Tina Kim Gallery has announced that it will represent the artwork of Lee ShinJa, who helped establish and legitimize fiber art in South Korea. Lee’s first solo exhibition with the gallery will open in New York on August 22. This week, Tina Kim will be showing her work at Art Basel’s booth.
Born in Uljin, South Korea in 1930, Lee began working in textile art in the early 1950s, when textile art was primarily associated with women and therefore considered a serious art form. Lee’s work pushes the boundaries of traditional fiber crafts, using experimental materials such as old sweaters and burlap. Lee, founder of the Korean Fiber Artists Association and a retired professor at Deoksung Women’s University, has become a leading advocate for craft and textile art in recent years.
“Lee Shin-ja was a true pioneer,” said gallery founder Tina Kim. “She was not only an artist, but she also had a rich career in the arts—she was an educator and organizer of international exhibitions, and she served as a professor, dean, and museum director at Deoksung Women’s University. She is still alive, and we urgently need to recognize her contributions. She is a living embodiment of history.”
The representation announcement comes on the heels of the artist’s retrospective at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Gwacheon, South Korea. Her work has been exhibited at the National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Seoul Museum of Art, among others.
