Jinjoon Lee (Korean language: 이진준, Jinjoon Lee is an artist, based between Seoul and London. He is a Korean-born in Masan ,Korea in 1974. He is a video artist emphasizes the crossing of the past and the present, and of the real and the imagined, by creating a visual collage of stills, moving images and cinemas. He explores the structure of the cinema and daily life and collapses a certain cinematic narrative through collage techniques. As a visual artist, Jinjoon Lee uses a wide range of media, including photo, drawings, film, video, sound and installation, to explore the perception of time, space and scale as an organic link between the pieces, the viewer and the exhibition space. His works frequently appropriate and manipulate images and literary narratives taken from art history, popular culture and, above all, cinema. His deconstruction of cinematic materials reveals a special interest in film language's structural sediment rather than its narrative articulations. The resulting ambiguity engenders a new type of deconstruction: of the notion of the sublime, which is questioned through a continuous journey between apparent proximity (transparency of the image) and effective distance (decoding its narrative connections).
Background
Jinjoon Lee is now based between Seoul and London. He was born in Masan, S.Korea in 1974, graduated from a College of Business Administration of Seoul National University in 2001, and transferred to a Department of Sculpture of Seoul National University, completed undergraduate and MFA courses, and has taken a MA degree in Moving Images from Royal College of Art, London. Starting from exhibition at Koreana Art Museum in 2004, and exhibiting “Breaking Away” at alternative space pool, participated over 40 times to major special exhibitions such of domestic and overseas such as “Korea Young Artist” at National Museum of Contemporary Art in 2008 and National Museum of Contemporary Art of the Czech Republic in 2010. Art works were invited and showed from many film festivals such as Turkey Istanbul Digital Film Festival in 2008 and Jeonju International Film Festival in 2009, and participated to residency programs of Chang-Dong Studio of National Museum of Contemporary Art of Korea in 2005 and Jaipur Central Museum of India. Held private exhibitions at Arco Art Center of Art Council of Korea in 2007, Gallery Sun Contemporary in 2009 and Art Space Gallery Jungmiso in 2011. Art works of Drawing, Photo and Media Artworks are displayed at 10 different locations such as The Farjam Collection in DIFC in Dubai, a College of Engineering of Seoul National University, and Gallery Parkyoung at Paju, Korea. The MediaPublic Art Sculpture named “THEY” was installed at Digital Media Complex located at Sangam-Dong, Seoul in 2010 and became a permanent display since then. Proceeding with a study of Media Architecture jointly with many architects working from Germany, France, Japan, India, China and Korea. Currently resides in Tokyo, Japan and actively participating to exhibitions from Korea and overseas including Seoul Gasan Digital Complex Media Façade Project.
Education
- 2016 Moving Images Pathway , Royal College of Art, London, UK.
- 2009 Graduate school of Fine Art in Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
- 2005 Sculpture, Fine Art College in Seoul National University, Seoul.
- 2001 Business Administration , Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Selected Solo exhibitions
- 2011 Artificial Garden, Alternative Gallery Jungmiso, Seoul, Korea*
- 2009 Your Stage, Sun Contemporary Gallery, Seoul, Korea
- 2007 A Play for Role- Art theater, ARKO Art Center, Art Council of Korea*
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2013 The Third Eye, Gandhi-King Plaza, Lalit Kala Akademi, IIC, Lodi Estate, New Delhi, India*
- 2012 SEMA BLUE 2012- Korean Promising Young Artist, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2012 Topos Metaphor, Moran museum of Sculpture, Yangpyung, Korea
- 2012 Light of Korea, India Korean Culture Center, New Delhi, India
- 2012 Lighting & Playing, Seoul Art Center, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
- 2011 Pink City, Jaipur Art Museum, Jaipur, India*
- 2011 Interview, ARKO Art Center, Art council of Korea, Seoul, Korea
- 2011 The World of Light Art, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwon, Korea*
- 2010 Korea Contemporary Art, Chez National Museum, Plague, Czech
- 2010 Mood is the oldest clock, Bulgaria Foreign Museum of Art Sofia, Bulgaria
- 2010 Floating Hours, Korea National Museum of Contemporary Art, Duksu-Palace, Korea 11th Jenju International film festival (JIFF) , Jenju, Korea
- 2009 CITY-Net Asia 2009, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2009 Urban & Disurban, Media Installation Project in a Ruined Inn, Seoul, Korea*
