Lot Essay
Steadily evolving on themes that are timeless but in absolute contemporary context, Lee Bul's exploration on human social phenomenology can be traced back to early 90s when she was acclaimed for ornamenting a plump fish with plastic sequence to mimic the iridescent texture of the fish scales; however Lee's artistic objective was to overturn this superficial beauty by slowly revealing sensorial, perceptive violence with the gradual deterioration of the fish, whilst the synthetic beads still illuminate in sparkle. Preserving her conceptual core, she further investigated on the dialectic between structure and function in various forms but mainly through the fusion of technology and nature/body to present 'superhuman power, the cult of technology, and girlish vulnerability' all at once. Both Autopoiesis (Lot 1435) and Untitled (Lot 1436) flexibly poise between installation and sculpture, delicately composed with luminous crystal beads and stainless steel wires exuding an organic grace and fragility. Lee's evolution theory transcended in these hybrid forms where the idea of nature/body has deducted into mere organic silhouettes, constructed with mechanical mediums to utter the increasingly frail line between body and machine. Strings of translucent beads are weaved in complexity to a from a solid mass, each wire meticulously detailed, twisting and adjoining together as if to create a new DNA; the overall aesthetic glimpse is sheer with its luminous exterior but Lee's proves her concept is ceaseless as with time, viewers begin to experience anxiety and vertigo, lost within the knotted intricacy of the sculpture.