tubular structure with five circles, 150 x 124 x 151 cm, 2019 collaboration with Brice Oziel, Montreuil-sur-Ille
'Kundari' is a neologism invented by Seulgi Lee. KUNDARI spider is part of a set inspired by the popular tale Gargantua*. What if this Rabelaisian giant, who shaped the French landscapes from east to west, had been a woman?
In contrast to this masculine excess, Seulgi Lee poses on the floor of large painted metal stabiles. Their forms are giant abstract representations of female genders. The artist brings together here several historical references: that of the Sheela Na Gigs, medieval sculptures representing fertility goddesses, and other motifs used in European painting from prehistory to the neolithic. The soustitres of KUNDARI araignée, abeille (the spider KUNDARI, bee) evoke symbols identified by the archaeologist Marija Gimbutas**.
She writes in this regard: "The astonishing repetition of symbolic associations over time and throughout Europe on pottery, figurines, and other objects of worship has convinced me that we are dealing with something other than simple 'geometric patterns'" : these signs belong to a metaphysical alphabet.
Seulgi Lee draws inspiration from this repertoire of Western mythology to deliver a contemporary interpretation.
* – Gargantua est un roman de François Rabelais, 1534
** – Marija Gimbutas, Le langage de la déesse, 2005
