[The studio]

Yoon Jin Sup: Good afternoon. I am an art critic Yoon Jin Sup. Today, on January 10th 1914 (2014), I am here in a studio to interview a doyen artist Lee Seung Taek who is one of the most representative avant-gardists.

Lee specialized in sculpture and graduated from Hong-Ik University in 1958. Since then he has been working as an artist until now. In 1958 when he graduated, He submitted an arch-shaped sculpture, coiled up with a wire, and it was hung on a wall upside down. It has a lot of meanings as his first installation art work and can be seen as a symbol of his life later on as an artist.

After that, he worked on commemorative sculptures to earn a living as a full-time artist and an avant-gardist. In the meantime, he has shown transactions through the time. For example, in sixties, he used fire, wind and hair on his work, and he also used stone by tying it up with a rope. Especially in recent years, he has done performance art like the one using balloons. So, today we are going to listen to him about his life. Good afternoon Mr. Lee.

Lee Seung Taek: Good afternoon.

Yoon Jin Sup: You have done a lot of works. So… has it been about over fifty years.

Lee Seung Taek: It has been fifty-five years.

Yoon Jin Sup: Fifty-five years? So I guess you are about eighty five in Korean age now. When you look back on your life, what is the most impressive thing or could you please tell us about your life briefly.

Lee Seung Taek: Rather than talking about my life, I think it would be better to talk about why I started experimental art first.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ok.

Lee Seung Taek: First, at that time I was kind of doubting about what contemporary art was. From the doubt I started paradoxically rethink what contemporary art was. To do that, I thought artists must study a lot…so I pretended to study some difficult philosophy.

So, I started to study philosophy and my first question was why the study became like that. Behind of the question, I realized that there were a lot of paradoxical things. So, I got a hint from that everything is thought to be upside down like thesis-antithesis-synthesis. So I started to think this world upside down.

Yoon Jin Sup: Upside down…be able to think upside down…

Lee Seung Taek: That was the starting point. And in fact, if you see the history of art, it is history of reversing. So I started my work which can reverse the notion of contemporary art, if possible. And unexpectedly I found something like massive changes and ingenuity in my works which started from reversing ideas.

For example, uh…. there is a kind of stone called ‘Godre’. When you see it carefully, it's a stone coiled up with a rope. Godre is a kind of agricultural tool which is used for making a mat. When I saw the stone I thought it was amazing. When I saw it as an artistic thing rather than an agricultural tool, I felt it was a kind of installation art, even though there was no such a term like installation art that time.

So I made one sized as small as a third of the original and tied it up with a rope. I hung it up in my house and liked it so much. I watched it over and over and I found that the stone, the hard stone, looked soft when it was tied up with a rope.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah I see...

Lee Seun Taek: I found that. So, I mean, stone is generally thought to be hard and heavy, but I made squashy stone.

Yoon Jin Sup: So you mean you found the attribute that it looks squashy from that. Then, I wonder if other works like tying up a sculptures of human body, especially a female body, and making books or stones dented and tying them up with a rope are came from the same idea.

Lee Seung Taek: They are more progressed ones.

Yoon Jin Sup: So they are from the idea?

Lee Seung Taek: Yes, so I found that the stone looked soft, and created a soft saw and a soft knife from the idea. Then I felt those were different from the existing art works. And I realized that a new impression and a new art work are derived from new materials. There was no such a principle that emphasized on art materials in 1950s, but as I tried to use new materials, a new art work which was totally different to the existing ones were created.

Yoon Jin Sup: So you are famous for getting new art materials and ideas from your daily life and you have done lots of borad and large scale works by using wind, air, and fire, for example flying a piece of fabric in the wind and setting a fire on a plywood and floating it down the Han river. How did you get the idea?

Lee Seung Taek: Uh... So I realized that a new art work can be created by using a new material. The first one I started was the one using smoke… The smoke is… what do I want to say....when you set a fire, the smoke spread widely….

Yoon Jin Sup: Isn’t it like a signal fire? Something like the signal fire used in the Joseon Dynasty.

Lee Seung Taek: Anyway the figure of spreading smoke was…

Yoon Jin Sup: It spreads.

Lee Seung Taek: It was very interesting.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see.

Lee Seung Taek: But I couldn’t do it indoors...

Yoon Jin Sup: Right.

Lee Seung Taek: I went outside.

Yoon Jin Sup: Then, did you make a chimney?

