Solana Beach, California – Madison Gallery presents noted South Korean artist Jaehyo Lee’s third solo exhibition, Beyond Nature. The artist creates a direct narrative with nature in his innovative approach and creative process. Combining distinct traces of Land Art, Arte Povera and Minimalism Lee’s works cast a questioning eye over the roots of form, its function and its role within the natural world. The sculptures of polished big cone pine, larch, and chestnut act in unison, embodying both natural and manmade forms; they enhance the natural possibilities of the wood, a material with suggestively lyrical qualities. Lee not only makes projects about nature, he also works within nature, so that his sculptures both describe and exemplify the natural world.

“Nature seems chaotic and violent depending on how it is viewed, but Lee finds the source of autogeny in a sphere.  A circle is a figure closely and symbolically related to co-existence, integrity and the found of all beings.  When this circle is materialized into a body, it becomes a sphere. Therefore, the symbolic representation that a grain of all livings originating from this basic rounded body is the starting point of spheres which continue to appear in his works.”  Taeman Choi, Art Critic

Lee’s work shows immense respect for natural materials, but also the will to dominate what nature has provided. One is immediately struck by the perfection of his craftsmanship and led to reflect on the many long hours of hard physical labor that must have gone into the production of these immaculate, yet also intricate objects.

Jaehyo Lee’s artwork plays with the oft-contested boundaries between contemporary art and design. Lee’s works are widely collected in public and private collections across Europe, Asia and North America. Amongst many other distinctions Jaehyo was in 1998 Grand Prize Winner at the Osaka Triennial and in 2002 recipient of the prestigious Irish Sculpture in Woodland commission. His last larger Museum exhibition was at the Seongnam Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea.