The finest forms in the fewest lines
- Sangsoo builds modernist sculptural forms
- He works with digital tools, including 3D printing
- His animal figures are characterised by their unique colours and movements
Sangsoo Lee's metal practice explores how far form can be reduced without losing meaning. Trained in ceramics and sculpture at Busan Design High School, Dong-A University and Hongik University, he approaches 3D work through the logic of drawing. Rather than modelling mass or volume, Sangsoo constructs animals using the minimum number of lines required to evoke their presence. His works are digitally modelled, 3D printed, sanded, painted and assembled, yet they retain the immediacy of a single gesture. "My work is influenced by modernist drawing and the discipline of subtraction," he says. "The sculptures are like visual riddles that invite viewers to complete the images in their own perception."
Interview
- How did your education lead you to your practice?
- I studied ceramics and sculpture, but I built my practice independently, learning through experimentation. Early praise during a clay class made me realise that making forms could become my lifelong language.
- Why do you focus on minimal lines in sculpture?
- I do not think of my works as one-line drawings, but as sculptures built from minimal lines. Picasso’s drawings taught me that expression is not about adding, but about removing everything unnecessary until only the essence remains.
- How do you keep lines continuous and stable?
- Each line holds weight because it takes the form of a square pipe. Gravity naturally affects long horizontal lines, causing them to sag. I design the lines to overlap and support one another so the structure can sustain itself organically.
- Do you have any plans for your metal work in the future?
- I do not set a fixed direction for myself. My ideas are born instinctively, like flashes. Rather than forcing a plan, I focus on the present and let changes unfold naturally, while continuing to communicate with audiences through my work.
Sangsoo Lee is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2002