Lee Seung Taek: Of course I did.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah you actually made a chimney…

Lee Seung Taek: So when people see that outside, most of them think that it might be related to land art but actually, there was no such word like land art in 50s and 60s.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah… earth art, land art…

Lee Seung Taek: So… when there was no such a term, I worked with smoke and it was led to fire and water work…

Yoon Jin Sup: Water and wind…

Lee Seung Taek: Wind… It was awesome that time. I myself was so amazed by it. I couldn’t believe how I could be so amazed. In 70s, I used to read foreign artbooks sometimes but nothing was in my favor.

Yoon Jin Sup: You did not like any of them.

Lee Seung Taek: So I felt proud of my works as thinking that I might be the first one who started wind work in the world. Then I was amazed by my works and have done so many works. I can say that, because in the early years of my career, I tried to find new things which can remain in art history. So I kept thinking what can remain in art history and tried to create works with wind, stones, wood, and human bodies. Those things were very fresh and new. Anyway I have been doing those kind of works until now.

Yoon Jin Sup: Where is your hometown? As far as know, it is in North Korea.

Lee Seung Taek: It is between Wonsan in Hamgyeongnam-do and Hamheung

Yoon Jin Sup: between Wonsan and Hanheung…

Lee Seng Taek: Yes, in the middle of them.

Yoon Jin Sup: Then when did you come to South Korea? How old were you?

Lee Seung Taek: In 1950

Yoon Jin Sup: Pardon?

Lee Seung Taek: In 1950

Yoon Jin Sup: You came to South Korea when the Korean War broke out.

Lee Seung Taek: In the January fourth retreat (When the Korean army retreated..)

Yoon Jin Sup: Then, are you the generation of who could take part in the war.

Lee Seung Taek: Yes... I could take part in…

Yoon Jin Sup: You could take part in the war…

Lee Seung Taek: Right, most of the young men were taken into the war but I made sculptures of Kim Il-Sung and Stalin.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah, it was good for you.

Lee Seung Taek: I was treated as an artist, so received an exemption from the military.

Yoon Jin Sup: So you got an exemption. Then, you mean you erected the sculptures of Stalin and Kim Il-Sung in a square, did you set them up in a square?

Lee Seung Taek: Well… yes, in front of the National People’s Congress building.

Yoon Jin Sup: You erected the sculptures and got an exemption from military.

Lee Seung Taek: Yes, I did.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah, anyway you must have had painful experience in the situation, in a divided nation. Then, I think that the traditional games you played or some old experiences in your childhood in North Korea might have remained in your unconscious memories and applied to your works. How do you think about that?

Lee Seung Taek: At that time, there was a saying ‘The most ethnic, the most world-wide’ came from literature for the first time in the middle of 50s. However, I had no idea of modernizing traditional things or ethnic things. I had no concept about it. Because I was young, I had no sense of them and I did not know about them. I just drew or carved things realistically. Actually when I was in high school I was already treated as an artist, even though I was in a small town. So, because of my talent rather than an ethic sense, I erected many monuments such as Dong-gang, even after coming to South Korea.

And about traditions, I admired the phrase ‘The most ethnic, the most world-wide’ in the late 50s. However, as I worked with that concept for a long time, I found that there were also lots of disincentives so I threw them away. I abandoned them and started to do what I really wanted to. You see that one on the floor. I made it in 1963 but I don’t even know how I got the idea to use the rope recklessly…

During the time, I did not think of what my works symbolize or explain but did a lot of sculptures and objet d’ art. I did lots of works which are reckless or useless that has nothing to do with explaining or symbolizing.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see I see

Yoon Jin Sup: So, the reason that I was interested in bull’s balls or their tongues was that, as I always say, I was interested in something that cannot be an art work rather than something looks like an art work. That is why I have been interested in useless things and while I was working on them, I realized that there were lots of artistic elements.

Yoon Jin Sup: Right, something that other people don’t do.

Lee Seung Taek: And since I have worked on paradoxical things and made things upside down, there have been plenty of artworks. I think that is why my artworks are various and massive in quantity.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see. As you said before, you were talented in art, so you carved well and drew well. You were good at drawing so you drew the naked Maya which you copied from the original naked Maya. And I don’t think I saw them at the first time but now I see you made some mice and put them on it and there are some arrows as well. What happened? Did you put them later?

Lee Seung Taek: Ahha, that is not like that. Um… haha speaking of mice, uh… Where is it….

