Overview
The He Art Museum presents "A Dance for the Prayer", a major solo exhibition by Korean contemporary artist Lee Bae. Centered on the imagery of fire and embers, and employing mediums such as charcoal, bronze, and works on paper, the exhibition delves into the artist’s profound inquiry into the secrets of flame, the eternal dialectic between destruction and rebirth, and the interplay of matter and spirit. This is Lee Bae’s first institutional solo exhibition in southern China, and a meditation on "what remains and what is reborn"—a theme that runs through his artistic career.
Titled "A Dance for the Prayer", the exhibition unfolds as a ritual quartet—white as first light, black as the abyss, each move an inhalation and exhalation, matter transforming into spirit and back. Lee Bae once said he works like a farmer tilling the soil with a prayerful heart. Between the breathing charcoal and silent bronze, between the void of white and the traces of black, there remains warmth within the ashes. And the dance never ends.
Entering the museum, the spatial narrative unfolds in stark contrast. In the outdoor pool, white sculptures rest on the water. Unscathed by fire, they retain the artist’s hand-carved traces, like clouds drifting across a still mirror. Is white the closest to colorless? Is it a void, or negative space? Inside the hall, by stark contrast, an eight-meter-high charcoal pillar rises like a monument. Tons of hand-fired charcoal, chopped, bound and stacked, reveal a deep black texture—the visual legacy of the flames. White on the outside, black within—what has never burned, and what has turned to ash.
At the heart of the exhibition, a ten-meter bronze stretches across the venue, silent as a frozen river. Delicate small works are scattered around. On the second floor, dozens of pieces from the Brushstroke series hang suspended—swift as wind, gentle as breath, explosive as a dancer’s leap, and still as meditation—echoing the massive bronze. Rough metal and charcoal are the skeletons of embers, each preserving the memory of fire in its own way, each moving into the depths of time at its own pace.
Lee Bae uses charcoal as his language, questioning how the incomplete combustion of wood can become the starting point for rebirth. Different woods yield charcoals of varying depths, ground into powders of different textures, mixed with oil, guided by brush, embodied by dance, and traced onto paper. The vast emptiness serves as pauses between motions, and the stillness after the embers settle. To wander through the exhibition is to lose linear time, and to enter a field of ethereal and dispersing energy. This experience spirals like the ebb and flow of life itself: from lightness to gravity and back to lightness; from matter to spirit and back to matter. Destruction and rebirth are not before or after; they are two sides of the same coin.
Why the South? Lee Bae’s exploration of the primordial nature of natural materials, his singular focus on black and white, and the cyclical philosophy of destruction and rebirth that runs through his works resonate deeply with the pragmatic, resilient, and intrinsic vitality of Lingnan culture. Charcoal is born from fire and continues its memory within the ashes—just as this land carries its history and future.
"Lee Bae：A Dance for the Prayer" is meticulously curated by He Art Museum. As an artistic ritual of fire, ashes, memory, and rebirth, the exhibition not only presents an international artist’s extreme inquiry into matter and spirit but also offers the public a contemplative site to perceive time, temperature, and the rhythm of life.
Exhibition Information
Title：Lee Bae：A Dance for the Prayer
Dates: July 11 – September 20, 2026
Venue: He Art Museum
Opening Hours:Monday–Sunday, 10:00–18:00 Last admission at 17:30.
About HEM
Located in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong, He Art Museum (HEM) is a non-profit private art museum designed by Tadao Ando. HEM focuses on modern and contemporary culture and art with an international scope. As one of the first pet-friendly museums in China, HEM is dedicated to integrating art into the daily lives of community members, aiming to create an open and inclusive community art museum.
Follow He Art Museum
WeChat: 和美术馆 HEM Weibo: 和美术馆 HEM
rednote：HEM 和美术馆 Instagram：@hemartmuseum
Website: http://hem.org/ Press Inquiries: press@hem.org
Titled "A Dance for the Prayer", the exhibition unfolds as a ritual quartet—white as first light, black as the abyss, each move an inhalation and exhalation, matter transforming into spirit and back. Lee Bae once said he works like a farmer tilling the soil with a prayerful heart. Between the breathing charcoal and silent bronze, between the void of white and the traces of black, there remains warmth within the ashes. And the dance never ends.
Entering the museum, the spatial narrative unfolds in stark contrast. In the outdoor pool, white sculptures rest on the water. Unscathed by fire, they retain the artist’s hand-carved traces, like clouds drifting across a still mirror. Is white the closest to colorless? Is it a void, or negative space? Inside the hall, by stark contrast, an eight-meter-high charcoal pillar rises like a monument. Tons of hand-fired charcoal, chopped, bound and stacked, reveal a deep black texture—the visual legacy of the flames. White on the outside, black within—what has never burned, and what has turned to ash.
At the heart of the exhibition, a ten-meter bronze stretches across the venue, silent as a frozen river. Delicate small works are scattered around. On the second floor, dozens of pieces from the Brushstroke series hang suspended—swift as wind, gentle as breath, explosive as a dancer’s leap, and still as meditation—echoing the massive bronze. Rough metal and charcoal are the skeletons of embers, each preserving the memory of fire in its own way, each moving into the depths of time at its own pace.
Lee Bae uses charcoal as his language, questioning how the incomplete combustion of wood can become the starting point for rebirth. Different woods yield charcoals of varying depths, ground into powders of different textures, mixed with oil, guided by brush, embodied by dance, and traced onto paper. The vast emptiness serves as pauses between motions, and the stillness after the embers settle. To wander through the exhibition is to lose linear time, and to enter a field of ethereal and dispersing energy. This experience spirals like the ebb and flow of life itself: from lightness to gravity and back to lightness; from matter to spirit and back to matter. Destruction and rebirth are not before or after; they are two sides of the same coin.
Why the South? Lee Bae’s exploration of the primordial nature of natural materials, his singular focus on black and white, and the cyclical philosophy of destruction and rebirth that runs through his works resonate deeply with the pragmatic, resilient, and intrinsic vitality of Lingnan culture. Charcoal is born from fire and continues its memory within the ashes—just as this land carries its history and future.
"Lee Bae：A Dance for the Prayer" is meticulously curated by He Art Museum. As an artistic ritual of fire, ashes, memory, and rebirth, the exhibition not only presents an international artist’s extreme inquiry into matter and spirit but also offers the public a contemplative site to perceive time, temperature, and the rhythm of life.
Exhibition Information
Title：Lee Bae：A Dance for the Prayer
Dates: July 11 – September 20, 2026
Venue: He Art Museum
Opening Hours:Monday–Sunday, 10:00–18:00 Last admission at 17:30.
About HEM
Located in Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong, He Art Museum (HEM) is a non-profit private art museum designed by Tadao Ando. HEM focuses on modern and contemporary culture and art with an international scope. As one of the first pet-friendly museums in China, HEM is dedicated to integrating art into the daily lives of community members, aiming to create an open and inclusive community art museum.
Follow He Art Museum
WeChat: 和美术馆 HEM Weibo: 和美术馆 HEM
rednote：HEM 和美术馆 Instagram：@hemartmuseum
Website: http://hem.org/ Press Inquiries: press@hem.org