Installation
view of 《Lemon》
©Space Willing N DealingSpace Willing N Dealing presents a solo
exhibition 《Lemon》 by artist Lee
Seungchan (b. 1985), on view through August 10.
Set against a world saturated with images,
this exhibition conveys the artist’s meditation on whether the countless signs
and symbols, often drained of meaning or gone in a blink, can still fulfill
their original function, and on what new possibilities images themselves might
yet hold.
Installation
view of 《Lemon》
©Space Willing N DealingThe way “lemon”, originally just the name
of a fruit, has come to denote something worthless or subpar echoes the
Platonic view of how we relate to images. For Lee Seungchan, images are far
more than seductive surfaces or hollow data. They act as clues to forgotten
memories that surface through the gaps between countless things consigned to
oblivion.
The artist notes that in today’s
world—where smartphone searches and social media are part of everyday
life—images tend to remain confined within a few algorithm-driven categories of
interest, only to be quickly forgotten as new ones appear. At the same time,
the artist focuses on moments when an image unexpectedly evokes a different
association than what it outwardly presents, triggering a surge of past
memories through the cracks of forgetfulness.
Installation
view of 《Lemon》
©Space Willing N DealingLee visualizes the cycle of forgetting and
remembering by repeatedly layering and scraping paint. By covering the previous
surface with new paint, he enacts forgetting past memories; then, by scraping
the surface again to reveal traces of the earlier layers, he reawakens what was
forgotten—remembering through forgetting.
Through the repeated gestures that build
the rough textures on his canvases, viewers witness elements emerging from
layered veils of imagery, coalescing into new meanings before their eyes.
