Lee Bae

Lee Bae was born in Cheongdo, South Korea in 1956. He studied at Hongik University, receiving his BFA and MFA in Fine Arts in 1981 and 1986. He has lived and worked between Paris and Seoul since 1990.

Internationally renowned for his monochromatic practice, Lee Bae’s works offer a formal and immersive journey into the depths of the colour black. Subtly blurring the boundaries between drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation, the artist has developed a distinctive abstract language that imbues black with material presence, depth, and intensity.

Central to his practice is the use of charcoal. Produced through the burning of wood, the material serves as a potent metaphor for cycles of destruction, renewal, and life. Until the early 2000s, he worked exclusively with raw charcoal, creating minimal, mosaic-like assemblages of charred wooden fragments on canvas, alongside large-scale sculptural works composed of carbonized tree trunks.

In more recent years, Lee has transitioned to working with carbon black, a material closely related to soot. His latest pictorial works crystallize spontaneous, elemental gestures made with charcoal ink on canvas and paper, recording movement, duration, and the passage of time within each work.

His work has been exhibited widely across Europe, Asia and North America including at the Phi Foundation (Canada), Wilmotte Foundation (Italy), Musée des Beaux-Arts (France), Indang Museum (Korea), and Musée Guimet (France), and belongs to major public collections such as the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul Museum of Art (SEMA), and Leeum-Samsung Museum of Art. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France, 2018). In 2024, Lee Bae presented his exhibition La Maison de la Lune Brûlée as an official collateral event of the 60th Venice Biennale.