Jungjin Lee - Thing

Jungjin Lee
Thing

Datz Press, 2025
Size: 34.5 x 27.5
66 pages
Hardcover
This product is being imported from South Korea; there may be a delay in order processing.

“For me, photographs are not an outcome, but a tool. Rather than reproducing reality or reconstructing visual beauty, they serve as the basis for fundamental reflection: thoughts that cannot be expressed in words, ideas that cannot be stated or emphasized in a single way, moments that are neither fluid nor still, an interruption in an infinitely open space, silent yet intense, surreal fragments of everyday life, and metaphorical means of expression. This is how the images were chosen. The Thing series, unlike my previous work, stems from something closer to me, something familiar. This familiarity comes from the act of waiting and a secret communication between myself and objects. This familiarity, in turn, becomes unknown through the void of thought. The void, like the white space in a photograph, makes objects dream.” – Jungjin Lee, 2025

Jungjin Lee's "Thing" series comprises works capturing everyday objects in intimate close-ups, which are then printed in black and white on handmade Korean paper. Through a meditative shooting process, the artist distills the essence of the subject, removing all superfluous elements. Backgrounds and shadows are eliminated, forms are simplified, while the empty spaces are filled with the artist's internalized emotions and thoughts. The white spaces surrounding each dark object reflect, in particular, the Eastern concept of "emptiness" present in painting and calligraphy. Through this blank space, the objects acquire new meaning. Lee raises questions about the artistic role of exploring and expressing the essence of existence through observation.

This series occupies a unique and distinctive place in the artist's oeuvre, which generally consists of landscapes. The vitality of the "Thing" series, unchanged for 20 years, is now transformed into an elegant object through the use of hanji (handmade Korean paper) and traditional hand-binding techniques. We are proud to present "Thing," an artist's book of striking presence, created in collaboration between Jungjin Lee and Datz Press, which embodies Korean materials and characteristics.