Lee Bul Untitled (Willing to be Vulnerable) Velvet Collage, 2020

Untitled (Willing to be Vulnerable) Velvet Collage (2020) forms part of Lee Bul’s recent series of silk and velvet paintings. Using photographic collage, paint, and organic materials including mother of pearl, she creates intricate, shimmering traceries and constellations. Mother of pearl is a material typically linked to the history of women in Korea, it is traditionally used in the craft of lacquerware and references the Haenyeo ‘sea women’, female divers who spent their lives harvesting shells, seaweed and other sea life from the ocean. On the blue velvet background materials coalesce into abstract crystal-like forms that evoke icescapes or undersea life, while also referencing utopian architecture.