Cylinder Seoul

Cylinder is pleased to present a duo booth by Minseo Kang and Jonghwan Lee at Liste Art Fair Basel. Kang employs tempera, a medium recalling medieval painting, using its faded tones and cracked surfaces to embed self-invented myths beneath the image. Torn maps marked with stars, letters, and symbols, along with fragments of eyes, hands, and bodies, appear as incomplete information that gestures toward a lost whole. In contrast, Lee intervenes directly upon the pictorial surface, carving and piercing through it to disrupt flatness and reveal painting as a porous structure where interior and exterior circulate. Through fractured surfaces and hollow pathways, both artists explore the potential of painting in states of incompleteness, where time, matter, and image remain in flux.

Jonghwan Lee (b. 1994) is a Seoul-based artist who received his BFA in Oriental Painting from Seoul National University in 2021 and is currently completing an MFA in Fine Art at Korea National University of Arts (2025). Recent exhibitions include Loggia at Hall 1, HYPERCUBE at CYLINDER TWO, and Cabinet at Sahng-up Gallery. His work has also been presented at Frieze Seoul Focus Asia, TORQUE 1 / Gear Shift at CYLINDER ONE, and a two-person exhibition at CYLINDER X South Parade, London. By carving and piercing the pictorial surface, Lee treats painting as a spatial structure where interior and exterior circulate.

Minseo Kang (b. 2001, South Korea) is a Seoul-based artist who received her BFA in Painting from Seoul National University in 2024. Recent exhibitions include Oviparous Signum at CYLINDER ONE, EASTEAST TOKYO at the Science Museum, Supper Club at H Queen’s, and HITE Collection. Her work was also presented in TORQUE 4 / Manettino Dial at CYLINDER ONE. Kang was awarded the ChunMan Art for Young Prize in 2024. Kang’s paintings employ tempera to construct self-invented myths that appear as fragmented archaeological relics.