2021.9.1 – 9.28
Lee Jeong lok

In his book On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin presumed that all existing species on earth share a common ancestor. He named the hypothetical organism, which is supposed to be the gene commonly discovered in all existing species, the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). In order to determine the identity of LUCA, the origin of life, biologists tracked down genes, and physicists devoted themselves to quantum mechanics.

The series is the output of the legendary mystical creature called the white deer, which Taoist hermits used to ride in Baengnokdam Crater Lake of Hallasan Mountain in Jeju, the origin of life, and its moment of explosive eruption completed with Lee Jeong lok’s spiritual communion. The tree and the deer were completed through the overlapping and entanglement of light, and the legend and the myth were in turn completed through the series, by Lee Jeong lok, who has worked on the topic of the tree of life for a long period of time. When the artist was working on the in Jeju, he was inspired by the legend of the white deer of Baengnokdam Lake, and named this white deer LUCA, which means the common ancestor of all existing species on earth.

Lee Jeong lok, who had consistently been exploring the mysteriousness of the invisible world through the , , , and series, long continued his work around the topics of energy, life, nature, and space, which are not visible but made him shudder and gave him inspiration. He had pursued the task of visualizing the fundamental world hiding on the other side of the world of visual experiences—the world which cannot be seen but most certainly exists. Through numerous experimental processes, this task was accomplished over a span of four years. In the following decade, the topic has continued beyond space and time, widening its spectrum in various forms. That is, by ‘taking interest in the fundamental world which lies behind the visible world’ and creating a work out of ‘the energy and spiritual mystery which exist in the invisible world,’ the artist displays ‘the presentation of that which is not presentable (nicht-darstellbares)’ in his work.

Lee Jeong lok combines consistent light with momentary light. The momentary light he uses is difficult to handle compared to the consistent light, and he is practically the only artist who creates forms such as butterflies and symbols through momentary light, so his originality in form is recognized not only in Korea but around the world. Some say that he has taken light painting techniques to another level. As such, artist Lee Jeong lok’s endeavors materialize into works of art that are mysterious, mystical, and exclamation-evoking, as he treats his work the way a physicist would treat quantum mechanics

gallery NoW
16, Eonju-ro 152-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
+82 2 725 2930

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