Interview: Eunkyoung Lee
Luca Curci talks with Eunkyoung Lee during VENICE EXPERIMENTAL 2023, in Venice at Palazzo-Albrizzi Capello.

Eunkyoung Lee is a Glass Expressor and Composer. Lee played the piano at an early age and majored in contemporary music composition. During her musical career days, Lee frequently travelled to Japan for work and across the world of Glass. The turning point in Lee’s artistic world began when she encountered unique glasswork in Toyama. It opened up a whole new world that stimulated Lee’s curiosity like no other, which eventually led her to explore Glass Materials.

Lee felt the urge to expand her artistic world from auditory to visual. The artist Eunkyoung Lee is interested in working on the connection points of the heterogeneous environment and experimenting with harmonizing each other, presenting works in various forms like Installations, Sculptures, Video, Painting, Music… Although there are no limitations to expressing, Lee’s artistic world evolves around Glass. Lee uses Glass in its original form to deliver a message and handles Glass as if she composes Music.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Eunkyoung Lee – For me, art is a way of looking at the world and a way of remembering. I encounter various environments in my daily life, and sometimes I focus on the unique scenes, spaces, and emotions I come across. And I ask myself the question ‘Why?’ The process of constantly asking myself questions is reflected in my work. After being asked this question, I couldn’t quite find the answer. So, I looked back on my work, one by one. My memories of how I looked at the world are reflected in my work and I came to the conclusion that this is what I define as art for me.

LC – What are you currently working on?
EL – I use glass as a means of visual language to express my thoughts. Sometimes I focus on the technical aspects of the glass medium and express it through the glass itself, and sometimes I don’t. I have expressed myself through installations, sculptures, digital art, imagery, and sound. Recently, I have been intrigued by experimenting with expressing glass on a two-dimensional plane. I have exhibited them in photographs, and have also printed digitally processed images.

Then, I stumbled upon a drawing by chance and found it very attractive. This is my first time painting on canvas. There are many different ways to paint, but I found a striking resemblance between oil painting and glass, which sparked my curiosity. I am understanding glass through oil painting, and am thinking about expressing glass in oil painting. I am working to exhibit my oil paintings around the Fall of 2024.

LC – How do you choose your subjects? Is it a reasoned or an instinctive process?
EL – I focus on unique scenes, spaces, and sensations captured in everyday life. I don’t do it intentionally for any purpose. I tend to have high curiosity, and I always ask myself the question ‘Why?’ to develop my thoughts. There are times that I quickly lose interest due to my curiosity, and there are times when I remain stuck on one question for several months. In the center of my visual language, there is “glass,” and it is with the medium of glass that I strive to express what I find most intriguing, curious, and want to find out about.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your medium of expression?
EL – It can be the center of the content or the medium. When using it as a medium of expression, I study the technical aspects. It takes a very long time for one piece to be completed. It’s very hard and difficult, but I find the process amusing. Most of the works used as a medium of expression are in the form of sculptures, and have been exhibited in Seoul, Bulgaria, England, the United States, and Turkey.

I also use glass to convey the message I want to express. Liquid glass form feels like the ‘virtual reality’ for me, rather than the solid glass form of reality. So, I tried to express these sensations by connecting them through online and offline. ‘Stay Tuned’ selected by the Korean culture and arts organization, Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation, is one of them. The previous exhibition ‘Stay Tuned’ in Venice was an extension of this ongoing project. I develop my work by thinking through glass.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
EL – I often receive this question at exhibitions. Every time I am asked the question, I think about ‘Where the “Completed” point is.’ I don’t think the work ends there. I think artworks are something shown during the moment of break in the process of working. Once I’ve installed my work in an art museum, new ideas start to emerge. The next steps for development come into my mind. And when I talk with people who come to see the exhibition, these thoughts become even stronger. I keep thinking of the work I want to do, but at the same time, time passes by so quickly these days.

LC – In which way the artwork presented in our exhibition is connected with the exhibition’s theme?
EL – I was curious when I saw the keyword ‘Venice Experimental.‘ I have never been to Italy before.
However, since I work with glass, I hear a lot about Italy, and I often interact with artists from Italy.
I think it’s a very lively, energetic place. Venice is a city steeped in tradition. It is a city closely related to ‘glass.’ Despite this, when the word ‘Experimental’ was added, it felt new. I love experimenting with glass. So, I wanted to participate in this exhibition and introduce my experiments with glass at ‘Venice Experimental.‘

LC – Can you explain something about the artworks you have in our exhibition?
EL – ‘Stay Tuned’ reflects an experimental approach to exploring the properties of glass.
The work was carried out after being selected for the ‘Technical Support for New Arts’ contest conducted by the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation in 2022. Also, the showcase exhibition took place at the former Seoul National University building, Design 1978, Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus. This work was also exhibited at G&J Gallery, Gwangju Museum of Art in January 2023. I work by rolling up liquid glass that is melted in a melting furnace using a pipe. And, the glass must go through an annealing process in a kiln for a certain period of time to become the glass that can be sensed in reality. I experience different states of glass in a single state. These states of glass sometimes feel like ‘virtual reality,‘ and I wanted to express these points by connecting them online and offline. The video work introduced in Venice is digitized glass. I wanted to think about the points that look like glass, but are not glass.

LC – Would you suggest a collaboration with us? What do you think about our services?
EL – I appreciate your introduction to the exhibitions in Rome and London. It was fascinating, and I’m sincerely grateful. If I get the chance, I would like to go and enjoy the exhibition in person.
So I couldn’t accept it right away. I am currently focusing on two-dimensional work and would like to introduce this work. Each time we exchange emails, I feel a positive energy, and I’m continually grateful for that. I would like to talk about the exhibition as the work I am currently working on is nearing completion.

LC – What are your suggestions about our services? Is there something more we can provide to artists?
EL – Due to the circumstances of being in Korea, I couldn’t go there in person and we communicated through e-mail. You all gave very accurate and prompt feedback.
So there was nothing to worry about and nothing I wanted to ask for. I am satisfied with it as is.

LC – What is your idea about ITSLIQUID GROUP?
EL – I think you convey the contemporaneity of art. I often get news through your website. The information is delivered very quickly and work is handled very accurately. I hope to continue this relationship with you for a long time.