Lee ShinJa: Threadscapes: MMCA Korea Gwacheon

Lee ShinJa (b. 1930) is a prominent figure in the realm of Korean contemporary crafts and a pioneer of the first generation of fiber artists who devoted her life to nurturing and educating the next generation. Her artistic journey laid the foundation for Korean fiber art through her innovative exploration of various fiber materials and the application of unique expressive techniques even before the emergence of fiber art as a new form in Korea.

In her works, Lee often incorporates ordinary, everyday materials that resonate with Koreans’ cultural sentiment, such as grain sacks, mosquito netting, wallpaper, and paper. Through her understanding of the rich textures and potential of these materials, and through new sculptural experiments and methods of expression that perfectly explore her materials, the artist elevated fiber art to a realm of new artistic possibilities.

Lee’s lifelong work with tapestry involves using the vertical warp threads as the canvas and horizontal weft threads as the brush, creating patterns on the surface with only the color of the weft threads. While the warp represents events unfolding over the sequential time, the weft depicts non-sequential images based on the artist's thoughts and imagination. The entire process is a culmination of verifying each moment with the passage of time, drawing an analogy to the element of recurrence of human life. Like a novelist filling the blank page with letters along a single vector, the artist painstakingly "weaves, intertwines, and coils" her inner memories and landscapes throughout her life with her hands. Lee infuses her tapestries with a personal touch, enhancing the inherent warmth, sensitivity, and comfort of fiber with her own sensibility, thereby generating tapestries that encapsulate her essence.

Lee ShinJa, Threadscapes is an exhibition that reflects on Lee's life and oeuvre spanning over half a century. Lee’s journey as an artist, an educator, and a woman embodies the advancement and footprints of Korean fiber art and offers valuable insights into Korean contemporary crafts. The exhibition aims to not only shed light on Lee’s vast body of work but also facilitate the audience’s appreciation of Lee’s vibrant and beautiful yet relentless efforts to explore the true meaning of life.