Young Joon Kwak,
Choreography for Divine Transitions (Gestures), 2025,
Urethane, epoxy resin, glitter, wax pigment, mirrored glass, steel, Size
variable. Installation Photo: Paul Salveson ©Esther
Schipper Berlin/Paris/Seoul.Esther Schipper Seoul presents a two-person
exhibition, 《Young Joon Kwak & Eusung Lee》, featuring Los Angeles–based artist Young Joon Kwak and Seoul-based
artist Eusung Lee, on view through December 20.
Jointly organized with Commonwealth and
Council, this exhibition offers an engaging opportunity to connect and
juxtapose the two artists’ distinctive interpretations of the body and their
explorations of form through experimental and liberatory approaches.
Installation view
of 《Young Joon Kwak & Eusung Lee》 (Esther
Schipper Seoul, 2025) Photo: Hyun Jun Lee ©Esther Schipper Berlin/Paris/Seoul.For this presentation, Young Joon Kwak’s Choreography
for Divine Transitions (Gestures) (2025), an expansive, cumulative
group of sculptural works, is arranged center stage. Cast from friends and
collaborators, the sculptures represent an ensemble of bodily fragments. Each
sculpture’s concave resin surface is burnished with pigmented wax, “fleshing
out” embodied impressions. A shield covered with shards of mirrored glass, the
convex shells act as protection––and lure the viewer into an orchestrated encounter.
Trans 삼태극
(2025), a new relief by the artist is adorned by rhinestones in pastel pinks,
blues, and iridescent white. Shimmering, refracting the gallery’s spotlights,
the tondo’s color code references the transgender pride flag. In a symbolic
gesture Kwak reenvisions, in their own words, “the traditional primary color
scheme of sam-taegeuk––representing earth, heaven, and humanity––to embrace and
safeguard all bodies in transformation.”
Installation view
of 《Young Joon Kwak & Eusung Lee》 (Esther
Schipper Seoul, 2025) Photo: Hyun Jun Lee ©Esther Schipper Berlin/Paris/Seoul.Eusung Lee’s tripartite wall sculptures Eponym,
Bucentaur, and Study of Model A (all
2025) are installed throughout the exhibition space. Part of her ‘Symbolon’
series, they depict bisected halves: a hand-carved wooden leg, wings made of
fabric and yarn, a metallic model of Alef’s flying car.
These works appear to be on a collision
course propelled by flights of fancy and technological innovations. With their
seams exposed, their uncanny compositions reveal fissures in the building
blocks of evolutionary progress. Co-opting a visual lexicon of movement and
accelerated speed, the ‘Symbolon’ series explores the boundaries of imagination
confounded by fraught egos.
Installation view
of 《Young Joon Kwak & Eusung Lee》 (Esther
Schipper Seoul, 2025) Photo: Hyun Jun Lee ©Esther Schipper Berlin/Paris/Seoul.This exhibition continues Esther Schipper
Seoul’s ongoing engagement and exchange with Korean artists. Commonwealth and
Council, the collaborating gallery, was founded 15 years ago in Los Angeles and
works with artists of diverse nationalities and backgrounds—including many from
Korea—who collectively challenge existing boundaries and continually raise new
questions.
