An Obscure Reply
ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL is pleased to present Korean artist Jinju Lee's solo exhibition "An Obscure Reply." There are times when when we run into unexpected fragments of imagerries that resurface from the in-betweens of our memory and oblivion of happiness, exquisiteness, or violence that leaves us with trauma. Jinju Lee, with her unique sensitive, obsessively searches random pieces of imageries that recur from her entangled memories. And while retranslating through painting, these stories transform into extremely absurd yet beautiful scenery. "An Obscure Reply," Lee's first solo exhibition in 6 years in Korea, is the product of the artist's painstaking contemplation on memory and forgetting. As Lee adds on "allegory" as a device in these memories and forgetting, Lee's works accumulate more uniqueness. Unidentifiable female figures drift around in a titled cube shaped canvas painted with scrupulous details of, both relevant and irrelevant, objects in disarray. It seems as if, to the artist, these objects carry allegorical meanings that obscure or displace their original meanings and implications. Craig Owens, on discussing "allegory," defined it as an image becoming something other, where allegory is "quite capable of transforming the most objective materialism into the mots subjective expressionism." Even if these cryptic elements are consciously planned or not, Lee's works portraying the boundaries of memory and oblivion set in a dream-like, almost surreal background, welcome various possibilities of the work. Like an unfinished sentence, or an "obscure reply," Lee taps into the viewer's sub-consciousness creating more depth to her works. Born in 1980, in Paju, Korea, Lee Jinju earned M.F.A and B.F.A in Oriental Painting from Hong-ik University. Lee's solo exhibitions include "Jinju Lee" (2014), Doosan Gallery New York, New York; "Evanescing, In-evanescinh" (2011), Gallery Hyungdai 16 Bungee, Seoul; "A Way yo Remember" (2010), Gallery Hyungdai Window Gallery; "Story of Silence" (2008), Gallery Junmiso, Seoul; and "Patterholice" (2006), Gallery Dos, Seoul. The artist has been participated in divers group exhibitions including "The Evolution of Socialist Realism"(2016), American University Museum, Washington D.C., ; "Falling in Love with Women's Portraits" (2016), Sejong Art Museum, Seoul; "Journey to a Fluid Island" (2016) Kumho Museum, Seoul; "East Asia Feminism: FANTasis" (2015), Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul; "Girls Generation"(2013), Space Cottonseed, Singapore; "Real Landscape, True Reflection" (2013), OCI Museum of Art, Seoul; "On Manner of Forming" (2012), Edwin's Gallery, Jakarta; and "Wonderful Pictures" (2010), Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul. Jinju Lee currently lives and works in Seoul, Korea.