Myoung Ho Lee, Tree... #9, © Myoung Ho Lee

Under a gray sky stretches a mudflat, backed by a field of reeds. Amid the dull mixture of brown and green reeds, a white canvas suddenly stands upright, dreamlike. What lies behind this canvas? Behind it is a single tree — but that cannot be the only answer. There might be a person, or nothing at all, or perhaps just another fragment of the reed field.

Photographer Myoung Ho Lee has attracted wide attention since his debut with the ‘Tree…’(2006/print in 2007) Series. In keeping with his principle of titling each work according to its subject, trees appear as recurring motifs in his images. A large white canvas stands in the middle of an open field, and within it, a tree exists. At this moment, the ‘tree’ becomes not a natural object but an evocation of an artwork — a painting or photograph. Yet upon closer inspection, the tree is not an image or an object, but a real tree rooted in the ground.

By installing a large sheet of fabric behind a tree, Lee creates a subtle confusion between photography and reality, thereby generating a fundamental discourse on “photography and representation.” Viewers observing his photographs experience a moment of hesitation — a quiet “Wait… what is this?” Yet what has made him widely recognized, more than this conceptual framework, is the poetic and metaphorical sensibility that underlies his images. His photographs are like dreams made real — or realities that can only exist in dreams.

His solo exhibition ‘Nothing, But’ can be divided into three conceptual categories. Based on subject and theme, the works can be grouped as tree / mirage (desert) / nothing, but. These divisions correspond to what the artist defines as the three functions of art — revealing reality, creating unreality, and exploring what lies beyond both.

The ‘Tree’ Series reveals reality. By emphasizing the presence of real trees, it fulfills one of the most essential functions of photographic art — to make visible what exists. In contrast, the ‘Mirage’ Series constructs unreality. In these works, a long stretch of cotton fabric is installed in the vast desert and photographed from a distance, transforming the white cloth into a mirage-like sea or oasis. Here, Lee’s second artistic function — to create “another reality” — is realized.

Finally, the ‘Nothing, But’ Series deals with what lies beyond reality and unreality, reflecting the artist’s evolving attitude toward art after completing the two earlier series.

Before the viewer stands an unsettlingly white canvas — bare yet commanding. It shows nothing, yet in truth, it is the result of the artist repeatedly photographing the same location. Through intentional overexposure, the image disappears entirely. The emptiness conveys the futility and stillness that follow the accumulation of artistic desire — the yearning to capture and possess an image until nothing remains.

Paradoxically, by erasing the visible, more becomes perceivable. The absence leaves space for the viewer’s interpretation and emotion. What appears as “nothing” to the viewer may, from the artist’s perspective, become “anything.” These works exist in the in-between — where reality and unreality merge.

Yet beyond such discourse and theory, the most compelling reason Lee’s works move us lies in his constant awareness of the unknown world. When gazing at his photographs, one cannot help but imagine the possibility of another world. What might exist behind the canvas placed like a portal in the tranquil beach or mudflat? What if opening that invisible door could unfold another universe? I find myself waiting — always — for the unseen world behind Lee’s canvas to step forward and speak to us.

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