The Karma called Stone and the Smiling Stone
Live interview with sculptor Lee Kyung-Jae


Prologue: Sculpture is 'the other' which is alienated from painting and stone sculpture also became 'the other' of sculpture. The biggest charm of stone sculpture is that carving method is used to enlivens it, not modeling. Elimination, thus getting rid of what is unnecessary is almost like the meaning of emptiness and nonpossession of the Buddhist philosophy. It is also in continuation of the aesthetics of Neoplatonism, believing that the spirit and soul exists within a material. I still want to observe today's stone sculpture based on this belief. In the era where concept is the most important, an era where concept overlooks substance, finding an artist who still sculpts in a 19th century style reminds me of Seiren that sings to Odysseus whose ears are blocked. Even so, the fact that excessive physical labor is required compared with all other genres of art and the belief that sincerity is secured at least in that moment of labor made myself turn toward the stone sculptor.

The Encounter with the Stone Sculpture
♣ Before meeting you in person, I had a vague expectation of meeting a sculptor that handles stones. Because handling stones seems quite anachronistic in the era of high-technology of today and at the same time, it seems precious. These days, sculptor as a profession is slightly strange and stone sculpting looks extremely unfamiliar. I should ask you in the first place a foolish question, why do you sculpt stones?
▶ I am a single-minded person. The only thing I can do is sculpt stones. The reason why? I should rather say that the stone came to me like destiny. It would be the same for all genres of art but stone sculpture is just like the process of life. As you would know, marble has to be dealt with extreme care and a mistake cannot be accepted. That's why one has to approach a stone with a thorough plan from the beginning. Having done so all my life, it's a pity that I didn't have any other hobby.
♣ So a stone sculpture is like a picky lover or your trouble maker child. You have to be very careful and must put great effort into it and furthermore, you can't anticipate. As the saying that media is the message, I keep on digging into what the stone means. For example, when observing the relationship between the artist and the material in plastic arts, people commonly believe that an artist who deals with a certain material becomes similar to the substance. Could you tell me in depth about your relationship with the stone?
▶ In fact, I am pretty timid. As sculptors are like with three-dimensional object that they deal with, I also have a certain timidity regarding space. When I am preparing for an exhibition, I keep on correcting my work every time I go back to the space. I think that 'imagination through tactile sensation' is the most important than any other thing while I am at work. For me, the texture of the stone such as marble, sandstone and granite is essential. Sometimes it feels soft and tender, quite often actually. The feeling that I am handling a flexible substance of variability is very attractive.


Getting a new opportunity!
♣ You have studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Carrara, Italy for 7 years, right? What kind of experience did you have in Carrara?
▶ A small city of Tuscany, Carrara, is a place where many sculptors with a strong figurative sense gathers. I have learned the expression of the human body, the basic of sculpture, in an exhaustive manner from the professors of the Carrara Academy. In fact, Italy can be quite an unfriendly country but I didn't really suffer during my life as a student. Of course, when I saw the sculptures in Rome and the Vatican, I said to myself in dismay, "Can I be called a sculptor?" "Can I ever do as they did?" It was difficult to overcome the sense of shame. But what else can I do? When I left Korea, I had a certain pride and determination to succeed since I was out of the circle of people and school. The decision to study sculpture in Carrara had been the best choice that I could have chosen. And at the Academy, the teachers acknowledged each student's unique sensitivity and encouraged students to do whatever they wanted.

♣ I feel that your works have become easier and more charming after you have studied abroad when comparing to your works in the beginning of your stay in Italy. Why do you think you have made this change?
▶ I consider the reaction of the viewer as important. Had I made something with all my might but it came out to be a piece of art that I am the only one who appreciates it, making such art lacks value. Whatever the reason, my works are made to make people happy and to give them a good feeling of what can be 'adorable' and 'comfortable.' I don't have a big-scaled idea behind my works.