- 2008 Young Korean Artist 2008, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2008 Space of Alien, Hutcheson Gallery, Long island University, New York
- 2008 International video screening program, Sofia in Bulgaria, Istanbul in Turkey, Copenhagen in Denmark
- 2007 Channel 1, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
- 2007 Where Euclid Walked, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2007 Korea & China Contemporary Art, Square Art Museum, Nanjing, China KunstDoc International Studio Documentary, KunstDoc Gallery, Seoul, Korea*
- 2006 Korea & India Young Artist, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, Korea
- 2006 Chang-Dong International Residency, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2005 Project 139, Il-min Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2005 Media Exhibition-108 Live & Die, ICAM Museum, Yong-in, Korea* Seoul Young Artist Exhibition, Seoul Civil Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
- 2004 Artist of New Sight Exhibition-Detailed, Alternative Space POOL, Seoul, Korea
- 2004 The 2nd Selected Artist Art Wall Installation, Space*C Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea*
- * Site-specific commissioned project
Commission & Special Project
- 2013 The third eye, the India Cultural Centre and the Embassy of the Republic of South Korea
- 2013 Artificial Garden, Media Façade, Hyundai Group. Seoul, Korea
- 2012 ECO, Music theater performance, video installation, Art council of Korea, Seoul, Korea
- 2011 The room for memory, Documentary for missing soldiers in Korea War, Ministry for National Defense, Seoul, Korea
- 2011 To stage, design & consulting for Media agency project, Korea Telecom, Seoul, Korea 2011 They, Public Media Sculpture, LG Group, Seoul, Korea
- 2008 Your stage 2008, Parkyoung Inc., Paju, Korea
- 2007 Interdisciplinary Theater Performance -Half Water, Half Fish, Space Loop, Seoul, Korea
Artist Residencies
- 2011 Vyom Art Center, Jaipur, India.
- 2007 Open studio in Art Council Korea, ARKO Art Center, Seoul, Korea
- 2006 International Rotary Club USA –KOREA group exchange program, Michigan, MI, USA
- 2005 ChangDong 4th International Residency, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
Awards & Grants
- 2014 3rd Sculptor Moon Shin Prize for Young Artist, Korea
- 2011 Granted Young Promising Artist by Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul, Korea
- 2008 13rd Korea Young Artist, Korea National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea
- 2008 Grand prize (2million US$) In monument to the Digital Media City Seoul, LG, Seoul City, Korea
- 2008 Granted NART Yong Artist by Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul, Korea
Selected Bibliography
- 2011 Lee, Eun Joo. “Two Eyes watching the world”, Seoul culture Today, Seoul 2009 Lee, sun young. “Artificial Garden”, Monthly Magazine ‘Art’, October, Seoul
- 2011 Ha, ge hoon. “Jinjoon Lee” , October, Seoul Art Guide, Seoul
- 2008 Lee, Chuyong. “Living is Dying”, Korea Young Artists, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Feb, Seoul
- 2008 Kim, Min Kyung . “SIGHT & INTERVIEW- Jinjoon Lee”, Shin Dong-A Magazine, June 2008, Seoul
- 2007 Lee, Jung A. “Studio in Museum & Museum in Studio”, Art council of Korea, Kyun, Hyuk Ju. “ Jinjoon Lee: Alienation with amusement” , Public Art , September , Seoul
- 2005 Jung, Yong Do. “Jinjoon Lee: Behavior Speculation”, Space, August, Seoul: p. 11-21
Publication
- 2012 Artificial Garden, UN Press, ISBN 9788996814603, Seoul, Korea
Main Press Coverages
- 2013 Light From Shadow, English Daily Press ‘The Hindu’, India http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/light-from-the-shadows/article5245086.ece
- 2011 Can you feel the warm light like real nature? , Korea main Daily Press ‘Chosun Ilbo’ , Korea http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/09/19/2011091902274.html
- 2011 Documentary film ‘A light alchemist Jinjoon Lee’ , National Broadcasting company ‘MBC’, Korea
- 2011 ‘light garden’, Jaipur Daily News 23nd Sep , Jaipur ,India
- 2009 Sight and Interview 6th – Jinjoon Lee , Monthly Magazine ‘Shindonga’, Vol 597 http://shindonga.donga.com/docs/magazine/shin/2009/05/29/200905290500027/200905290500027_1.html
Public Collections
- National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gacheon, Korea
- The Farjam Collection In DIFC(Dubai International Financial Center), Dubai
- Seoul National University, College of Engineering, Seoul, Korea
- Hyundai Group. Seoul, Korea
- Marriott Hotel, Seoul, Korea
- Ministry for National Defense, Seoul, Korea
- Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
- Pakyoung Inc., Paju.Korea
- Samtoh Inc., Seoul, Korea
- Sang-Am Digital Media City (DMC), Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul, Korea Space*C Coreana Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea