A two-person exhibition at White Cube Seoul pairs Korean abstract painter Lee Seung-ja (1918–2009) and Lebanese-born artist Etel Adnan (1925–2021), who never met in life but share strikingly similar trajectories and artistic concerns. Both left their homelands during wartime (Korean War and Lebanese Civil War), made careers in France, began major art production later in life, and express longing for their homelands through abstract work. The show, titled “Meeting the Sun” (borrowed from an elegy by Adnan about cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin), runs through March 7 and displays 10 works by Lee and 9 by Adnan. Visitors can see shared themes—earthy palettes (warm oranges, browns, yellows) blended with blues and violets suggesting sky and space, repeated short brushstrokes in Lee’s woven-like canvases connected to Adnan’s hand-stitched tapestries (tapestry), and geometric forms evoking planets and celestial systems. Differences are noted: Lee’s 1960s “Women and Earth” series emphasizes orderly grids, repeated square frames, and symmetry, while Adnan’s 2010–2020s pieces are lyrical and sensorial in color. This is Adnan’s first exhibition in Korea; the curator hopes it fosters a cross-cultural artistic dialogue.