♣ Your sculpture is figurative but not realistic. The realistic aspect is obscurely reduced into an abstract form. What is the reason for making rough and clumsy forms instead of giving a refine specific form to the body's expression?
▶ Realistic description is not interesting for me. I get bored very easily when I try to sculpt a realistic image. I prefer to obtain the richness of the overall outline by eliminating details. If you leave out the details, the sense of the whole becomes alive in a great deal.
♣ So it means that your work is oriented toward the essence of sculpture because you make the volume alive. That is, volume is the essence of sculpture and it seems to be well expressed in the feminine body among your works. They are far from being erotic figures. Of course, the Venus of Willendorf does not have the eroticism that we imagine of but one can say that it is surely the prototype of Terra Mater? In this aspect, it seems that your works also express a clear maternal instinct. Also in the way that along with the volume, they maintain the principle of frontality as in Egyptian sculptures.
▶ I agree. Expressing a feminine body is going closer to the prototype of maternal instinct rather than showing interest on the human body itself. It shows huge volume but the expression is relatively refined. This is to minimize the sculptural process and to refrain from expressing actions as much as possible. Static and contemplative image as if time has been stopped is the image I pursue.

A different view
♣ Your works of 2006 are especially simplified but have become a little humorous in contents. Even with independent images, a certain Korean sentiment such as waiting and souvenirs is told by a narrative. Furthermore, this exhibition shows works that focus on 'relationships' in particular. For example, the series that convey the harmony of an orchestra or the married couple, mother and son, family, etc. What was the reason for such change in your works?
▶ My wife is a sculptor too and we had our baby after a long time. This changed my works a lot. You can say that I started to look at people and things with a more compassionate view. That's why I now describe the people who live in the 'relation of co-habitation.' This was such a natural change for me. And the theme of mother and child, isn't this the eternal theme that humanity desires for? The message of fundamental love and peace of humans.
♣ Your view with a warm heart toward the object has not changed. When I first saw your works, there were only feelings of just being very familiar, nothing new, if I permit myself to negative expressions. So in a certain way, it was difficult to feel a visual pleasure. But as I view the works again after a certain time, the kind and adorable features come to me as new revelations. I thought about the reasons, and I came to the conclusion that it is due to the firm 'belief' that the artist has on the object, which forms the base of the work. That is, I can feel your relaxed warm view on the object. Maybe this was possible with the contact with nature, the stone, thus the status of becoming one with nature.
▶ Thank you for the reaction. As I am quite foolish, I dig into the object. Since I handle stones, perhaps I have become a man of stone. Stone is a living being which breathes, talks to you and comes close to you as if to softly seduce you but sometimes it can be oppressive and can seize me in an outrageous manner. Anyway, I strive to give the very opposite character to the stone, a light-hearted sensation and comfort, coziness to the immortal substance.

Patience or Sacrifice
♣ Artists referred to in art history seem to be people who have sacrificed themselves but who have survived in the end. For example, the incessant experiment of Picasso was enabled by his wealth in economic terms and works of Cezanne has been made possible by almost cutting away family ties. I wonder if you also had a certain sacrifice to create such sculptures.
▶ As I have mentioned before, stone sculpture requires seemingly excessive patience and the elaborateness of the result is shown according to the time invested into it. That's why I had to live simply by going back and forth to and from my studio and home. A life far from the secular pleasure. I didn't even see the movie 'Avatar' that almost all Koreans have seen. I would like to change from now on, but I am not sure it it will work.
♣ It is as if creating sculpture is a religious ascetic act. Can you maintain this kind of life continuously?
▶ I think so. Any sculptor who handles stone would probably lead a somewhat lonely life, alienated in some sort. Be it marble or granite, stone work requires long hours of extreme concentration so other matters cannot be tended to. I am also human, of course I had moments when I wished to walk an easier path. It is too hard, let's go easier now, be more comfortable. But this never works for me. Since stone sculpture is all I've learned, this is my vocation. I have always wanted to enjoy other cultural things but only with my mind. I guess I have a artisanal nature inside of me. I get nervous when I leave my studio. I have to be in the studio even when I am not at work.
♣ I wonder if stone sculpture has been degraded to a formality in the curriculum of the universities these days. Could you tell me about the students these days?
▶ You're right. You can hardly find an art student majoring in stone sculpture. If I can find some, I have mixed feelings of relief and regret. I welcome the spirit of challenge at such a reckless work but on the other hand, I worry about how they could make a living. In my case, after having students by my side for about 2 years, when I feel that there is nothing more to teach, I let go of them to become independent and make them go study abroad.
♣ Today's sculpture is being substituted with three-dimensional public art and sculptors that work non-stop daily have become almost extinct. They only seem to work hard short term for such public art pieces and live off the money they receive for this which creates a sort of vicious circle that repeats itself. So now is the time that the concept of typical sculpture has already vanished and therefore, the meaning of sculptor is going through transformation. I think it's a pity that it's difficult to meet sculptors in the traditional sense but on the other hand, I feel that it's such a relief that artists like you still exist somehow ...
▶ This is a message of whipping, to work harder, right? (Laughs). Well, I have lots of worries. About how to create the works that I pursue without going against the flow of the time. It's an eternal homework.

