"The process of making charcoal is deeply connected to the time of waiting. Wood burns in the kiln and loses its form, but over a long period of cooling, it is reborn as a new material. The cycle of creation and extinction, and creation again — the transformative time completed through the waiting in between — is the core theme of this exhibition."
Lee Bae (70), a Paris-based artist known as "the artist of charcoal," opened "En attendant: Waiting," a solo exhibition surveying more than 30 years of his creative career, at Museum SAN in Wonju, Gangwon Province on Sunday. It is the first large-scale exhibition dedicated to a Korean artist since Museum SAN, designed by world-renowned architect Tadao Ando, opened in 2013. The milestone underscores the significance both the artist and the museum have placed on this show.
