SEULGI LEE | SPAN | IKON GALLERY BIRMINGHAM
Hors les murs 25 June 2025 - 7 September 2025Address : Ikon Gallery 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham B1 2HS
Jousse Entreprise is proud to announce Seulgi Lee’s first UK solo exhibition SPAN (25 June – 7 September 2025) at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham.
Born in Seoul, South Korea and living in Paris, France since 1992, Seulgi Lee’s work is shaped by the use of colour, gesture, simple yet elegant forms and performance. Intrigued by the relationships between language systems, form and function in traditional crafts, she has developed a unique artistic practice in which she combines conceptual approaches with artisanal methods. For her exhibition at Ikon Gallery, Lee explores a historical measurement – the span of the human hand – through artworks from ongoing projects alongside new pieces commissioned by Ikon.
Developed from research with the School of Jewellery at Birmingham City University, SIX PENCE (2025) harks back to the Victorian trade of mother-of-pearl buttons. Sometimes crafted from oyster and mollusc shells from Asia, these fasteners were akin to an everyday form of jewellery, accessible to all purses. Embedded in a wall of the gallery, the intimate work highlights the subtle artistry and lustre of such buttons, conjuring for Lee the illusion of “stars walking on clothes”.
Made in collaboration with artisans in Tongyeong, a city on the Southern coast of South Korea, Blanket Project U (2014–ongoing) uses Nubi – a densely padded quilt sewn line by line – as a medium for recalling vernacular proverbs. Colourful, geometrical compositions and the direction of the weave reflect the meaning and actions of the idioms. Hung on the wall or displayed horizontally on plinths – just as original Nubi were laid down on beds – the selection includes two new commissions depicting British sayings: U : A Piece of Cake = Easy to Get Rid Of and U : 감쪽같다 Like a Kaki = As If By Magic (both 2025).
W (2017–2018) is an ensemble of palm-leaf baskets woven by female weavers in the village of Santa María Ixcatlán, Mexico. Positioned on thin, metal armatures, their anthropomorphic forms reflect the landscape of the northern region of Oaxaca and stories told to Lee by the weavers. Works at Ikon include W / Sala si tundu tsude chitjiũ ju wa, The madman has a broken blue (green) nose (2017), in which an empty-bottomed basket embodies the fragmented body part protruding from a torso-shaped trunk, and W / Sa la kwa shunga lachju itzie ske, Young girl with neat hair (2017), where two side forms evoke tightly woven buns. Once a city of more than 10,000 inhabitants, the village’s native language, Ixcatec, is currently practised by four elders; a dying tradition whose disappearance Lee seeks to counter through these works.
SPAN (2025) distills the technique of Korean dancheong mural painting into a line-based composition painted by Suyeon Kim, expert practitioner of intangible heritage in Seoul, and artisans trained in this ancient art. The bright colours of SLOW WATER (2022) draw further inspiration from the vivid palette of dancheong with an elevated platform of intricately interwoven wooden slats built in the style of Korean Munsal (traditional lattice door or window). The floating installation deftly combines the typology of the modernist grid with a riot of colours that shift with the movement of viewers.
Heard throughout the gallery is NANANI GONG-AL (2021), a collaboration with Ga-gok folk singer Minhee Park combining two traditional women’s songs: the Gong-Al song from Incheon, Korea and the Akita Ondo song from Akita Prefecture, Japan. The Gong-Al song, which describes the forms and colours of the female sex (Gong-Al or ‘egg ball’ in old Korean slang) after sexual intercourse, was often sung by women and men while they made ropes before going to work at sea. Played at intervals, the lively lyrics emphasise the transformation of oral lore when passed between generations.
Alongside her solo exhibition, Seulgi Lee also participates as a resident artist in Ikon’s other summer exhibition, Thread the Loom. Working live in the gallery on an AVL Studio Dobby loom, Lee will engage in cross-cultural conversations about textile art with West Midlands artists. Both Ikon exhibitions offer visitors an opportunity to engage with diverse contemporary art practices while celebrating traditional textile skills and crafts.
Vernissage : 24/06/2025 12:00 am
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