Waterfall Mansion & Gallery
at San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice
Welcome to Waterfall Mansion & Gallery!
Waterfall Mansion & Gallery is a prominent gallery located at the center of Manhattan, NY and also a cultural hub of community for leading artists and entrepreneurs to pioneer in culture care. Waterfall Mansion & Gallery dedicates in developing platforms and programming for artist’s creativity and careers and in the inventive art collaborations with over 400 international contemporary artists and is a respected brand for its authenticity, hospitality, and steady commitment to excellence.
Waterfall Mansion & Gallery is honored to be partnered with the San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice to participate in the Biennale Architettura 2021 presenting artists of current 2021 Art/Act Exhibition <LIGHT HOUSE+> in NYC.
ARTIST | LEE SEUNG HEE
Featured Artwork
Tao, 2017
Ceramic, glaze, cyanide
400 H x 240 W cm (+-30 cm)
157.5 H x 94.5 in (+-11.8 in)
7,500 USD (1 stem)
For any artwork inquires, please contact gun@waterfallmanison.com
While working in China, Lee Seung Hee found new possibilities of clay in its malleable and flexible properties in the making but simultaneously being the most fragile and inelastic material after the completion. Intrigued by the two opposite characteristics, Lee chose to remake bamboo out of clay, wanting to create a juxtaposition and a tension between hard and soft. Lee specifically chooses bamboo that has long been identified with virtues of modesty, integrity, and resilience in its flexible nature and vast root system in Asian culture. Lee’s ceramic Bamboo series accentuates the two coexisting and contradicting natures of clay by re-presenting the flexibility of the natural bamboo in the form of pottery.
When creating the ceramic bamboo series, Lee emphasizes making them look like the bamboos in nature. Lee observes the contraction and deformation of clay soil and the range of discoloration of the ceramic glaze. Then he creates plaster mold in the shape of bamboo joints based on the acceptable range found during the observation. He pours the ceramic casting slip onto the plaster mold, creating each joint of the bamboo individually. The crucial point during this process is creating harmony while making a slight difference in the thickness, length, and color of each joint.
The ambitious bamboo grove installations at San Clemente Palace Kempinski Venice feature 66 ceramic bamboo tree trunks reaching almost 13 feet (4 meters) in height, which will have as many as 10,000 ceramic joints.
The colors that Lee chooses for his bamboo works consciously recall the classic hues of Korean ceramics: black and reddish-brown. The artist has made black ceramic bamboo groves with striking results to bring a traditional ink landscape to life. The red bamboo ceramics were inspired by a famous story of Su Shi, a renowned writer, poet, painter, and calligrapher from the Northern Song dynasty. Su Shi once said, "There is no black bamboo in the world, but we draw them with black ink. Why can't we draw them with red ink?" This story of a Chinese idiom about overturning a stereotype served as Lee’s momentum to imagine a space filled with red bamboos.
The ceramic bamboos are created as a result of chance and necessity weaved together intentionally with the effort of the artist crossing suitable boundaries. Lee Seung Hee states, "I am on my way to finding something which cannot be found in other materials but only in ceramics."
about the artist
Lee Seung Hee is a master of ceramic art known for his contemporary interpretation of traditional Korean and Chinese ceramics. He was trained in the Craft Design Department at Cheongju University in Korea, where he studied ceramics, fiber craft, dyeing, and tapestry. He creates much of his work in Jingdezhen, in southeastern China, where he established a studio in 2008 in the historic center of Chinese porcelain production. Since the establishment of his studio, he has won international acclaim for his Porcelain Paintings, the Space of 8mm series, and his Bamboo series.
His works unite the beauty and charm of traditional Korean motifs, materials, and colors of ceramics with the more conceptual concerns of contemporary art. In this way, he enables viewers to make an imaginative connection between contemporary art and the rich heritage of ceramics.
MUSIC PICK
J.S. Bach: Suite For Cello - Sarabande
Cellist, Sung Won Yang
Music curated by Korea Music Foundation for each artists represented by Waterfall at the San Clemente Palace Kempinksi Venice for further appreciation of the artworks.