Middle Earth

DirenLee’s 2022 solo exhibition “Middle Earth” is an exhibition that shows the artist's experience in which the worlds of the two extremes of reality and the unconscious are connected through dreams. The artist divides the world of Middle Earth into the sun and the moon and describes the scenes occurring each time realistically and in detail. Dreamy tones are applied to the colorful colors mainly used in previous works, and the flow of time is sensibly released by adjusting the shading. The main characters appearing in the work are projections of the artist or the people around them, and they each have their own stories and are naturally harmonious with each other.


“I was promised to remember the moment I saw the purple ball” - DirenLee


The reality in DirenLee's work has already been simulated in the unconscious. The unconscious self draws a map of life, and the real self is a repetition of recalling forgotten memories one by one. The ending that will one day arrive is not shown or remembered in advance, but one just accepts the moment and moves forward one step at a time. Whenever there is confusion, the real self meets the unconscious self and draws a consensus. In the process, there is pain and joy,
and one day the two selves will meet. For years, Direnlee's works have been about communication, empathy, and inner healing, which showed the process of a shy artist coming out of the world. This exhibition shows the world as seen by the artist more proactively and boldly. The stories that were implicitly captured in the previous works are now expressed directly in the works and delivered to the audience as narratives.