Working with techniques rooted in traditional Korean painting, LEE Eunsil (b. 1983) visually articulates situations that that arise at the point where personal desire collides with social norms. Her practice attends to instinctual drives and impulses that are suppressed or obscured within contemporary society, translating the psychological conflicts that emerge from them into a metaphorical language of painting. Whereas her early compositions depicted the psychological conflicts of individuals resisting traditional customs and social norms by projecting them onto the architectural framework of the hanok and the figures of anonymous animals, the recent paintings after the 2020s gradually strips away external factors to focus on subject’s psychological statue and emotional currents, translated into abstract scenes. LEE summons onto the pictorial plane emotions that are intrinsic to contemporary human existence yet remain tacitly taboo within social structures, along with narratives long excluded from dominant discourse. By foregrounding stories buried in the intimate strata of personal memory, her paintings attempt to resonate with a more universal realm.

LEE was born in 1983 and received her BFA in Korean Painting from Seoul National University in 2006, followed by an MFA from the same institution in 2014. She has held solo exhibitions at various institutions including ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2025), No.9 Cork Street (London, UK, 2024), P21 (Seoul, Korea, 2021), U-jung Art Space (Seoul, Korea, 2019), Doosan Gallery (New York, US, 2016), Room 1003, Changgang Building (Seoul, Korea, 2013), Project Space Sarubia (Seoul, Korea, 2010), and Alternative Space Pool (Seoul, Korea, 2009). Her work has been presented in group exhibitions at Daegu Museum of Art (Daegu, Korea, 2026), König Telegrammfonamt (Berlin, Germany, 2025), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, Korea, 2024; Gwacheon, Korea, 2008), Gyeonggi Museum of Art (Ansan, Korea, 2024; 2008), Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2022), Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2022; 2021), Kumho Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2016), Leeum Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2014), and the American University Museum (Washington, D.C., US, 2016), among others. She has participated in major domestic and international residency programs, including MMCA Changdong Residency, SeMA Nanji Residency, Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Incheon Art Platform, Songeun Art Cube Studio, the Doosan Residency New York, and Ssamzie Space Studio. LEE was selected as a participating artist in major exhibitions such as The 29th Joongang Fine Arts Prize (2007), Young Korean Artists 2008 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (2008), and ARTSPECTRUM 2014 at Leeum Museum of Art (2014). In 2019, she received the Excellence Award at The 19th SONGEUN Art Award, drawing significant attention. Her works are included in the collections of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea), the Seoul Museum of Art (Korea), Songeun (Korea), and the ARARIO Collection (Korea).

Can you tell us about your background and how you started your artistic journey?

During my childhood, I was a dreamer who spent much of my time in contemplation. Rather than possessing precocious technical skills, I was driven by the process of constructing narratives and situations on a canvas. The encouragement of a teacher who recognized the intention behind my drawings served as my gateway into the world of art. There was a period in my life when the scent of ink was always close at hand. While the medium had always felt familiar, the first time I applied ink to Hanji (traditional Korean paper) remains etched in my memory. In the moment the ink seeped into the paper, I felt an inexplicable and powerful conviction—a sense of destiny. Looking back, I feel as though my path had already been decided at that very moment.

From the very beginning of my practice, I have been deeply drawn to internal human emotions—particularly hidden desires and suppressed psychologies that are not easily revealed. While these themes originated from personal experience, I gradually realized that they are closely intertwined with broader social structures. Naturally, my work has expanded from personal narratives to an exploration of the universal human condition, a trajectory that I continue to follow to this day.

What are the main themes or concepts you explore in your work?

My practice centers on the human life itself. While we each live our own lives, I believe there are emotions and relationships beneath the surface that remain hidden. By reflecting on my own life and observing the lives of others, I focus on closely examining the aspects we often conceal or ignore. I believe that many issues arise where human desires collide. Elements such as power dynamics, duality, and imperfection that emerge at these moments of conflict often remain unnoticed. I seek to unearth and explore these hidden structures. My method involves the continuous observation and tracing of the unspoken things adjacent to our lives, much like navigating through a vast and dense forest.

