls in our digital age? Namely this–the struggle to find or create a balance between the ancient and the modern, a struggle that consumes Lee Lee Nam and his digital video repertoire.
