Trained in sculpture at Kookmin and in painting in Germany, Lee Jieun makes surfaces that look carved rather than painted. A close reading of two Hollowed works at SAF.
Time flows slowly in front of Lee Jieun's surface.
"I dip the brush in the right amount of paint and water, as one sharpens a chisel on a whetstone. This process is important. Too little paint, and the circle thirsts mid-draw; too much water, and paint runs."
She doesn't explain painting as drawing. She explains it as sharpening a chisel on a whetstone. Her work is emptying color — as a sculptor carves away a plank. That is why the work is called Hollowed. Hollowed out, emptied.
Seoul – Bremen – Düsseldorf
Born in Korea in 1984, Lee Jieun completed her BFA in three-dimensional art at Kookmin University (2007) and her MFA at the same school (2009). Then she crossed to Germany.
She received the Hochschulprize at Bremen University of the Arts (HfK Bremen) in 2011, and completed the 9th semester of fine art at the same school in 2015. In 2017, she received the Diplom and Meisterschüler at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, under Franka Hörnschemeyer. Meisterschüler is a distinctive German art-school qualification granted to artists who pursue further study under a professor after the Diplom. (In Korea, the Diplom is recognized as a master's degree.)
A Map of German Galleries
After 2018, her record fills with German gallery names.
Biesenbach in Cologne; Quittenbaum in Munich; Lachenmann-Art in Frankfurt / Konstanz. Luxembourg Art Week (2021), Sculptural. Painting (2021), Trialogue — Aspects of Abstraction (2023), Female Perspectives (2023), Achromatic (2024), From Abstract To Nature (2024). A name consistently summoned within the German-speaking abstract, sculpture, and painting scene.
In 2019, at Biesenbach in Cologne, reversed; in 2023 at duesseldorf-art, an art-hoc solo exhibition; that year also a solo at Quittenbaum in Munich, structure.
Back to Seoul Again
In November 2025, Lee Jieun held a solo Hollowed Colors at Artspace At, Seoul. A site where over a decade of work built in Germany is placed again before Korean audiences. In May 2026, another solo is planned at CICA Museum, Kimpo.
Recently she has also appeared in Korean open calls. 2025 E-Land Cultural Foundation 16th Open Call Exhibition (Dabsimri Art Lab); Special Selection at the Republic of Korea Modern Art Grand Prize and the Shin Saimdang Art Competition. She meets new audiences across borders.
Doing or Done
Beside her Hollowed series she notes:
"Doing or done / Machen oder gemacht / 하는 것 혹은 한 것"
The same question repeated in three languages. What one is doing is becoming what one has done. The moment the chisel grazes the stone is process; the very next moment, it is trace. She translates applying force to carve a plank's surface like leaves into brush and color.
Previously she drew a grid on canvas to start. No longer. "A time may come when the grid is needed again," she adds. Between when rules were needed and letting them go, today's work sits.
Two SAF Works
Lee Jieun contributes two works to SAF.
- Hollowed blue 02 — acrylic on paper panel, 30×30 cm
- Hollowed yellow 04 — acrylic on paper panel, 35×35 cm
84.9% of Korean artists are excluded from institutional finance. Sales of works by SAF-exhibiting artists cycle into a mutual-aid fund, returning as low-interest loans to fellow artists.
If painting is adding color, SAF fills the gap of livelihood. Lee Jieun chose to reveal other colors through emptying. Density revealed through subtraction; clarity built by hollowing. The fund works that way too. The price of one work fills an emptied place; that filling makes another artist's next work possible.
Between Seoul and Düsseldorf
Lee Jieun lives within a time gap between two cities. Seoul's morning is Düsseldorf's evening. What is being done here is already done (gemacht) there.
Her Hollowed series overlays that time gap onto one frame. In spring 2026, at CICA Kimpo, viewers will be able to touch that gap directly.
Works by Lee Jieun
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