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah mice… What year was that?

Lee Seung Taek: Ah… This was made in….

Yoon Jin Sup: I see it was made in 1997.

Lee Seung Taek: Uh… this mice work as well. While I was working on it, I found that a bold artwork was created by using a bold material which is against common sense. But actually,as it is written here, the reason why I put mice on this work is that I wanted to express that art eventually became rubbish. Because when you imagine rubbish, there are mice around them…

Yoon Jin Sup: Right.

Lee Seung Taek: So I used mice to downgrade, deny and resist against art. The reason why I put two to three mice in the painting was also to express that art already have become rubbish and I put the meaning on it.

Yoon Jin Sup: Right… I see… and in the late part of your career, you were very interested in performance art. You also participated in experimental art festival with young artists, so I thought that ah… this artist always stays young. I mean you are that much enthusiastic and has young mind. Where do you get the energy?

Lee Seung Taek: Ah… First of all, I think artists express their thoughts and spirits through their works. So, to express themselves, forms are not important and the performances as well. It is not because I like performances. I realized that It became a performance itself when I set a fire and made it raft down the river.

Yoon Jin Sup: Right, the wind work is the same.

Lee Seung Taek: Uh… in conceptual art, process is considered important but I found it later. The process is seen as more important than an artwork itself. So, the actions of setting a fire, making it raft and running away… all of these actions are performance and process at the same time. I mean the all the motions in the smoke-work like setting a fire are all a performance itself.

Yoon Jin Sup: We can see those are features of performance art.

Lee Seung Taek: So, the motto of my work is that I put myself in the work like a trade mark. As I go into the work, the scale gets larger… and as I stand in the middle of the work I become a part of it. That’s why I am standing in the works and all the motions like heaping up stones are performance itself

So, I realized that I had a talent for performance art. I thought other performances were from something already has done or copied from others but putting myself in the work was the most sincere performance. That’s why I…

Yoon Jin Sup: And I don’t know exactly what year it was, but you used to use hair in your works.

Lee Seung Taek: Hair

Yoon Jin Sup: You have done lots of works with hair. Could you please tell us about how you got the idea to use hair…

Lee Seung Taek: Ah… I was very interested in collecting materials when I was young, but we were very poor in 60s. So, people used to get their hair cut in the street when a barber comes around and shout “hair cut”. I have rough and curly hair so there was lot of hair, fallen on the ground, after getting a hair cut.. Since it costs to get a hair cut, I used to ask barbers to cut my hair as short as possible, so there was lots of hair fallen on the ground.

So, when I saw the fallen hair, I thought if there were something I could do with it. You know soldiers in military leave their hair and nails, right? I thought that was meaningful, so I picked my hair and collected it. Over time, I thought I might be able to use it in my art work and exhibited the hair-work in the Sung-kok art museum. This was made in 1963.

Yoon Jin Sup: In 1963…

Lee Seung Taek: In 1963… Among them, you see, this is my pubic hair. Haha. I glued it and drew something looks like a person, then it became a wind-work.

Yoon Jin Sup: The wind-work… so, how is it connected to the wind-work.

Lee Seung Taek: I guess this is the earlier one.

Yoon Jin Sup: You mean the wind-work…

Lee Seung Taek: I think the wind-work is earlier.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see… you mean they are connected one to another.

Lee Seung Taek: Yes.

Yoon Jin Sup: And I found that you used to do lots of glass-art, right.

Lee Seung Taek: Glass…

Lee Seung Taek: The glass-work looks like something… sprout from a tuber…

Lee Seung Taek: That is…

Yoon Jin Sup: How did it come out?

Lee Seung Taek: The glass-work as well… when I was searching new materials and was interested in them, I visited a glass factory and amazed by the process of making it. So I bought a pile of glass, and when they blow it, I pulled it out on the spot and made shapes in 1966. Anyway I made them in 1966, and after making the shapes I colored them red and others… At that time, glass-works like them were in nowhere.

Anyway, I think it was the first glass-art, and one critic said… uh… there were many foreign glass-works exhibited but it in 80s. It was a lot later anyway, because I daringly created them in 1966 or 64 already.

Yoon Jin Sup: The glass-work… ah… so the year, the year it was made was about in 1966…

Lee Seung Taek: Yes, in 1966.

Yoon Jin Sup: So you did it with O-ji(pottery) work

Lee Seung Taek: O-ji was first

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah, O-ji was earlier. Then, could you please explain it with O-ji work.

