DOOSAN Gallery New York is pleased to present the Solo Exhibition of Yunsung Lee, a recipient of the 5th annual DOOSAN Yonkang Arts Awards, from May 19th through June 23rd, 2016.

This exhibition comprises of NU-TYPE, which takes subject matter from Western master paintings reinterpreted into Japanese animation form, as well as NU-FRAME, which is an exploration of painterly and figurative methods of expression. Thus, the exhibition is titled NU, to represent the selection of works on display.

Yunsung Lee has been using the subculture within Korean culture that was brought in from Japan as the material for his work, reconstituting the subject into fine art.

His early series NU-TYPE stands for "new humanity," a terminology that is borrowed from Japanese animation. The artist joins together the specific recurrent styles within traditional Western painting with recurrent clicheʹs from Japanese comics and animation, attempting to overcome their distinctions and disparities in order to search for and seek out a new form and language of painting.

In his later series NU-FRAME, Lee applies the method of segmenting the frame as used in comic books and digital games into his paintings. Comics and digital games both consider how to depict three-dimensional worlds into a two dimensional surface, and in that way it is similar to Western painting. However, as the artist employs the method of frame segmentation that naturally developed within the Japanese comic world into his canvases, he is able to suggest a new visual language and point of view.

For instance, in Danae(2015), the canvas is divided into three segments, then Danaeʹs two opposing facial expressions are juxtaposed within two canvases. Then, homogenous colors are layered onto the surface, removing a sense of traditional perspective, creating a very flat image.

Recently, as the subculture of Japanese comics and online games become more mainstream, there has been an emergence within Korean contemporary art to use these as the context and subject matter of their work. This exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to observe this current situation and its future direction.

Yunsung Lee (b. 1985) received his B.F.A in Painting from Chung Ang University. He has held Solo Exhibitions at DOOSAN Art Center DOOSAN Gallery(Seoul, KR, 2015) and Makeshop Art Space(Paju, KR, 2014). His works have also included in group exhibitions at COMMON CENTER(2014, Seoul, KR), GalleryJinsun(2014, Seoul, KR), Makeshop Art Space(2013, Paju, KR), LEE EUGEAN GALLERY(2012, Seoul, KR), Alternative space TEAM PREVIEW(2011, Seoul, KR), Gallery THROUGH(2011, Seoul, KR), and GONGPYEONG ARTCENTER GONGPYEONG GALLERY(2010, Seoul, KR).