Lee Gap-Chul

Gap Chul LEE creates formidable, intense black & white photographic images that perfecty capture the spirit of Korean culture. LEE’s audacious camera work conveys an oppressed primal impulse and world of shamanism rooted deep in Korea’s collective unconscious. This stems from his characteristic manner of work; approaching subjects intuitively and directly and by depending on contingency, free from aesthetic consideration; and also by preferring rough cropping to a tidy finish or meticulous composition, drawing out chaotic force rather than a harmonious virtual world.

This book includes Gap Chul LEE’s most iconic series of works, Conflict and Reaction (1990-2002) and Energy-Qi (2002-2007), as well as his ongoing projects (2008-present). More than half of the book covers the projects underway, which are previously unpublished. Although these works are separate entities, they can be read as a single body of work as they connect solidly to one another in terms of tugging at the vitality and spirituality one possesses.