At 94, the Pioneering Lee ShinJa Weaves a New Custom for Feminist Textile Artwork — Colossal



Artwork
Craft

#fiber artwork
#Lee ShinJa
#tapestry
#textiles
#weaving

When artist Lee ShinJa was born in 1930 in Uljin, Korea, throughout a interval of Japanese colonial rule,  textile traditions have been largely rooted in home makes use of and craft. However for Lee, who took in her mom’s and grandmother’s classes in stitching and weaving, fiber proved to be a cloth of experimentation and innovation.

Weaving the Daybreak, the artist’s New York debut at Tina Kim Gallery, showcases a number of many years’ value of tapestries that problem the boundaries of the artwork kind. On view are preliminary sketches, analysis, and works that spotlight the evolution of her methods and elegance. Early items like “Image of City” punctuate clean cotton fabric with patches of free, meandering threads in impartial tones, whereas later works like “Spirit of Mountain” are rendered in full coloration. A shiny turquoise sky spans the tapestry with monumental landforms rising within the foreground. Half of a bigger sequence evoking the topography of Lee’s hometown, the piece emerged from a want to seize the unparalleled fantastic thing about her birthplace. The artist defined:

Rising up in a rural space, I vividly bear in mind the extreme daylight at dawn and sundown. I’ve cherished reminiscences of climbing mountains with my father each morning to witness these moments. The daylight rising from the East Sea left a long-lasting impression on me. I’ve at all times believed in creating nature as I see it. Nevertheless, I nonetheless really feel that my work has but to match the fantastic thing about my hometown.

Lee is usually lauded for her technical innovation and dedication to exploring the chances of fiber. The aforementioned “Image of City” is one such instance. “She unraveled the plain weave of the base fabric and twisted subtly colored threads to the loosened ones to create a structural tension previously unseen in traditional textiles,” a press release from the gallery says.

“Spirit of Mountain” (1994), wool thread and metallic, 23 1/2 x 30 3/4 inches

Along with her ingenious approaches, Lee additionally launched unconventional supplies, together with skinny metallic dowels that bisect summary landscapes and geometric varieties in works like “Hope.” She additionally integrated burlap sacks and unraveled wool sweaters, a follow she developed whereas learning at Seoul Nationwide College in 1955 whereas Korea was recovering from the battle. “I love creating new things, and there were no teachers to learn from at university, so I worked independently,” Lee advised Artsy. “I wanted to do something different from what others were doing. The establishment of textiles as an academic field in Korea didn’t come until much later.”

Given her autobiographical subject material—which incorporates the landscapes of her childhood and in addition her responses to her husband, the painter  Jan Woonsang, being credited with making her early work—Lee’s tapestries may be learn as a feminist infusion of non-public expertise and critique. That she’s helped to garner art-world recognition for what’s lengthy been thought of a home craft firmly secures her place amongst Twentieth-century pioneering girls artists.

Weaving the Daybreak runs by way of September 28.

“Dawn” (c.Eighties), wool thread, 88 5/8 x 57 1/8 inches

“Image of City” (1961), cotton, linen, and wool thread on cotton fabric, 46 7/8 x 29 1/2 inches

“Wall Hanging” (1976), cotton and wool thread, 59 7/8 x 32 3/4 inches

“Hope” (2001), wool thread and metallic, 28 3/4 x 30 inches

Lee ShinJa in her studio in Icheon, 2011. Picture courtesy of the artist

#fiber artwork
#Lee ShinJa
#tapestry
#textiles
#weaving

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