Untitled (Willing To Be Vulnerable — Velvet #9 JTVP 3582/23 CE)

Lee Bul fuses organic and architectural elements in this work from her latest series, Willing To Be Vulnerable. Using a specially prepared paint containing mother-of-pearl – a substance that is part of a living organism – Lee Bul blends biological structures with pictures of fantastical worlds. The artist explores the binary principle inherent in the natural and the artificial. Combining organic and non-organic components, the collage invokes Lee Bul’s earlier works in which she tested the boundaries of utopia and reality, as well as the boundaries of her own ego. The surface is made up of elements of the images that appear in the installations Via Negativa and Civitas Solis, intermixed with spattered fragments of mother-of-pearl.