Lee Seung Taek: This is glass-work

Yoon Jin Sup: Glass and O-ji work

Lee Seung Taek: Okay

Yoon Jin Sup: You coiled the glass up with a rope. You made the figure yourself…

Lee Seung Taek: Yes.

Yoon Jin Sup: You draw it first and the workers in the factory make it, right?

Lee Seung Taek: No, I made the tails all by myself.

Yoon Jin Sup: No, No, I mean the workers blow the glass, right. I mean the professionals…

You didn’t blow it by yourself, did you? Did you make the shape?

Lee Seung Taek: No, they blow it and I pull the tail out and make a shape.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah… you pull the tail out and make a shape. That is how it works.

Lee Seung Taek: Yes… when they blow it, it expands like a ball. Then, I pull one end out…

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah… I see. So you did this with Oji-work… so its shape also….

Lee Seung Taek: It was also when I admired the phrase ‘The most ethnic, the most world-wide’. I was thinking what our traditional things are and found stones and O-ji were special. So, I thought it would be a world-wide work, if I modernized O-ji. There, there is the O-ji work, and I have been doing it until now.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see… the O-ji work

Lee Seung Taek: It was may be in 1962 or 1963. And… last year, when we had symposium in London I was told that… it was amazing… and also it was the first O-ji work… at that time.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see… and you are good at minute drawing. You have powers of description.

이승택: 예

Lee Seung Taek: Yes.

Yoon Jin Sup: So, when you go out and do a large scale of work, you take photographs and sometimes you draw things on the photos to make some concepts…

Lee Seung Taek: Ah…

Yoon Jin Sup: You enlarged the photos and…

Lee Seung Taek: That work... It was… when you were working in Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, you did not accepted it as an art-work which I drew moss on a photograph, because I added something on the photo.

Yoon Jin Sup: No, it was not that I did not accept it. It was… sir, it was not that I did not accept it. When you published an art book or something if you stated that it was a project, it wouldn’t have been a problem. In that case…

Lee Seung Taek: Well… anyway…

Yoon Jin Sup: That kind of technique is used a lot. There is no problem.

Lee Seung Taek: At that time, the work that I piled up wood in a pencil factory, it was also not recognized as an art work because I used an existing structure. So, it was recognized, only when the artist made the work himself. But it has been getting a lot meaningless by now.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see…

Lee Seung Taek: Now we see the work itself… so the earth hung in the sky is a kind of collage work… and the works behind you are all I glued the earth on.

Yoon Jin Sup: Right. Yes, these days, using computers, it is very common to use the Photoshop program. But in the analogue generation, it used to be like setting a scene for a situation. What I mean is that now, the technologies can be used as a methodology or a medium because since photography has been developed, and expanding skill has been developed so, if a painter can draw something on the photograph, and create a new context, it can be a great example.

Lee Seung Taek: That’s right.

Yoon Jin Sup: That’s right, but you misunderstood what I meant before. When you publish an art book or something, if you clearly state that it is a project, there is no problem, isn’t it? That’s why I am saying that you misunderstood me.

Lee Seung Taek: Anyway, I was afraid of tempering with something… something like tempering with a photograph.

Yoon Jin Sup: That is not tempering.

Lee Seung Taek: I was afraid of it, and when it was not accepted, I was thinking… what is wrong with it. What matters whatever the artist draws on a picture. So, I did what I wanted to.

Yoon Jin Sup: It doesn’t matter. Actually it is great as a methodology. However, if it is not clearly stated, it can cause a problem when it is published. So, I was wondering how you think about it. And you launched a hot-air balloon with the public which was loved by children. You also partcipated in Seoul international performance art festival in Insa-dong and other places, how did you get the idea?

Lee Seung Taek: Uh… art has become… I mean contemporary art has become more and more difficult and convoluted. But I was thinking how I can make the public enjoys art itself. So… you were also there…

Yoon Jin Sup: Yes, I directed it.

Lee Seung Taek: Whrere was it? It wasn’t Cheonan… it was Suwon. It was the first time that we had a festival in Suwon castle. I thought there would be many children, and I came up with the earth after thinking what I could do to entertain them. So the idea came up while I was thinking how the art performance can give people enjoyment.

Yoon Jin Sup: Uh… you mentioned a bit before but your generation experienced the state of division, and especially you were in North Korea. Now we have different government here and there, you came south over the border from your hometown in the North and you cannot go back now because of the division.