My Mentor, My Inspiration
♣ Who is the artist that has influenced your works until now?
▶ I respect the artists Igor Mitorai, Constantin Brancusi, Fernando Botero and Isamu Noguchi. Brancusi has expressed humans into a simple but sensuous form. When you see a work like , It does not resemble a real bird at all but the swift curve, glittering shape is beyond words' description; the beauty of a real bird's flight, the wings fluttering are even challenged by the sculpture. which depicts a figure's head, a glittering bronze sculpture, does not really look like a face but has a seducing power. I always think I would like to sculpt something like that whenever I see a piece like that. As if it's obvious.
♣ It's true that Brancusi's works seem to lie right on the borderline of figurative and abstract art. During a certain period, there seemed to be a work influenced by the of Brancusi. I wonder how it would be if the Brancusi style and Korean motifs were combined in your works. Additionally, your works remind me of Botero's sculpture in a way. You have mentioned Botero as one of your mentors.
▶ Botero is indeed an internationally established artist both for the artistic and public taste? The fat figures always make people happy. The essence of sculpture is volume, isn't it? So naturally, it pleases the eye and gives unlimited joy for the tactile sense too. Anyway, in the realistic perspective, Botero is one of the artists that I would like to resemble the most. Because my basic motto is 'enjoyable sculpture.' A piece of sculpture that makes people feel at home when it is around you.
♣ But in a certain way, don't you think it could be perceived as a very passive attitude which tries to go with the public taste? What is your idea of an artist like Botero who gives public joy and artistic satisfaction at the same time?
▶ Wouldn't it be all artists' hope? I also have the wish to have both sublime (or elegance) and humor (fun) together. Botero has shown this is possible and that's why he stands as a well known figure in the world.

Standing in front of the Mirror after the Return!
♣ I think the facial expressions of your works are quite uniform. I wonder if it can be considered as a unique expression proper to Koreans only or a universal one that conveys the heart of a child. Again, I wonder if the sculpted faces had each a little bit different expression, that is, showing a more dynamic one to depict human's happy, sad, angry and fun life, what would have been the result.
▶ I have been through the dilemma too. The works right after my return to Korea, at the beginning, I think that the archaic element and the rough and tough Korean sentiment coexisted. This is another homework to solve.
♣ Right. Maybe the solution is within the works you showed at the Return Exhibition. I slightly saw the proper expression of Koreans in the works, actually. The archaic aesthetic sense of Western sculpture and the sublime aesthetic of Korean Buddhist sculpture were cleverly blended. Personally, the face of a Baekjae person among Buddhist sculpture, the expression of Miruk is strangely beautiful. Don't you have any ideas to benchmark it?
▶ I have a wish to study again the facial expressions of Korea in the past that we lost nowadays, a kind and sublime smile full of humanity which was our identity back then. I shall do it with the intent to start again as if I'm in the beginning of my career. Art has no end or beginning. Art is what you just have to do.

Epilogue: "Here lies a project, as great as the world. And the one who saw this great project was an unknown man fumbling in the dark in search for food. He was totally alone, if he was truly a dreamer, he would have dreamed a long and beautiful dream. A dream that nobody would understand, a long, long dream in which a whole lifetime could be spent. The young man who worked at the factory in Sevres to earn his living was a dreamer with the dream that came out of his hands and he commenced to realize his dream without hesitation. He knew exactly where to start from and the serenity inside of him lead him to a wise road. Already we can find the deep conformity of Rodin with nature. "

-Translated from the Korean translation of the excerpt of Rilke's "August Rodin"


Interview by Yoo Kyung-Hee (Art Critic / Ph.D.)
(This is an interview essay based on the interview with the artist, Lee Kyung Jae.)