Artwork with Metaphysical Themes

Master Painter Lee known for his passion to protect Dokdo with brushes not guns

Master painter Lee Jong-sang, a member of the Korean Academy of Arts has his own philosophy on art, painting his art pieces with metaphysical themes such as relief, hope and peace, among others. What makes him noteworthy is the fact that he is holding a solo exhibition of art pieces, entitled,"Korean Fine Art Pieces Exhibition"in Tokyo Japan when Korea and Japan are at odds over the Dokdo Island off the coast of Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province. Small rocky Dokdo Island has been part of the Korean territory historically but Japan claimed the right for the Dokdo unreasonably.
Painter Lee who goes by his penname of Ilrang made scarves with the image of the Dokdo, which has been attracting quite a attention on the part of Japanese women in Tokyo. Ilrang has been waging "Dokdo planting cultural movement"for over 30 years to protect the national territory with culture and it is a peaceful sight to look at Japanese women fashioning with Ilrang's art work. Art is loved for its common global formation and borderless.
Culture develops with associating with each other and Dokdo has been embedded widely inside the Korean culture.
Lee has developed metaphysical art world and his passion for his motherland has been well expressed with his study on ancient Goguryeo murals and gaining the reputation as a great scholar on the ancient Goguryeo art work.
Ilrang, who is chairman of the Dokdo Culture Planting Movement Headquarters, with the aim that the Dokdo should be protected with brushes instead of guns, and conducted an event for painting the islet. The event attracted some 60 painters around the country last year and worked on paintings to be hung on the islet. The painters toured the country with exhibitions entitled,"Our Dokdo protected with our brushes."They arrived on the islet on a ship provided by the maritime police and held a swearing ceremony for cultural militia at the dock of the lonely islet and declared that the islet should be made a territory in the Korean conscience through culture. Lee Ae-joo, professor of Seoul National University, expressed with dance the birth of the Dokdo with the break of darkness.
The painters stayed on the islet for over two and half hours to paint the rocky Dokdo on a large cloth made with three pieces of cloths each 5 meters long and wide. They also painted the Dokdo on their sketch books. Those participating in the event included such masters as Min Kyoung-kap, Oh Soong-woo, a member of the Korean Academy of Arts, Park Gwang-jin, Kim Joong-keun, Hahm Sup, Lee Jae-ho, Chung Chi-hwan, Sun Hak-kyu, and Yang Chang-ho, among others. nw

Spirits, Dokdo IV, India Ink, 89 x 89 ㎝, 1982

Archetype, Eternal Life, Tung Oil, 56 x 56㎝, 2002