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Artist:
Lee Bae
Lee Bae, born in Cheongdo, South Korea, in 1956, is a contemporary Korean artist living and working between Paris and Seoul. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts from Hongik University and has become an internationally prominent representative of Korean monochrome and material-based art.
His most important material is charcoal. This is fascinating because charcoal is not simply a black pigment; it is “what remains of wood’s life after fire.” Perrotin describes his work aptly: Lee Bae’s art reveals the material and symbolic power of “wood shaped by fire.”
For Lee Bae, charcoal connects Korean cultural memory, the ink of calligraphy, fire, nature, death, and rebirth. The PHI Foundation notes that, in Korean tradition, charcoal also symbolizes purification, moisture control, protection of a space, and the welcoming of new life. His black is therefore not simply black, but a black imbued with cultural memory and spirituality.
Poster size: W: 50*70cm
Original poster
About the artwork: “Brushstroke, 23S, 2025”
This image consists of individual strokes of black, gray, and white, as though charcoal-and-ink brushmarks of different directions and densities had been pieced together. Each stroke retains the texture of the bristles: some are deep black, some translucent, some resemble dry-brush marks, and others look like ink seeping into the paper.
Its beauty lies not in “depicting something,” but in letting you see the instant the brush moves.
Lee Bae began developing his Brushstroke series around 2020. Esther Schipper's account emphasizes that once a stroke begins, there is almost no room for hesitation or revision. The works therefore closely embody the spirit of East Asian ink painting and calligraphy: the placing and movement of the brush are themselves central to the work.
Paper & medium
Original poster; size and framing options are listed above.
About the artist
Lee Bae, born in Cheongdo, South Korea, in 1956, is a contemporary Korean artist living and working between Paris and Seoul. He received bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts from Hongik University and has become an internationally prominent representative of Korean monochrome and material-based art.
His most important material is charcoal. This is fascinating because charcoal is not simply a black pigment; it is “what remains of wood’s life after fire.” Perrotin describes his work aptly: Lee Bae’s art reveals the material and symbolic power of “wood shaped by fire.”
For Lee Bae, charcoal connects Korean cultural memory, the ink of calligraphy, fire, nature, death, and rebirth. The PHI Foundation notes that, in Korean tradition, charcoal also symbolizes purification, moisture control, protection of a space, and the welcoming of new life. His black is therefore not simply black, but a black imbued with cultural memory and spirituality.