Curated by Seol Park, SPARK ASSOC. Art Management

Presented in collaboration with TOMASSO BROTHERS FINE ART 

From May 8 through 12, 2015, select works by Korean photographic artist DongWook Lee will be on view at New York's leading art & antiques fair, [SPRING MASTERS New York] JUXTAPOSITIONS: COLLECTING ACROSS CENTURIES, alongside fine European sculptures offered by Tomasso Brothers Fine art (London & Leeds; Booth B12).

Rippling flesh, intertwined limbs, tense muscles, and gnarling fingers fill the black and white images in Korean artist Dongwook Lee's latest series of photographs, titled WOZU (a German word for 'why' or 'what for'), dated 2013-2014. With these intensely physical images, Lee takes viewers into metaphysical inquisitions on matters of identity, the multiplicity of it, and the reasons for one's existence. “I reflected myself in water and there was a stranger...,” wrote the artist in his statement for the series, recalling what became the starting point for this body of work. “They [the two selves] were fiercely clashing with each other's voices.” Realizing this duplicity led him to introspection, and eventually, to further contemplation on human nature and mankind's insatiable pursuit for the raison d'être.

“The resulting images capture the sense of struggle, confusion, and fear that one's mind would experience when grappling with such introspection,” explains Seol Park, a New York-based independent curator who organized this exhibit. Multiple human figures, which the artist shot in studio and then edited digitally, are intertwined tightly, like a knot impossible to undo. They are headless, as if to indicate a confused state of mind. The compositions compel viewers to follow the limbs of wrestling bodies in order to grasp their spatial relationships to one another, an experience akin to walking around a sixteenth-century Mannerist sculpture. 

In none of these images did the artist concern himself with depicting the beauty and harmony of human physiques. The models Lee chose to use in this series are not the modern day ideals of beauty that he frequently shoots in his commercial photography commissions. Rather, Lee sought to make visible the state of anguish through the most immediate and visceral vehicle of human emotions––the human body.

Representations of human forms encapsulating dramatic and allegorical narratives are important themes in the sculptures offered by Tomasso Brothers, and the desire to introduce works that visually and thematically resonate with them is evident in Park's selection. “These contemporary photographs and old masters sculptures were created centuries apart, but form an interesting juxtaposition when presented together,” explains Park. “The WOZU series are Lee's strongest work to date, and I am delighted to stage the first-ever U.S. viewing of this artist at Spring Masters NYC, whose theme this year is “Collecting Across Centuries.”

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About Tomasso Brothers Fine Art (www.tomassobrothers.co.uk):

Tomasso Brothers Fine Art was established in 1993 and is based at Bardon Hall, Leeds. Dino and Raffaello Tomasso are recognized internationally for specializing in important European sculpture from the early Renaissance to the Neo-Classical periods with a particular knowledge of European Renaissance bronzes. They have promoted and supported, through loans and exhibitions, major international institutions such as the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; the Centro Internazionale, Carrara; The National Gallery, Prague; and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. In addition, the company has advised a number of private collectors of European sculpture and Old Master paintings and made significant sales to some of the world's most prestigious museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Bode Museum, Berlin; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, (Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation and Rienzi Collection); The Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna; Yale Center for British Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Tomasso Brothers Fine Art was one of the sponsors of the landmark show Bronze at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2012.

About DongWook Lee (artist):

Dongwook Lee effortlessly straddles between commercial and fine art photography. Prolific in both spheres, he currently lives and works in Seoul, Korea. He has been profiled in various art publications including Business Inside, PhotoPlus, Monthly Photography, Artvas, and more. He has also been recognized by numerous awards: he was the 3rd Place Winner in the International Photography Awards (2014, USA), finalist for the DAM Art Prize (2014, Italy), and winner of the Grand Prize in the HP Turn-On Digital Award (2007). His work is held in both institutional and private collections, including the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (Japan).

About Seol Park (curator):

Independent curator and private dealer with bases in New York City and Asia (Seoul and Tokyo). Park serves as an international liaison for select artists, produces themed guest exhibits at galleries, fairs, or other alternative spaces, and also works with private and corporations on curated art collections and education.