New York
Art Mora
Korean sculptor Soo Hong Lee, who teaches at Hong-Ik University in Seoul, makes work out of wood—seemingly simple pieces that we in America would relate to Minimalism, but which take on the ritual simplicity of spiritual expression. Though there is no overt reference to Buddhism in his work, his efforts feel infused with that philosophy. Wood is a simple material; and Lee’s pieces possess an honesty that relates them to the long tradition of wooden religious sculpture in Asia. Yet the work is relentlessly abstract, given to schematic imagery that repeats forms in negative and positive space. Korean sculpture is generally made with high skill, but sometimes the concept accompanying the work doesn’t live up to its manufacture. This is not a problem in Lee’s case; his works diffuse an aura that reveals an awareness of the evanescence of things while recognizing the gravitas of material and geometry.…see the entire review in the print version of June’s Sculpture magazine.
