The Easel | Art journalism

9th September 2025

From the Hindenburg to the DMZ, contemporary artist Lee Bul’s latest exhibit explores failed utopias

Lee Jian | Korea JoongAng Daily | 1st September 2025

Bul, the eminent Korean artist, started out in performance art but as international acclaim grew she moved into sculpture, installation, and painting. The centrepiece of this retrospective is a huge Zeppelin-shaped balloon, emblematic of “failed utopian dreams”. A tall structure reflects her view that architecture is an expression of “our hopes, our vision”. Such works, she hopes will “come off as somehow familiar, accessible, [but also with] a hint of something a bit strange”. A profile of the artist is here.

2nd September 2025

Antony Gormley: Sculpture is ‘the Most Radical’ of Artforms

Antony Gormley | ArtReview | 27th August 2025

Sculpture doesn’t get nearly the column inches that painting enjoys, something that seems to rankle Gormley. The charisma of masterpieces like the Sphinx of Giza, Nefertiti’s bust, Michelangelo’s David and the Statue of Liberty comes from the inherent qualities of sculpture. It is the most radical of artforms because it “refuses the functional logic that most things in the world obey. [Further], it insists that by changing matter, it changes the world. Sculpture, rather than making a picture of a thing, is the thing.”

sculpture

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