état hypnagogique (hypnagogic state)
Lee Ho Ryon
26.10 – 07.12.2024
The work of LEE Ho Ryon is rooted in philosophical and psychoanalytic concepts, providing his paintings with a theoretical depth that elevates them beyond simple representation. The core of his approach lies in the notion of “pulsion,” drawn from the theories of Freud and Lacan. Pulsion is an objectless desire, an insatiable quest to fill an inner void—a “lack” inherent in the human condition. The artist himself describes his models as substitutes invoked to fill this void, a way to preserve and possess what is ephemeral, akin to a form of “artistic taxidermy.” His paintings, therefore, become an attempt to capture the moment, to freeze movement, and render immutable what is destined to disappear.
The gaze also plays a crucial role. Inspired by the works of Lacan and Merleau-Ponty, Ho Ryon explores the tension between the gaze of the spectator and that of the body-object. The gaze creates an experience of division and ambiguity, where the observer confronts the observed object, which seems almost to return the gaze. This duality gives rise to a new pulsion—the desire to see and understand what remains hidden. In the crystallization of this feminine ideal, the gaze of the spectator oscillates between fascination and introspection.
The veil forms the third angle of his approach. Quoting Kafka and drawing inspiration from Walter Benjamin and Nietzsche, Ho Ryon employs the technique of veiling and layering to create a sense of mystery around the body. This partially transparent veil conceals and reveals simultaneously, creating a play of visual desire. This search for a sublimated feminine ideal, enhanced by the veil, imbues the works with an imaginary dimension while establishing a distance that keeps the viewer in a state of suspended desire. The beauty of Ho Ryon’s figures retains an ambiguity that reflects the complexities of desire, memory, and blurred emotions.
Inspired by his experiences with photographic collages during his student years, Ho Ryon uses play as a means to reconnect with a pre-linguistic sensitivity, freeing the artwork from overly rigid interpretation. Like a poem or music, his paintings are intended to alter the spectator’s state of mind, to open up spaces of emotion and pleasure while providing a deeper impact where the tension between desire, sublimation, and anguish takes shape.
LEE Ho Ryon’s works capture an uncertain space where the interaction between sensuality and perception leads the viewer to explore this balanced distance between themselves and the artwork. This distance, as described by Didier Ottinger, is both a question of physical positioning in front of the piece and a philosophical approach to the intimacy of the depicted bodies. Ho Ryon’s canvases, through their play of overlays and transparencies, vibrate at the border between sleep and wakefulness—a hypnagogic state where bodies seem to merge, disconnect, and then reappear in a multitude of gestures. This assemblage of bodies into a singular figure reveals an elevation of the feminine ideal—an image where consciousness and unconsciousness confront each other.
Regarding LEE Ho Ryon’s works, M.T speaks of “the technicality of the eye in the service of manual sojourn.” His precise and refined pictorial gesture captures light, textures, and forms. The layers of paint intertwine and overlap, creating a kaleidoscopic vision of the human body. The pastel pink and white tones bring lightness and softness to the works, which contrast with the complexity of the agglomerated bodies. This apparent softness contains tension: an opposition between the search for the feminine ideal and the impossibility of fully capturing it. The division of figures, the transparency of veils, and the layering of forms demonstrate this endless quest for perfection, as well as the fear of what remains elusive and evades the gaze.
Through its long-standing relationship with the artist, Galerie PJ offers the public an immersion into this unique space where each work invites the viewer to feel, reflect, and discover the complex beauty of human sensuality. LEE Ho Ryon, through his gesture and gaze, encourages us to go beyond our own perception of the body and emotion, to reach a dimension of contemplation and desire—like a dual garden where memory and discovery, truth and imagination meet, and where the feminine figure is constantly sublimated in all its fragility and power.