Life is my most direct and powerful subject matter. Daily life constantly creates new scenes and questions; the desires, conflicts, and traumatic emotional waves I encounter serve as the primary catalysts for my work. By quietly revisiting these moments, I aim to bring forth things that are close to us but difficult to speak of. Within the liberated realm of art, I strive to expose the power of these desires and the dark facets they create. The impoverished inner self, neglected relationships, and the ego distorted by societal standards of success are the central themes I continuously explore. Through my work, I aim to observe the desires and conflicts woven into the fabric of life, as well as the resulting psychological landscapes, from the perspective of an observer. Ultimately, my practice is a persistent inquiry into the complex scenery created by the interplay between life, society, and human desire.

Working with techniques rooted in traditional Korean painting, how do you negotiate between historical methods and contemporary subject matter?

At its core, my work speaks to our contemporary life. Regardless of the specific subject matter, I seek to narrate our current existence, believing that the emotions and issues arising within it possess a universality that transcends time and space. At the same time, I believe there is a definitive reason why traditional Korean painting techniques have endured through generations. The materials and methods accumulated over time hold vast expressive potential, and I am interested in reactivating that potential within a contemporary sensibility. When using traditional techniques to address contemporary themes, a sense of estrangement or friction can arise. However, I don’t view this as a mere clash; rather, I see it as a catalyst that allows the subject matter to emerge more vividly. The tension generated when a familiar form meets unfamiliar content is a vital element that expands the boundaries of my practice. Furthermore, my engagement with tradition extends beyond technical application; I also adopt its philosophical attitude toward subjects and its unique methods of spatial composition. Through these experiments, tradition does not remain a fixed form but transforms into a living, organic structure. Ultimately, my work is an exploration of the tensions and possibilities found in the gap between tradition and the present. By employing tradition as a medium to re-examine contemporary life, I strive to cultivate new layers of meaning.

What role does painting play for you in giving form to experiences or emotions that resist language or social acknowledgment?

Painting serves as a field where anything can be expressed freely. It transcends time and space, allowing us to empathize with emotions and possessing the potential to be conveyed and understood without necessarily being explained through language. In particular, the emotions I deal with are often difficult to explain clearly in words or are hard to reveal socially. Repressed desires, inner anxieties, or emotions that have been neglected can, the moment they are defined by language, become simplified or even distorted. In contrast, painting allows these emotions to linger as a single state or scene, revealing their complex and ambiguous layers together. Rather than explaining these emotions directly within the frame, I seek to reveal them indirectly through images and situations. I believe that painting serves to manifest emotions and experiences that cannot be captured by words, while leaving them in an open state rather than reducing them to a single, fixed meaning. What I aim to do through my work is precisely to create a scene that can express those unspoken emotions.

What challenges have you faced as an artist, and how have you overcome them?

In the process of continuing my work, I have experienced life changes that inevitably forced me to distance myself from my practice for a while. While I had previously lived a work-centered life, there came a time when I was placed in an environment where it was difficult to carry on with my work, naturally leading to a period of being away from the art scene. The subsequent process of returning to my position as an artist required more time and energy than expected. This was because it went beyond the simple matter of resuming work; I had to create the conditions and environment to be able to work again on my own. Although that process was not easy, it simultaneously became an opportunity to more clearly recognize my attitude and mindset toward my work. In fact, through that time, I realized that my work is not a choice, but rather closer to a certain state of being that I have no choice but to sustain. I also feel that if it hadn’t been for that period of disconnection, I might have taken my work for granted or allowed myself to easily become complacent. Now, I am adjusting the conditions surrounding my work one by one and continuing my practice in a different way than before. I believe that this process itself has become another layer of experience, permeating back into my work.

What projects are you currently working on, and what can we expect from you in the future?

Recently, I have been contemplating broadening the horizons of my work. While remaining rooted in the painting I have done so far, I am at a stage of making new attempts by gradually changing my expressive methods and approaches. I am trying to think more flexibly about how I handle materials and the canvas, with a desire to expand in different directions rather than simply repeating my existing work. Along with this, I am considering expanding into other media, rather than being confined to painting alone. If there is a more appropriate method depending on the content and emotions of the work, I would like to attempt to select the medium that fits accordingly. Moving forward, I intend to continue my interest in the human interior, emotions, and their relationship with society. However, I plan to keep the way I unfold those stories more open, experimenting with various possibilities through different formats and materials.

Text and photo courtesy of LEE Eunsil & Arario Gallery

Website: https://www.eunsillee.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eunsillee.art/