
- This event has passed.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
WOAW Gallery is pleased to present Pop Craft Structure, a solo exhibition by Korean artist Gyuhan Lee. The title is derived from Lee’s transformation of mass-produced consumerist packaging into structured designs. Using the packaging of iconic brands, he creates furniture and furnishings with easily-accessible materials, infusing utilitarian function to waste and further drawing attention to consumerist behaviors. The exhibition will be on view from 7 November to 16 December 2024 , which also celebrates his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong.
Most of us know the familiar crumple of paper bags in our hands. We tear them open to consume its insides, barely registering the material beneath our fingertips as they are balled up and tossed aside like an afterthought. In the hands of Lee, the Korean artist breathes new life into the “valueless” material, skillfully weaving the recycled fiber with traditional Korean paper as he turns disposable waste into detailed craftsmanship.
To Lee, sourcing the easily accessible materials is the beginning of his creative process. Using the image of popular and iconic brands that he himself consumes, such as McDonalds and Nike, he creates his works by hand in what he considers to be a process of repetition. As many of the materials he uses already have predetermined logos and bright colors, Lee works to strike harmony between the structure and form, as well as color and balance, of his works. In this new series, he focuses more on images of popular brands by incorporating Hermés blotting paper into his lamps. Inspired by the Hermès building in Ginza, Tokyo, the two new lamps mimic the window panels of the architectural design.
Between the thin layers of upcycled paper is Lee’s careful craftsmanship, stretching material over frames, turning brand symbols into chromatic patterns, until a soft light emits from the delicate shade of his lamps. In his other works, he welds cardboard to plywood, furnishing the fragile surface of the Nike shoebox into a sleek design with smoothed edges and vibrant patterns that gleam all on their own. As an artist designer, Lee reimagines not only waste management but also consumer behavior, entertaining the seemingly boundless possibilities of upcycling through traditional Korean craft.
ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER
Gyuhan Lee (1996, Seoul, South Korea) studied Living Design in Kaywon University of Art and Design, where he questioned the copious amount of waste generated by our everyday actions. This reflection on daily waste led to him developing a series of design proposals, from which he began to forge his personal line of unique works.One of his most notable projects is the McDonald’s paper bag lamps, where he turns recycled paper bags into light-emitting sculptures. In a process that he refers to as transforming “waste factory paper packages into handmade sculptures”, he questions the logo, color, and surface of the material.
His works turn the logo from a recognisable symbol to simply a pattern decorating his structures - by reconceptualising the image of the logo within the context of his work, Lee strips the symbol of its direct link to consumerism. This can be seen in the use of “Hanji” in his creations, which is traditional handmade paper from Korea, where the incorporation of new textures further removes the design away from the mass-produced nature of the original item. Ultimately, his works also question the role of the artist designer.
Organiser
You may also like
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.