LEE Jinju: Discontinuouscontinuity: Solo Exhibition

LEE Jinju (b.1980) captures the discontinuous strangeness embedded within the continuity of everyday scenes through meticulous brushwork based on traditional East Asian painting techniques. By focusing on moments that are newly perceived according to shifts in perspective and modes of perception, LEE questions the very nature of “seeing.” Through delicate and thorough observation, she detects the unusually unfamiliar and strange discontinuities within the continuum of the most ordinary landscapes. The title of this exhibition, Discontinuouscontinuity, concisely encapsulates the central theme that LEE has long explored. She observes the ambivalent nature of the world around her—at once uniquely independent and intricately connected. From the personal continuity linking her mother, herself, and her daughter, to vast panoramic landscapes, the beings, objects, and events encountered in life all possess their own “discontinuous continuity.”

Presented across the entire space of ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL, this exhibition showcases a total of 54 new and recent works by LEE Jinju. It offers a glimpse into the trajectory of her painterly methodology while guiding viewers to complete their own narratives within the realm of personal experience and perception. LEE’s paintings interact closely with the gallery’s spatial scale and structure. The overall exhibition flow evokes a psychological journey designed by the artist, rather than a mere arrangement of works. Imagery drawn from autobiographical experiences and memories is rendered with realism and precision, yet within the scenes, these elements relate to one another in surreal and illogical ways, revealing an unfamiliar dissonance. The canvas remains a flexible space imbued with unfixed meanings and open to free interpretation. A recurring motif in her work, the “curtain” serves both as a screen that blocks subjects from one another and as a shelter that protects them. As a painterly device, it signifies psychological and physical boundaries while simultaneously suggesting hidden connections between fragmented scenes—thus visually embodying the exhibition’s theme of “discontinuous continuity.” Meanwhile, the blank spaces on and around the canvas act as unspoken interludes, symbols of invisible potentiality that hint at the “discontinuous continuity” of the visual world.

LEE Jinju has held solo exhibitions at the Yuz Museum Project Space of Art (Hong Kong, 2025), ARARIO MUSEUM Tapdong Cinema (Jeju, Korea, 2022–2024), ARARIO MUSEUM in SPACE (Seoul, Korea, 2020), Triumph Gallery (Moscow, Russia, 2019), and ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2017). She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including those at Esther Schipper (Berlin, Germany, 2024), Marres, House for Contemporary Culture (Maastricht, The Netherlands, 2022), White Cube Seoul (Seoul, Korea, 2023), SONGEUN (Seoul, Korea, 2023, 2022), the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (Seoul, Korea, 2021). Her awards include Second Prize at the JoongAng Fine Arts Prize (2009) and Second Prize at the SONGEUN Art Award (2014). LEE’s works are housed in major public collections such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; Seoul Museum of Art; ARARIO MUSEUM; SONGEUN; as well as oversead museums such as Long Museum (China) and Yuz Museum (China).