VIDEO: Lee Kun Yong-Snail’s Gallop

Lee Kun-Yong is known for his performances that reimagine the ways that the body and its movements can be understood across time. The artist cultivated his highly experimental practice during the 1970s, when martial law and authoritarianism presented a major affront to civil rights and freedom of expression in South Korea. Lee earned a BFA from Hongik University in Seoul in 1967 and an MA in art education from Keimyung University in Daegu in 1982. He is considered a key figure of the Korean avant-garde, and he was a founding member of the artist group Space and Time. “Snail’s Gallop” staged in a Pace Live performance at our New York gallery—reflects Lee Kun-Yong’s long-running investigations of the body and its movements. In a new interview, Lee details the work’s history and his approach to performance as an exchange with the viewer.

 

Lee Kun-Yong, Snail’s Gallop, 2023, Pace Gallery-New York, Courtesy the artist and Pace Gallery