Gallery Naeil in Jongno-gu, Seoul, will host an invitational exhibition by artist Lee Jung-ah, titled "Palimpsest of Multiple Perceptions," from the 24th of this month to August 5th.

Artist Lee Jung-ah has consistently offered audiences new perceptual experiences through her unique body of work that transcends the boundaries of metal, light, and painting.

Expanding upon the traditional concept of two-dimensional painting, the artist utilizes metal plates as her primary medium instead of canvas. She repeats a process of leaving countless traces on the metal surface through grinding and sanding, followed by layering multiple coats of transparent resin.

In this process, "light" becomes a core element of the work, creating different images and a sense of space depending on the viewer's position and the time of day. The shimmering silver lines in her pieces evoke the image of reeds swaying in the wind, while simultaneously revealing an ever-changing countenance through the materiality of the metal and the reflection of light.

As viewers move in front of the works, they experience new colors, depths, and spaces, encountering not a single fixed image, but a landscape that unfolds through time.

The exhibition opening will be held on Friday the 24th at 5:00 PM, and an "Artist Talk" will take place on Thursday the 30th at 3:00 PM. The "Artist Talk," in particular, promises a special opportunity to hear directly from the artist about the stories behind her work, her creative process, and her moments of inspiration.

[Critique] Palimpsest of Multiple Perceptions

Seo Gil-heon (Ph.D. in Fine Arts, Visiting Professor at Mokwon University)

In the work of Lee Jung-ah, who has continuously explored the nature of flatness, the canvas does not remain a passive support hidden beneath the screen. Instead, it functions as an active element responsible for direct expression. The metal plate, which she treats like a canvas by carefully scratching and grinding its surface, serves as both a physical support and a foundation that actively constructs the screen by interacting with light to generate perception.

The sharp luster effect created by the scratches and streaks left on the copper plate surface by grinders or sanding machines transforms the canvas into a unique medium that highlights optical characteristics. These features are implemented by having the marks and interstitial spaces on the metal surface reflect and distort light according to the viewing angle, thereby expanding the realm of expression by turning the surface into a vividly moving space.

Here, the surface of the canvas acts as a zone that draws light in as an active element of perception, serving simultaneously as a physical reality and a potential space of multiplicity. The primary characteristic of Lee's work lies in the emergent tension between visibility and concealment, as well as between instinctive perception and intentional composition. Each piece becomes a potential space—a field of creation where relationships between chance and memory, traces and erasures, and appearing and disappearing emerge.

The wrinkled surface of the work, where these effects unfold, is inscribed with the memories of time. This is a "palimpsest"—much like the clay tablets, papyrus, or parchment from ancient Egypt and beyond, where previous writings were erased and reused—signifying a pluralistic surface space where traces or the past remain potentially layered beneath.

Her work explores perceptual effects by applying the physical phenomena gained from the reflection of light on the grooves of metal plates or by inducing shifts in sensation through color pointillism. Her works, which manifest as sensitive and variable images that vibrate both the senses and the spirit, are thus centered on the "potentiality of multiple perceptions" that perceive, feel, and interpret visual phenomena.