ART-EXP-LKY
Lee Kun-Yong
Systems of Clarity
Body operating as structural system
ART-EXP-LKY
Body operating as structural system
Lee Kun-Yong
Index Code:
ART-EXP-LKY
Origin:
South Korea
Field Notes:
Constraint shaping action • Body reduced to function • Movement as procedure
Defining Moment:
The early 1970s Body Drawing performances established a method in which bodily movement was constrained into repeatable, non-expressive operations.

Lee Kun-Yong

(
b. 1945
 )
lee-koon-yong

Lee Kun-Yong’s work treats the body as a structural instrument rather than a vehicle of expression.

Movement is constrained, repeated, and measured.

Action becomes procedure.

Marks register physical limits rather than intention.

The body functions as a system within space.

How does the body function as structure rather than expression here?

Lee Kun-Yong’s work removes the body from expressive authorship and repositions it as an operational tool.

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Gestures are limited, repeated, or mechanically defined so that action produces structure, not meaning.

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Through restriction, movement becomes procedural and legible. What remains is not performance, but a system enacted through the body.

Position

Body as Measure

Human scale, movement, or wear calibrates the work. Proportion is felt physically rather than visually alone.

In Lee Kun-Yong’s work, the body functions as a measuring device, producing structure through constrained action rather than expressive intent.
Hard Systems
Form is governed by rigid rules, limits, and non-negotiable constraints.
Spatial Reduction
Space is clarified through subtraction, compression, and restraint.

Systems of Clarity

Creates coherence through disciplined relationships between elements.
Material
Material behavior governs form through weight, resistance, and constraint.
Structure
Structure holds the work through rules, joins, and controlled relationships between parts.
Art
Form operates as a site for material, perceptual, and conceptual inquiry.
Image Credits
Hide Image Credits

1. Portrait of the artist. Image source: Samsung.

2. Performance Art Pioneer Lee Kun-Yong Explores a “Snail’s Gallop.” © Lee Kun-Yong. Courtesy Pace Gallery.

3. Installation view: Lee Kun-Yong, Snail’s Gallop, Pace Gallery, New York, 14 July – 18 August 2023. © Lee Kun-Yong. Courtesy Pace Gallery.

4. Lee Kun-Yong, performance view of Snail’s Gallop at The 7th ST Exhibition, 1980. Courtesy the artist and Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.

5. Portrait of the artist. Courtesy Gallery Hyundai.

6. Lee Kun-Yong (Korean, born 1942), The Method of Drawing 76-1, 1976. Gesso on canvas mounted on plywood, 67 5/8 × 78 5/8 inches (171.8 × 199.7 cm). The Rachofsky Collection.

7. Portrait of the artist. Courtesy Dior.

8. Lee Kun-Yong, Bodyscape 76-1-2023, 2023. Courtesy Massimo De Carlo Gallery.

9. Lee Kun-Yong, Drinking Water, 1975/2026. Set of 3 archival pigment prints with performance instructions signed by the artist, 27 × 40 cm. Courtesy Pace Gallery.

10. Installation view: Lee Kun-Yong, Form of Now, Pace Gallery, Seoul, 5 June – 24 August 2019. Courtesy Pace Gallery.

11. Lee Kun-Yong, Bodyscape 76–3, late 1970s. Courtesy the artist.

12. Lee Kun-Yong, Bodyscape 76-2-2017, 2017.

13. Installation view: Lee Kun-Yong, Snail’s Gallop, Pace Gallery, New York, 14 July – 18 August 2023. © Lee Kun-Yong. Courtesy Pace Gallery.

14. Lee Kun-Yong, Bodyscape 76-2-95-01, 1995. Acrylic on canvas, 260.6 × 162.2 cm.

Cover: Installation view: Lee Kun-Yong, Snail’s Gallop, Pace Gallery, New York, 14 July – 18 August 2023. © Lee Kun-Yong. Courtesy Pace Gallery.

Portrait: Lee Kun-Yong. Courtesy Dior.

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All images © their respective rights holders.  
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Field Notes

Back to
The Atlas

By Structural Focus

Quiet Modernism relates practices through how form is organized rather than how it appears. Connections emerge through shared structural conditions — such as repetition, constraint, spatial organization, material behavior, or duration — even when outcomes differ.

A single grouping may reflect multiple overlapping structural concerns.
Hanne Darboven
time as notation
Sol LeWitt
Idea as structure

By Historical Lineage

Quiet Modernism traces historical relationships through movements, schools, influence, period, and shared cultural context. These links show where a practice sits within a broader lineage, even when the structural problems differ.
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A single grouping may reflect multiple overlapping structural concerns.