Isabella Trimper
"I have been an art dealer/consultant for almost 25 years, and one thing I have been gifted with, is to recognize a genius and a good man,, you are both."
Robert C Morgan
"Hi!
Thanks for your brochure on you forthcoming exhibition at johnston State college on "Incorporeal Materiality" -- I like your poem dedicated to Deleuze, and the photographs of your work.
By the way, your sculpture "the Thinker" is a knockout, really fine, superb. You are at your best when you do not worry about representation and allow your feeling to take command of the form"
Davis Birks
"The element of mystery and surprise is strong in some of your new works. A sculpture is something that can often be appreciated in the round. Here you have taken advantage of that simple fact and capitalized on possible variations within a single context. Not an easy thing to do in sculpture. The work no longer fits comfortably within the idea of front, back and sides. As you walk around the work, each facet is in and of itself a distinct concept, a distinct concept that can even negate another facet of the same piece."
Jay Belmore
"The new work looks very of the moment, it is very timeless in it's form, it does not rely on another period of art to inform the viewer and this keeps the work fresh and compelling. From a monetary perspective you will gain a broader audience by demonstrating a new vocabulary but you are also going to lose those members who rely on more information in a piece. This should in no way deter you from moving forward and breaking new ground. In a purely esthetic response I really love the new work and in a more academic response I find the work has great bones- good balance, scale and proportion. I hope the talkshow and the restaurant draws interest."
Ruben cham
Dear won:
I enjoy and admire your work... you are really a great artist, but even more than that, you are a greater person....
from puerto vallarta, mexico. ruben cham
Paul Kantorek
Hi Won, your art is amazing, you are a genius. - PK -
Javier Astorga Sculptor
"I feel very energyzed when looking to your human forms, condensed gaps of our human soul. Almost as if they were archipelagos openning our perception into another dimension.
I like and reflect much with your work."
Maria M.
"A while ago I attended one of the galleries in Toronto on Yonge street and fell in love with your creative ,masterpieces. i am looking for a private tutor to learn how to sculptor better and was wondering if you might be able to introduce someone as i assume you are extremely busy. I am looking forward hearing form you soon."
Tony Illk
"Won's sculptural bodies are not the bodies that represent. They are bodies outside of history or sign. They are bodies without organs, especially faces."
Eddy Powell
"Amongst established and emerging artists, with vastly varying ambitions, talent and alas, frequently, delusions, Won Lee, above all others, stands out."
Davis
"Each sculpture by Won Lee marks an event, an event that initially begins with no expectations. Often working with a live model, the artist enters the studio free of preconceived ideas allowing the work to develop from and arbitrary point of departure guided by his and the model’s emotional states. The substance of this moment at hand is the prelude opening the door to a creative discourse between the artist and his work."
Diane
"Won, in your sculpture I see the past embracing tragedy - then I see the spirit tangled up with life. The zagged pieces of your figures are whole, grounded, and fluid, fragmented with motion, tragic with memory; one figure ibecomes many. Many layers. There is so much of a spirit within the whole that it speaks for all of mankind; I see with every glimpse a hundred other glimpses - a thousand emotions. I wish I could sometime photograph your work when the sun is just coming up or just about to set. They would be magnificant. I must study your paintings more to comment."
David Courtnage
"It is not difficult to see why the figurative sculptures of Won Lee have captured the imagination of so many in the art world. Thoughtful, daring, and by his own admission, 'primordial', his works project an intensity and mystery that leaves viewers in little doubt that this ambitious sculptor has real pedigree."
Jonathan Goodman
"Lee is an internationalist in his sculptural idiom; the work recalls the eloquent figures we see in Henry Moore, among other artists. He confronts the history of modern sculpture in his art, while at the same time pushing forward a highly contemporary and lyrical language that sweeps national identification aside. In this sense, while his background may be Korean, his art identifies with a broad-based esthetic, of which being Korean is only a part. His humanism expresses a worldliness that interprets other people as communicating a sense of hope, despite the difficulties and troubles that currently beset the world. He achieves his identification with the hopeful in life without being sentimental or mawkish; his art, as ambitious as it is, also contains a recognition of feeling that makes it all the more attractive. Lee thus offers his audience a world marked by directness of emotion, even as it convinces by intricacy of form."
Elaine Hoffman
"On behalf of the Educators at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection I would like to thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and speak to us. We all found it very stimulating and thought provoking. Many discussions ensued today in regards to various point that were brought up through your presentation. It was also most generous of you to provide us with a beautiful book of your writings and artwork. Please feel welcome to come and visit us at the gallery whenever time allows, "
Lame Deer
"Man you have been working and those large bronzes are something I would like to see in person."
Nicole Peskin
"I'm so glad for you, it looks like you have been doing amazing things!"
Diane Kilpatrick
"Thank you for sending these. As always I am deeply moved; humbled might be a better word for what I feel when I see your images. Do you remember me at Art expo in NYC. I am the photographer? Anyway, one of these days, maybe this summer, I would love the opportunity to photograph your work. I will travel to Toronta to do the photography. I just believe I could do some amazing things with your images. If you would consider it please let me know. You are so unbelievably gifted. i will try to get to Vermont to your talk and exhibit. Best always to you and your lovely wife... "