Then, you are the generation who directly faced the ideology matters in modern history. There is an artwork over there. The one has a black North Korean flag and the other one has a South Korean flag. What is the background of creating the work. And could you please tell us how you see the ideologies as a generation who experienced the Korean War, with regard to art.

Lee Seung Taek: Uh…I am an absolute anti-communist, and I have said that the reason why the communism appeared was… I have even said that… Um… If you are ignorant, you become poor. If you become poor, you become a communist, a leftist. I mean I don’t want to discuss about their theory but any way, when people think about communism, they imagine a society where everyone works equally, shares equally, and be treated equally. But actually in real world, there is nowhere that has a stronger sense of class distinction than communitarian society, at least so far. The person who just passed away, named Choi, Choi, Choi Myung Shin…

Yoon Jin Sup: General Choi Myung Shin

Lee Seung Taek: The general.. he...was from Pyeongyang and knew Kim Il-Sung very well. But he rejected Kim Il-Sung’s proposal to work together. The reason why was that he met a soviet captain, a general, and he said that a communist society was supposed to be equal and there should be no levels, but the actually one was totally different. There was discrimination in restaurants, bathrooms, and hotels. Discrimination was everywhere. After listening to him, the general thought there was something wrong in communism. So, he shook off Kim Il-Sung’s grip and came to south.

Therefore, so called communism, which we experienced in the North is seriously discriminative society even though they say they are all equal. I think communism is cruel and makes people get into a difficulty, so I hate it.

Yoon Jin Sup: Then, please explain us about your works related to it.

Lee Seung Taek: So Um… I was anti-communist since I was young. And when there was a great fight between the Soviet Union and the US, I made my graduation work covered with protection wire mesh. I mean since I was from a week nation, expelled from the North, I was thinking how I could… how I could curse the communism. So, there have been lots of DMZ related artworks among mine.

Yoon Jin Sup: Related to DMZ…

Lee Seung Taek: Anyway, this work is…

Yoon Jin Sup: The wire one coloured made in 1958 was coloured with blue and red, right?

Lee Seung Taek: Yes, It was.

Yoon Jin Sup: I think it represents the North and the South in some way…

Lee Seung Taek: Look at this as well… this was um… this was exhibited in Sung-gok museum. It shows a tragic scene in the Korean War.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see… This bridge…

Lee Seung Taek: It shows the suffering Pyeonyang citizens who fleed from the military attack. And speaking of that, here is a chart shows that there were three million people died during the war including civilian, and three million people were separated from their families. Everyone knows the truth that Kim Il-Sung started the war. But in some recent text books, leftists insist that Kim Il-Sung was an anti-Japan fighter, an anti-Japan revolutionist, but Park Jung-Hee was a pro-Japanese collaborator…

In my perspective, no matter who is a pro-Japanese collaborator or a revolutionist, the person who made three million to six million people to experience the miserable situation is Kim Il-Sung. Nothing was more terrible than that way to make people suffer. So, I cannot agree with the leftists’ argument, so I left many of art-works which are related to the Korean War and the relations between the North and the South.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see… You worked with an anti-communist’s perspective.

Lee Seung Taek: Artists, as well as intellectuals, must resist against the society’s injustice. In that sense, I have showed the resistance awareness as an artist.

Yoon Jin Sup: I see. Then, you also made some artworks… like… enlarged man’s genitals and covered it with a rope… how is it related to our traditional… there are some works that enlarge a picture of erotic part, I mean a part of human body… and shoulder it… I think you have an erotic taste…

Lee Seung Taek: Ah… actually the sexual problems are… in some ways, there is erotic things but I think they are the root of human beings, animals, and the nature. But people usually try to keep them secret and hide them…

Yoon Jin Sup: Hide them… It’s true, especially in Korean society…

Lee Seung Taek: I wanted to express the fundamental… something in physiological perspective… I wanted express fundamental things rather than in erotic point of view. So, I wanted show the meaning of sex… We have seen nude pictures for a long time but my works seem different from them but seem similar to them in some ways. I think we shouldn’t ignore the sex problems and there must be some ways to express them.

Yoon Jin Sup: The ones considered as a taboo, especially in our country where has been under Confucian in history.There is false awareness in this kind of society, or two different ideas…

Lee Seung Taek: That’s right. No wonder you are a critic.

