Lee ShinJa’s tapestries begin and end at the crest of the Uljin mountains. Her work braids together autobiography and fractal abstractions into the shape of something beautiful. Weaving the Dawn will showcase Lee’s fiber forms across the last seven decades. The solo exhibition focuses on Lee’s aesthetic expansion of thread as a medium for her New York debut at Tina Kim Gallery.
Lee is widely recognized for her technical innovations and dedication to pushing the boundaries of fiber art. This pioneering approach is showcased in her early work, where appliqué, dyeing techniques, and punctuations relieve tension across tapestries. Her later ‘Spirit of Mountains’ series eases fixtures of nature into abstraction. While the series has come to embody her practice, Weaving the Dawn is set to include preliminary sketches and archival materials alongside intricate tapestries.
Born in Korea during the Japanese occupation period, Lee’s early encounters with thread were brought by the women in her life. With textile practices often rooted in craft or domestic practicality, Lee observes a gendered gravitation toward embroidery, considering the limited artistic opportunities for women at the time. Protesting both gender and genre norms, she is widely celebrated for her strides in fiber art while the concept remained unestablished in Korea.
At 94 years old, the trailblazing artist continues to draw inspiration from the natural beauty of her hometown in luminous tapestries. “Growing up in a rural area, I vividly remember the intense sunlight at sunrise and sunset,” she says. “I have always believed in creative nature as I see it. However, I still feel that my work has yet to match the beauty of my hometown.” Through serene landscapes and rectangular window-like shapes, every piece of Weaving the Dawn brings the viewer closer to the artist’s blushing vision of home.
Weaving the Dawn is now on view at Tina Kim Gallery in New York. Select works will be presented from September 4 through September 7 at Booth B19 at Frieze Seoul.
Tina Kim Gallery
525 W 21st St,
New York, NY 10011
