온기: Leeje

Gallery Chosun will be presenting Leeje’s exhibition 《온기》(Warmth) from March 12 to April 2. 

Leeje has long captured the landscapes and everyday scenes around where he lives within urban spaces. Continuing this focus, the exhibition presents new paintings created over the past three years, inspired by cities such as New York, Seoul, and Jeju. These works include a series of drawings exploring the mix of unfamiliar and familiar urban scenes, particularly night and early morning cityscapes. Through these pieces, the artist reflects on the subtle warmth that spreads from the traces and presence of humans and objects in space where light has faded. Rather than depicting utopia or dystopia, these works convey the human will to live that persists in everyday life. 

#Dialogue on Warmth, 2014

A: What do you want to express this time?

B: …Temperature…? I don’t agree with the idea of the grey city or a bankrupt world. I want to see the subtle warmth of life. The quiet energy of people living and moving. You could call it the will to live, invisible courage, or the gentle hope humans always carry. I think it’s this that keeps the world going. 

A: Are you talking about utopia?

B: No, it's not about imagining a perfect or dystopian world. Modern fatigue and apathy make it hard to believe in any future. What I want to show is the small, persistent energy of life. Something like: “My future looks bleak. Yet it’s snowing, so I’d better take the subway instead of the bus tomorrow.”

A: How about the word warmth?

B: Yes, warmth is better than temperature. I think it comes from everyday routines. I want to express the traces humans leave in urban spaces or the warmth of the people themselves. 

A: So warmth is ultimately about people?

B: People, and also landscapes. The warmth created by human presence lingers in the surrounding space.