Yoon Jin Sup: So you gave a challenge to the ideas.

Lee Seung Taek: That’s exactly right.

Yoon Jin Sup: You mean you have given a challenge to social taboos, in an avant-garde view. I understand. And then, you have made some structures such as the one reminds us of a Korean traditional tile-roofed house, in the Olympic sculpture park. While you were practicing public art, was there something you wanted to do but couldn’t do because of a situation or policies. If you have experienced frustration due to any of the problems or if you have any idea that something must be fixed, please tell us.

Lee Seung Taek: Ah… the tile-roof is one of my major works. That was… as I said before… uh… when artists focus on thinking and creating works… they use lots of unique materials.

And there is full of paradox in philosophy. It is full of it so… I thought…why roof tiles must be only on a house. They can come down and cover the ground. Covering the ground means respecting human beings. So I made it on the ground to express that they also can come down to the ground.

Actually, the tile-roof work is the only one in the world. So um…Ashely from the Art Asia Pacific said she liked the tile-roof the most among my works, because it is the only one in the world. I have made five to six works with tile-roof. And Kim Yu-Yeon, Kim Yu yeon…

Yoon Jin Sup: Ms. Kim Yu Yeon

Lee Seung Taek: Kim Yu Yeon visited me and said that she wanted to do a tile-roof work in Central Park. So I said that Ashely from the Art Asia Pacific liked it. Then, she said she also knows the committee member well. So we were saying if it is lucky, we will be able to build it in Central park. But I said it will cost about 5billion Korean won and she said she will try to push forward…

Yoon Jin Sup: So, There must have been some works you couldn’t fulfill your idea in Korea due to a scale or expenses…

Lee Seung Taek: I have done my job for about 55 years and thought in the range of practicable ideas. So, I have never tried to do that I could not achieve.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah… You never tried at the beginning, if it was infeasible.

Lee Seung Taek: Yes… In the range of practicable things, I did what I liked, no matter what people think.

Yoon Jin Sup: Then… we say that it is an era that lifespan is prolonged to over one hundred years…

Lee Seung Taek: Pardon?

Yoon Jin Sup: We say that it is the era of one hundred years of lifespan. Which field do you want to work in the future?

Lee Seung Taek: Ah ha… It is beyond my control.

Yoon Jin Sup: But don’t you have something in mind that you haven’t done before.

Lee Seung Taek: I thought I was healthier than anyone else, but three years ago, my leg suddenly was paralyzed… So Uh… I think I have to leave my fortune with Heaven.

Yoon Jin Sup: But don’t you have any plans to do some performances with young artists, haha.

Lee Seung Taek: Now I don’t think it is…

Yoon Jin Sup: Is it difficult now?

Lee Seung Taek: Ah… now I should naturally, it is not retiring but, I have to step back.

Yoon Jin Sup: Ah…You think like that now… Then, it might be the time to categorize your works…

Lee Seung Taek: Yes

Yoon Jin Sup: I mean it is time that you need to start categorizing your works.

Lee Seung Taek: Yes, that’s right

Yoon Jin Sup: Right, and the works you have started…

Lee Seung Taek: Right, there are too many…

Yoon Jin Sup: How to categorize is very important. Starting from categorizing documents to wraping up your art works… Of course it is a job of art historians and critics but you must concern about archiving. In conclusion, during organizing your works, tell us something about your 58-year-long activities as a doyen artist.

Lee Seung Taek: In the past, we used to try things for art but young people, in these days, are not interested in things that are not for money. And… artists must study but it seems that young artists are not interested in studying but focusing on how to make money. In my generation, it was nothing to do with money.

Yoon Jin Sup: Right

Lee Seung Taek: We just put lots of effort on what we wanted to do. So I hope the young generation has less interest in economic things but studies a lot. Not only art but the humanities as well. I believe that if they study hard, they will find what they want to do.

Yoon Jin Sup: So far, we have talked with Mr. Lee about what is the right attitude that we must have as an artist in the era of capitalism and commercialism have been spread. Mr. Lee has lived with the spirit of esthetics of paradox and told us about many of his experiences today. I hope his heartfelt advice would be helpful for younger students.

Credits:

Interviewer: Dr. Yoon Jin Sup

Director of Photography, lights & sound: Elvis Kim

Video editing: Elvis Kim

Transcription & translation: Stacey Kim

Director: Dr. Bob Jansen

Technical & Assembly: Dr. Bob Jansen