Exhibition view of Mandy El-Sayegh and Keunmin Lee, "Recombinant," Lehmann Maupin, Seoul. (November 3–December 10, 2022). Photo by OnArt Studio.
London-based artist Mandy El-Sayegh and Seoul-based artist Keunmin Lee are presenting their new works at Lehmann Maupin Seoul, located in Hannam-dong.
A few years ago, El-Sayegh discovered Lee’s work through a search engine algorithm. Since then, the two artists have been sharing images to create connections and intersections within their artistic practices.
Both artists use the abstract imagery of the body in their works to explore different aspects of the self as an individual subject and within social contexts to reflect social realities. The exhibition’s name derives from recombinant DNA, a genetic phenomenon in which pieces of genetic information from separate genes, cells, or organisms are exchanged to create new forms.
Exhibition view of Mandy El-Sayegh and Keunmin Lee, "Recombinant," Lehmann Maupin, Seoul. (November 3–December 10, 2022). Photo by OnArt Studio.In his large paintings, Keunmin Lee (b. 1982) combines images of fragmented parts of the human body, such as flesh, organs, blood vessels, arms, and legs, to depict his experience of hallucinations during his hospitalization in his college years. Lee, who suffers from borderline schizophrenia, has been experiencing vivid visions of human organs and smelling rotting corpses.
However, Lee goes beyond merely depicting his visual and olfactory hallucinations to critically reflect our society, which separates the normal from the abnormal. Through these paintings that evoke body parts that have just begun to decompose, Lee expresses the dichotomous attitude of our society that defines and otherizes unsophisticated, ugly, sick, or different beings.
Exhibition view of Mandy El-Sayegh and Keunmin Lee, "Recombinant," Lehmann Maupin, Seoul. (November 3–December 10, 2022). Photo by OnArt Studio.Mandy El-Sayegh (b. 1985), who works in a variety of media, also creates works that evoke blood-like smears or peeled skin. She carefully studies the language and materials in newspapers and magazines. By extracting fragments from images and texts and expanding them in her own way, the artist demonstrates how fragments can be distorted in various ways, thereby straining the truth.
On the canvas, El-Sayegh uses colors that evoke sunset skies or bruised skin. Working in a variety of genres, she also created a sound piece by collecting hospital sounds, recreating the buzzing sounds she hears in her ear, and later incorporating the sounds related to the recent Itaewon disaster.
