Discarded railway ties and rubble were fashioned into suspended sculptures. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee] 

Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, is renowned as a city with the highest number of artists per capita. Even in Yangpyeong, with its dozens of galleries, the Lee Jae-hyo Gallery in Jipyeong-myeon is considered a "hot spot."

This is because recently, BTS's RM visited the gallery and posted an 인증사진 (verification photo) on Instagram, drawing visitors from all over the country. While the gallery has seen a surge in visitors thanks to RM, Lee Jae-hyo is actually a top-tier artist whose works are eagerly collected by museums and renowned hotels both domestically and internationally.

Hotel Lobbies are Great Spaces for Engaging with the Public 

In Korea, his works can be seen at the W Hotel Seoul, Conrad Hotel Yeouido, Marriott Hotel Seoul, Swiss InterContinental Hotel, and the 63 Building. Internationally, his works are exhibited at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, USA, Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taiwan, Johnson Museum of Art in the USA, Arte Sella Sculpture Park in Italy, and around the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Wooden spheres connected with nails are Lee Jae-hyo's signature works. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

Inside the cafe at the Lee Jae-hyo Gallery. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

Artist Lee Jae-hyo prefers hotel lobbies as exhibition spaces over museums. This is because while museum collections may remain in storage for extended periods, works displayed in hotel lobbies are constantly in the public eye and engage in continuous communication.

The Lee Jae-hyo Gallery in Yangpyeong, spread across a 2,000-pyeong site with five exhibition halls, displays approximately 1,000 works. A significant portion of these are outdoor installations found in the courtyard. His dedication to outdoor works likely stems from his aspiration for art to be easily discovered and appreciated in open spaces, rather than being isolated within confined areas, embodying "living art."

Although Lee Jae-hyo had been actively creating art since his university days without interruption, he supported himself for over a decade by supplying small sculptures to places like Namdaemun Market and express bus terminals. He separated "merchandise for sale" from "artworks," seeking a balance between "life" and "profession."

The period of "feeling good upon receiving an order call but feeling stifled in his heart" ended after he won the grand prize at the Osaka Triennale in 1998. The prize money was 120 million won, at a time when the top prize for domestic art competitions was only around 10 million won.

The prize money exceeding 100 million won propelled him to stardom. Many people wondered what kind of work could warrant such a prize. Invitations for commissioned projects poured in from around the world. A street artist who used to create sculptures for 150,000 won suddenly found himself in the ranks of artists commanding hundreds of millions. Of course, this did not happen overnight. He constantly explored and immersed himself in his work without rest.

The materials he carves and refines are natural elements such as wood, metal, and stone. He suspends stones bound with wire in mid-air, carves wood connected with metal into spheres, and meticulously finishes metal nails attached to wood. Welding metal, grinding stones, and cutting wood are part of his daily routine. It's a level of hard labor that's hard to imagine.

Furthermore, the fifth exhibition hall, located deep within the premises, displays drawings, offering a glimpse into the artist's idea generation process and his unique world of imagination. This space would be particularly beneficial for adolescents or aspiring artists.

Looking at Lee Jae-hyo's works, the phrase "sculpture is engineering, architecture, and painting" comes to mind. His art fuses architectural elements that construct space with engineering considerations that account for physical structure, and painterly elements that handle light and color.

Nothing, and Yet Everything

Artist Lee Jae-hyo embarked on his artistic journey by joining the art club at Dongnae High School in Busan, which led him to study sculpture at Hongik University. While he has been actively engaged in this pursuit for 40 years on the surface, strictly speaking, it's an endeavor that began with his birth.

Artist Lee Jae-hyo

The Lee Jae-hyo Gallery is nestled within nature. [Photo = Reporter Lim Yo-hee]

His father was a roofer, which provided him with ample opportunities to play with clay from a young age. Perhaps the infinite potential for transformation inherent in clay is what shaped him into the artist he is today. For him, wood, stone, and metal are all akin to clay.

He creates curtain walls by stringing together leaves and completes flat works by rolling them up. He also intertwines wood to form spheres and bends and grinds three-dimensional nails into two-dimensional visual pieces.

A sphere constructed from wood and empty space. When asked about the meaning of this sphere, the artist replied, "I wanted to create something out of nothing." It's a profound answer to a simple question.

"Something out of nothing" can also be interpreted as "everything." The sphere he creates may resemble a ball, but it can also represent a planet or the universe. It could even be emptiness itself. Just as the saying goes, "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao (道可道 非常道)," the moment it is defined as "something," its meaning slips away and it becomes something else, just as it is nothing and everything simultaneously.

Therefore, at the Lee Jae-hyo Gallery, all we need to do is to simply observe. Is there any better place to clear one's mind?

Reporter Lim Yo-hee