Installation view of "Will There Be an Answer?" at Gallery Hyundai in Seoul (Courtesy of the gallery)
Installation view of "Will There Be an Answer?" at Gallery Hyundai in Seoul (Courtesy of the gallery)

A landscape is never just a place for artist Lee Woo-sung — it is where memory, time and emotion collide.

Lee's solo exhibition “Will There Be an Answer?” at Gallery Hyundai shifts the artist’s focus from figures to landscapes, expanding his long-standing interest in capturing the present.

The transition stems from a personal moment that reshaped how the artist approached his subject.

“As the new year begins, one friend was feeling down, while another quietly watched beside them at Seongsan Ilchulbong in Jeju,” Lee told the press on March 17. “At the time, I wanted to capture the anxiety of facing a new beginning and wondering how to move forward.”

"We Were There in Silence on the Verge of a New Beginning" by Lee Woo-sung (Courtesy of the artist, Gallery Hyundai)
"We Were There in Silence on the Verge of a New Beginning" by Lee Woo-sung (Courtesy of the artist, Gallery Hyundai)

Rather than focusing on figures, Lee began to see the surrounding landscape as a space capable of holding such emotions — they can be the Hangang Bridge, Jongno 3-ga Station, Aewol beach and Seongsan Ilchulbong in Jeju, as well as rural rice fields.

“I’m interested in how beauty and sadness coexist,” Lee said.

Lee’s first showing at Gallery Hyundai, coming three years after his last exhibition, features more than 40 works, including a large-scale hanging painting and a sound piece composed from recordings made across different sites.

“I’ve been thinking about how to find the right balance between representation and the unreal," he said.

Though the recurring figures in the paintings are evolutions of the artist's self-portraits, they appear ambiguous in terms of gender, race and nationality.

"We Talked and Talked, and Laughed and Laughed Until Dawn" by Lee Woo-sung (Courtesy of the artist, Gallery Hyundai)
"We Talked and Talked, and Laughed and Laughed Until Dawn" by Lee Woo-sung (Courtesy of the artist, Gallery Hyundai)

Boundaries often appear in his works through transitional moments in the landscape — such as sunset or daybreak.

“I found it difficult to draw others, but when I began drawing myself, I felt a sense of freedom. Starting from self-portraits, I wanted to expand that experience, which led to these figures appearing in my work,” he said.

“I often think about what kind of message I can convey to people through painting. I hope that when viewers leave the exhibition, something lingers with them,” the artist said.

The exhibition “Will There Be an Answer?” runs through April 26 at Gallery Hyundai in Seoul.


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