Korean artist Jae-Hyo Lee is known for his comprehensive works made with organic materials found in nature. The contemporary artist’s pieces often utilize the natural media, reconfiguring their shape to create unnaturally manufactured creations. The works reflect the original elements’ beauty in a newly stylized form. From sculptural wood-based furniture to a series of suspended stone sculptures, which is what originally caught my eye, Lee exhibits an ability to manipulate nature and conform its construction into something new without losing the essence of the materials.
For over two decades, Lee has been constructing these labor-intensive rock installations, three-dimensionally composed into cylindrical shapes. The hanging stones are generally aligned in layers and serve as the contours or the negative space outlining the desired form. The illusionary structures present midair tunnels. There’s something very surreal and science fictional about the works that make it seem like a portal to a distant land is being assembled out of the earth.
