“Journey is not the desire for the new but is the will toward myself, and is complete with the condition of return.”

To artist Hunchung Lee, working on art is a ‘journey.’ And ‘ceramics’ is both the starting point and the base camp to return to of this journey. As though traveling different artsy areas around the globe, Lee places ‘ceramics’ as the starting point and basis and moves across different genres like design, craft, fine art, and architecture. Unlimiting himself to any particular boundaries, he continues his works in various media like sculpture, installation, furniture, painting and more. Through his own formative language, Lee proposes new kind of artistic possibilities by breaking the barriers of various genre, media, idiom and connecting them back together. Striving for harmony between traditional and contemporary materials and formation while also forming his own style, Lee is recognized as an artist who creates works that embrace diverse sensitivities and domains.

The subtitle of the show, ‘unfinished journey,’ comes from a frequently used phrase when he describes himself, ‘traveling through life and art.’ ‘Journey,’ an important concept when understanding Lee’s artwork, signifies movement in space and expansion of a cause. As journey is the intersection of unfamiliarity and originality, one can find Lee’s perspective on art as he strives for the idealistic balance between sense and expression from the boundary between material and formality. Subject exhibition focuses on the essence of ceramics, ‘soil,’ composing of works that illustrate the expressive possibilities of soil and fire as artistic materials. Soil, the source of inspiration, is molded with a purpose and hand(labor), meets fire at least by being placed into the kiln and is born as the result of coincidence. Instead of being the destination of a journey, these works become an important feature in a ‘journey that hasn’t ended.’

It is especially amusing to see the harmony of space and works in this exhibition. Unlike a typical white cube space, Paradise ZIP is a renovated old house and has a collection of rooms with all different shapes and sizes. Contemplating on the layers of time and signs of life in each space, artist carefully placed each artwork one by one. As space and artworks harmonize to develop a story and audience add their creativity, this journey is then finally complete