Artist talkThursday 12 March 2020
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Artist Talk: Hochoul Lee in conversation with Jonathan Watkins
Drinks reception: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Lee’s recent works have focussed on the meaning of human cognitive functions, and his works are greatly influenced by philosophy. Lee’s inspiration for this series of works comes from the worrying problems related to political issues, the spread of racism and the growth of nationalism, and he believes that the collapse of traditional ethics is related to a lack of imagination and acceptance towards individuality.
In the present environment, people continuously process complicated information, standardised elements and results derived from statistics. This leads us to forget the uniqueness and originality of each individual.
In order not to succumb to the fear that the power of imagination in our modern society is declining, Lee is reminding himself of the importance of imagining individuality through repetitive physical activities in his works.
In this Artist Talk, Lee and Jonathan Watkins, Director of Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, discussed the artist’s influences and the works on show.
Presentation by Hochoul LeeA video of the seminar can be found here:
Listing image credits: Hochoul Lee’s Degree Show at the Royal College of Art
About the contributors
Hochoul Lee
Hochoul Lee (b. 1984) was awarded an MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art in 2019 after several years working as an artist with local art projects in Hiroshima. He also received an MA in Metal Casting at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2011. His solo exhibitions include Condensation Of Perception, Chisaikaisya, 2015; We Could Be Turned Inside Out In The Jell, Komyoji-Kaikan, 2015. His work has also been displayed in group exhibitions, including My Friends Are Geniuses II – Recent Graduate Exhibition, White Conduit Projects, 2019; Only Connect Osaka, CCO Creative Centre Osaka, 2019; Artist Social Reproduction, Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery @KCUA, 2018. Some of his works are owned by private collections. Lee is trying to revive people’s sensibility whilst stimulating human perceptions and recognition. Philosophy and modern thought are what give him inspiration, and he uses naïve methods and simple materials to materialise and visualise his works. He aims to maximise the conceptual meaning behind the works and the physical impression of the materials.
Jonathan Watkins
Jonathan Watkins has been Director of Ikon Gallery since 1999. Previously he worked for a number of years in London, as Curator of the Serpentine Gallery (1995-97) and Director of Chisenhale Gallery (1990-95). He has curated a number of large international exhibitions and has written extensively on contemporary art. Essays have focused on the work of Oliver Beer, Edmund Clark, Giuseppe Penone, Noguchi Rika and many more. He was the author of the Phaidon monograph on Japanese artist On Kawara. In 2013 he was nominated as one of the top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine.