Soo Kyoung Lee

Overview

The Oniris Gallery presents the third solo exhibition by Franco-Korean painter Soo Kyoung Lee, from October 8 to November 28, 2026, in Rennes. Featuring paintings and recent works, this exhibition, titled 일신우일신 (translation: to renew oneself again), showcases the evolution of a unique artistic practice rooted in the immediacy of the gesture and an intuitive relationship with painting.

Self-taught, with a background in French literature from Seoul and later Paris, Soo Kyoung Lee creates abstract and spontaneous paintings, free from any prior preparation. For her, thought and action are inseparable: the gesture does not serve to convey a preexisting idea; rather, it is the very place where the painting emerges. In this continuous movement, the image is not projected—it simply comes into being.

Her works are built through successive layers, in a subtle interplay between appearance and disappearance. Shapes and colors emerge, overlap, fade, or transform, allowing traces of previous gestures to surface. Each painting thus becomes the result of an ongoing dialogue between mastery and the unexpected, decision and accident. The artist rejects any predetermined interpretation of her works and advocates for a form of painting free from any prior intention, where meaning arises from the very experience of creation.

For several years now, Soo Kyoung Lee has also been incorporating wood into her practice. This material brings a new dimension to her works, one of relief, depth, and materiality. It also opens a personal dialogue with certain Korean artistic traditions, without ever straying from the profoundly contemporary and experimental realm of her painting.

Through a collection of recent works, the exhibition highlights the evolution of his artistic language: a style of painting in which gesture, texture, color, and time intertwine to give rise to forms that are constantly in the making.