Points of arrival: Insung Lee

Not the milestones or the obvious turning points, but everything that happens around them: hesitation, expectation, uncertainty, memory, and the quiet decisions that gradually shape who we become.

Working with layers of oil on canvas, Lee constructs scenes that seem to exist somewhere between memory and imagination. Figures, spaces, and gestures emerge without offering a complete narrative. They feel familiar yet difficult to place, like fragments of an experience whose meaning has changed over time.

Presented in collaboration with Korean gallery AN INC, Points of Arrival marks Insung Lee’s first exhibition in Spain, bringing his work into a new context and opening a dialogue between different artistic and cultural perspectives.

Across the paintings, small orange points appear again and again. They punctuate the compositions like coordinates on an invisible map, suggesting places of attention, transition or possibility. Lee deliberately leaves their meaning unresolved. Rather than explaining where we are or where we should look, these points create openings within the image, allowing each viewer to bring their own memories and associations into the work.

This ambiguity lies at the heart of Lee’s painting. What matters is not necessarily what happened, but everything that surrounded it: the path taken, the choices left behind, the emotions that remained unspoken. A destination is never simply a destination; it carries within it all the invisible steps that made arriving there possible.

Points of Arrival invites us to consider life in much the same way. We tend to remember beginnings and endings, successes and losses, while much of our existence takes place in between. Lee brings our attention back to that overlooked territory.

His paintings do not ask us to find a single story within them. They ask us to complete one.

Perhaps every point of arrival is also another point of departure.