Side Room is pleased to present Jongho Lee: Walking Backwards, the first solo exhibition by Jongho Lee. The exhibition will be on view by appointment and online from March 25 to May 27, 2023.

The exhibition includes a recently completed body of works including six sculptures and six drawings. The sculptures are characterized by subtle manipulation and assemblage of found and made objects drawing from larger themes that include: time, faith and mysticism among others. The drawings are culled from a sketchbook dedicated to exercises in abstraction.

While walking backwards is a significantly disorientating act, it also affords a slow enlargement of one's visual frame with each step taken; an act usually enacted as a singularly functional effort to expand one’s world view. An unknown Franciscan mystic deemed to be highly touched with the charismatic gifts of healing, increased faith, and the interpretation of tongues described transcendental faith with a visual allegory of sorts:

“When walking backwards, the physical and timely obstacles that lie in your path not only become invisible, but removable through faith and faith alone. Once you look backwards to confirm physical reality, your faith in faith shatters and you are left again with the world around you.”

He is said to have asked his disciples:

“For how long are you willing to walk backwards?”

Jongho Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, and received a BFA and an MA from NYU. He was the recipient of the Pilchuck Scholarship in 2018 in addition to being picked as the resident artist assistant at Pilchuck Glass School the same year. He was a resident at the Prattsville Residency in 2019. He lives and works in New Jersey.

Jongho Lee: Walking Backwards can be seen by appointment at 544 Pacific Street, Apt. 3, Brooklyn, NY 11217. For further information, please contact Gilles Heno-Coe at gilles@sideroomgallery.com. Visit us on Instagram @sideroomgallery.