Lee Bae was born in 1956 in Cheongdo, South Korea. In 1979, he founded the Fine Arts Department at the Hongik University Art College in Seoul. Since 1990, he has lived and worked between Paris and Seoul.


Lee Bae’s monochromatic practice is a formal and immersive quest into the abysses of blackness. Subtly blurring the lines between drawing, painting, sculpture and installation, he has shaped his abstract aesthetics across categories to grant the non-color tangible depth and intensity.
Until the mid-2000s, he worked exclusively with raw charcoal to create minimal and refined, mosaic-like assemblages of charred wooden shards or chunks on canvases, as well as larger sculptural arrangements of carbonized trunks. Obtained by burning wood and used to revive fire, charcoal offers a powerful metaphor for the cycle of life that has further inspired him to open his exploration onto the fourth dimension of time.

While he has moved on to solely working with carbon black, a substance close to soot, Lee Bae’s latest series of pictorial works crystallizes random elemental gestures, which he practices beforehand with Indian ink on paper, into thick layers of translucent acrylic medium resembling wax.

EDUCATION
1979 - Started the M.F.A. Department of Fine Arts, Hongik University Graduate School of Art, Seoul, Korea

SOLO SHOWS

2019 (Upcoming)- Galerie Perrotin, New York, USA

2018- Black Mapping, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France- Plus de lumière, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France- Overstated & Understated, Paradise Art Space, Incheon, Korea

2017- Mir Gallery, Pohang, South Korea

2016- Johyun Gallery, Busan, South Korea- La Cohue, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Vannes, France- Issu du feu, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France- Suspens, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Bignan, France

2015- Carte Blanche à Lee Bae, Musée Guimet, Paris, France

2014- Fernet Branca Fondation, Saint-Louis, France- Gallery Hyundai, Korea- Contemporary Art Museum, Daegu, Korea- RX Gallery, Paris, France- Wooson Gallery, Daegu, Korea

2013- Holly Hunt, New York, USA

2012- P&C Gallery, Daegu, Korea

2011- Musée d’Art moderne de Saint-Étienne Métropole, Saint-Étienne, France- RX Gallery, Paris, France- Galerie Nicolas Robinsons, New York, USA- Galerie IBU, Paris, France- Galerie Winter, Wiesbaden, Germany

2010- Galerie Andrew shire, Los Angeles, USA- Galerie 604, Busan, Korea

2009- Today Art Museum, Beijing, China- Mark / Motion / Imprint, Whitebox Art Center, New York, USA- Gallery Seok, Daegu, Korea

2008- Hakgojae, Seoul, Korea- RX Gallery, Paris, France

2007- Hakgojae, Seoul, Korea

2006- RX Gallery, Paris, France

2005- IBU Gallery, Paris, France- Cigong Gallery, Daegu, Korea- Gallery M, Daegu, Korea?- Kawafune Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2003- Johyun Gallery, Busan, Korea, Cigong Gallery, Daegu, Korea

2000- Artist of the Year, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea- Cigong Gallery, Daegu, Korea- Gana Art Center, Seoul, Korea- Kongkan Gallery, Seoul, Korea

1999- Space Galley, Busan, Korea- Cigong Gallery, Daegu, Korea- Gana Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea

1998- Galerie Gana-Beaubourg, Paris, France

1997- Cigong Gallery, Daegu, Korea

1996- Willy d’Huysser Gallery, Brussels, Belgium- Seomi Gallery, Seoul, Korea

1994- Bellefroid Gallery, Paris, France

1993- Espace Artsenal, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France

1991- Bateau-Lavoir Gallery, Paris, France

1988- Soo Gallery, Seoul, Korea

1987- Kyungin Gallery, Seoul, Korea

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
National Museum of Contemporary Art,

Gwacheon, Korea-

Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

Busan Museum of Art, Busan, Korea

Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, Korea

Museum of Contemporary Art, Dae Gu, Korea

Jeju Museum of art, Jeju, Korea
Leeum-Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae, Korea

Musée d’art moderne Saint-Etienne, France

Gyeongnam Art Museum, Gyeongnam, Korea

Fondation Colas, France

Privada Allegro Foundation, Madrid, Spain

Baruj Foundation, Barcelona, Spain

Ministry of Culture and Communication, Paris, France

FNAC (Fonds National d’art Contemporain), Paris, France

CNAP (Centre national des arts plastiques), Paris, France

Fondation Carmignac, Paris, France

Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, France

Musée Cernuschi, Paris, France
Musée Guimet, Paris, France

AWARDS
2013 National Association Price of Art Critics, South Korea
2009 Artist of the Year, Korean Cultural Center, Paris
2000Artist of the Year, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon/Seoul, South Korea

Source:
Website of PERROTIN