CV
Lee Yunsung (b. 1985)
이윤성은 고전 회화와 조각의 도상을 만화와 애니메이션, 픽셀의 시각 언어로 다시 그리는 화가다. 오래된 서사와 현대 시각 문화에서 드러나는 표현에 관심을 두고, 그리스 로마 신화를 비롯한 신화와 전설, 종교에서 이어져 온 라오콘, 다나에, 토르소, 수태고지, 메두사, 조디악 같은 이미지를 모티프로 삼는다. 망가 또는 모에화로 불리는 서브컬처 이미지의 표현 방법을 형식으로 가져와, 그림의 주제와 형상뿐 아니라 프레임의 형태와 크기, 캔버스를 조합하는 모듈과 구성 방식, 색채와 묘법에까지 폭넓게 쓴다. 유화를 중심으로 픽셀 회화와 디지털 드로잉 작업도 함께 하고 있다.
중앙대학교 서양화학과를 졸업했다(2011). 두산갤러리 서울(2015)과 두산갤러리 뉴욕(2016), Gallery Joyana(마르세유, 2022), DDDART(도쿄, 2025) 등에서 개인전을 열었고, 서울대학교미술관(2026) 등의 단체전에 참여했다. 2014년 두산연강예술상(미술 부문)을 받았고, 2016년 두산레지던시 뉴욕에 참여했다. 작품은 두산아트센터와 스페이스K에 소장되어 있으며, 현재 한국에서 거주하며 작업하고 있다.
Lee Yunsung is a Korean painter who reworks the iconography of classical painting and sculpture in the visual language of manga, anime and pixels. Concerned with old narratives and with the forms of expression found in contemporary visual culture, Lee takes as motifs images handed down through myth, legend and religion, Greco-Roman mythology above all, among them Laocoon, Danae, the classical torso, the Annunciation, Medusa and the Zodiac. Lee adopts as a formal language the methods of the subculture imagery known as manga or moe, and extends them beyond subject and figure to the form and scale of the frame, the way canvases are combined and composed as modules, and the handling of color and paint. Working mainly in oil, Lee also makes pixel paintings and digital drawings.
Lee received a B.F.A. in Western Painting from Chung-Ang University, Seoul (2011). Solo exhibitions include DOOSAN Gallery Seoul (2015), DOOSAN Gallery New York (2016), Gallery Joyana, Marseille (2022) and DDDART, Tokyo (2025), and group exhibitions include Seoul National University Museum of Art (2026). Lee received the DOOSAN Yonkang Arts Award in Visual Arts in 2014 and took part in the DOOSAN Residency New York in 2016. The work is held in the collections of DOOSAN Art Center and SPACE K. Lee lives and works in Korea.
Education
2011 B.F.A. in Western Painting, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Frames of Torso, DDDART, Tokyo, Japan
2024 Odd&Nu, MUSEUM WAVE, Seoul, Korea
Fragmentary, YK Presents, Seoul, Korea
2022 ZODIAC, Gallery Joyana, Marseille, France
SD ZODIAC, EDIT HANNAM, Seoul, Korea
2021 Nu Collection, UARTSPACE, Seoul, Korea
2020 Torso, YK Presents, Seoul, Korea
2019 PIXEL PROMETHEUS THE THREE GRACES, STANDARD.a + Superellipse Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Inside of Light, UARTSPACE, Seoul, Korea
2016 NU, DOOSAN Gallery New York, New York, USA
2015 NU-FRAME, DOOSAN Gallery Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2014 NU-TYPE, Makeshop Art Space, Paju, Korea
Group Exhibitions
2026 Everyday Images: How They Address Us, Seoul National University Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2024 Outflux, YK Presents, Seoul, Korea
2023 BORDERLESS, ANANTI CULTURE CLUB, Busan, Korea
Smooth Stone Field 2, Schema Art Museum, Cheongju, Korea
Summer Mix Vol. 1, TUESDAY TO FRIDAY, Valencia, Spain
Goblin Mode, ART SPACE HOHWA, Seoul, Korea
Matter and Digital, Roun Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2022 Beyond Horizon, Gallery BK, Seoul, Korea
Thirsty Enthusiasm, Gallery BK, Seoul, Korea
2020 Gradation: From Red to Golden, MUNITO + Superellipse Gallery, Seoul, Korea
YNLDLHRS: 2000–2020 The Portrait of Korean Pop Culture, Art Delight Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2019 Nu Defiance, Gallery JJ, Seoul, Korea
2018 TasteView, Tastehouse, Seoul, Korea
Sub-frame, LEE EUGEAN GALLERY, Seoul, Korea
h/er, Ligak Museum of Art, Cheonan, Korea
2017 Recentworkgallery, Thisweekendroom, Seoul, Korea
TasteView, Tastehouse, Seoul, Korea
A Boy, Be myth, Space K Daegu, Daegu, Korea
2015 Goods, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Seoul, Korea
2014 Today's Salon, COMMON CENTER, Seoul, Korea
Small Collection, Gallery Jinsun, Seoul, Korea
2013 Prologue, Makeshop Art Space, Paju, Korea
TOP 10, Makeshop Art Space, Paju, Korea
2012 Brand New 5, EUGEANE GALLERY, Seoul, Korea
2011 PREVIEW, Alternative Space TEAM PREVIEW, Seoul, Korea
Subtle Encounter, Gallery THROUGH, Seoul, Korea
Awards
2014 DOOSAN Yonkang Arts Award in Visual Arts, DOOSAN Yonkang Foundation, Seoul, Korea
2013 SDU ART PRIZE, Seoul, Korea
Residencies
2016 DOOSAN Residency New York, New York, USA
2013 Makeshop Art Space STUDIO M17, Paju, Korea
Collections
DOOSAN Art Center
SPACE K
Publications
2024 Fragmentary, Superellipse, Seoul, Korea
2020 The Drawing Book Torso 100, Superellipse, Seoul, Korea
2016 NU, Mediabus, Seoul, Korea
Selected Bibliography
2024 Jihong Baek, "Bishōjo in Explosive Bloom: A Tenth-Anniversary Guide"
Saemi Cho, "Taxidermy the Joy," in Fragmentary
2023 Konno Yuki, "Painting on the Cut Surface: Yunsung Lee's Gaze on Sculpture"
2015 Seung-yeon Jang, "A Hybrid of ‘References’: One Signifier with Multiple ‘Archetypes’," in NU
Hyun Jung, "The Cross Section of Structure," in NU
2014 Geun-joon Lim, "A Critical Note on Paintings by Yunsung Lee," in NU