OKNP Seoul presents LET DOWN YOUR HAIR, a solo exhibition by BoraLee from August 29th to October 10th. An artist investigating the “line” as a sculptural unit, BoraLee has employed various mediums such as spatial drawing, painting, and installation to construct unique narratives and worldviews.

LET DOWN YOUR HAIR presents three strains of BoraLee’s works: Black Tower, a three-dimensional drawing series drawn into empty space with a 3D pen; Limited Space, an installation created with hand-knitted fabric; and the painting series Vacant Lot.

BoraLee creates the individual “black towers” by densely and compactly stacking up the strokes of a 3D pen. The towers come in various colors and sizes, but we must pay attention to the stages through which they are produced and multiplied. After making the initial drawing of the tower, BoraLee cultivates it at the tip of her fingers, stacking up from point to line and line to plane. The sculptural piece born after many hours of painstaking labor has the tactility of one’s own body and flesh. This body is then turned into data by a 3D scanner and becomes a memory or a trace — something that cannot be felt or touched despite having a corporeal existence. Lastly, the data is reborn through a 3D printer in various sizes and colors, and the final pieces are gathered together in one space. It is impossible for us to tell apart something that initially filled space from the trace of something that has been emptied.

BoraLee’s gaze, circulating through existence and absence, is also evident in the relationship between her installation piece, Limited Space, and her painting series, Vacant Lot. The hand-knitted fabric, for instance, exists by filling the space — climbing over the frames and unfolding itself across the exhibition hall. Conversely, in the paintings, the contour of the entangled lines is revealed by BoraLee filling out their negative spaces on the canvas, paradoxically depicting the lines by their absence.

“The anxiety within us is something that cannot be easily turned into form, and subsequently, categorizing and accumulating such instances is also difficult. And yet, we accumulate this emotion of anxiety within ourselves time and again and prolong a cycle that does not even have a form.” – An excerpt from BoraLee’s artist statement

Due to the never-ending processes of emptying and filling, it feels as if this realm would shut its doors as soon as the last piece of the puzzle is put in place, but BoraLee supplies it with the energy of anxiety. The subtle metaphors running through BoraLee’s works — the eerie towers, the hand-knitted fabric drawn midair like locks of hair, and more — urge us to recall that one narrative we all know. But, the various causes stirring up the emotions force the narratives to circulate instead of reaching toward their endings. The hair keeps growing forever, and it seems as if we will be able to grab onto it anytime soon. But the tower keeps growing forever too, and we can never reach that “being.”

BoraLee is based in Korea. She received a bachelor’s degree in painting from Hongik University, an MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and a PhD from Hongik University. She had solo exhibitions at GalleryDOS in 2013, Whanki Museum in 2016, Daegu Art Factory in 2020, and Cheongju Art Studio in 2023, and took part in group exhibitions held by various art institutions, including the Paradise Cultural Foundation, Yangpyeong Art Museum, and Osan Museum of Art. Her public art pieces include Lotus for You Walkways installed in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, in 2021, Cotton Candy Elephant in Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, and Marginal_TwoManners at Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport. She is currently an Associate Professor of Art Education at the Gyeongin National University of Education, Korea.