Ode to Art is hosting Hyper-realist artist, Lee Jung Woong Solo Exhibition ‘Control in Spontaneity’ featuring 15 New Works from His Iconic Brush Series

Picture this: you are looking at a traditional Oriental brush with splashes of ink surrounding the elegant, glistening wooden handle and its fine brush hair that is wet with expressive movement and you wonder, is this an actual brush? You take a step closer. It is a hyper-realistic painting: an invisible hand holding an Oriental brush featuring either splatters, blotches, or splashes of ink across white Korean rice paper.

This is the astounding signature work of Korean artist, Lee Jung Woong and his ‘Brush’ series where he paints hyper realistic brushes that never fails to cause viewers to do a double take.

From 7 October till 7 November 2022, Ode to Art will be hosting a solo exhibition by Lee Jung Woong. Titled Control in Spontaneity, fifteen of Lee’s new works which are part of his Brush – Blue series will be on display in the gallery located at Raffles City Shopping Centre. A continuation of his Brush series, Lee titled the new works in this exhibition Brush – Blue as he features canvases of midnight blue instead of the typical black that one sees in his Brush series. The departure is a result of prolonged experimenting, thinking and refining by Lee who has been fascinated by the colours and elements of nature – from the river, to the mountains, to the sky. The newest Blue series thus is a record of his innermost thoughts and emotions, inspired by nature.

Lee’s visual simplicity extends from splashes of ink to cleansing bold strokes on a background of clarity, the artist instils the depicted inanimate object with emotion and spirituality, using space and altering the placement of background and foreground to expatiate the yin and yang he portrays.

From vast expanses to crowded canvases, the dynamism of his brush in its hyper-realistic rendering emanates intangibility that strikes the mind and stirs the soul, adding an amplitude of meaning to his stunning aesthetics and resulting in a perceptive masterpiece of infinite motion. Contrasting colors and spiritual energies is not the end of his elaborate expression, however, as his choice of western style and paint to depict a Chinese object is as much a play on culture contrasts as it is on the artist and his subject. Lee Jung Woong’s works are hence, multifaceted in both meaning and visuals – their magnificence is only amplified by a variety of interpretation.

“Only with utmost control can I deliver sporadic, irregular marks. These marks are not accidental, but intentional and carefully planned ones that serve to emphasise the realness of the brush, that emulate reality as it is — these binaries free each other. To me, this freedom that creates a surface riddled with contemplative possibilities leads to infinite imagination, perhaps for viewer introspection in a state of calmness,” says Lee.

Control in Spontaneity by Lee Jung Woong
Exhibition Date: 7 October till 7 November 2022
Venue: Ode to Art, #01-36E/F Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore 179103
Opening Hours: 11am-9pm, daily
Tel: 6250 1901