Calligrapher holds solo exhibition on patriotism

Sungkyunkwan University will hold an exhibition of calligraphic works by Lee Dong-ik, 76, also known by his penname Yucheon, at the Sungkyun Gallery in downtown Seoul, from January 12 to February 13. In his fourth solo exhibition, Lee will showcase the Epitaph of King Gwanggaeto of Goguryeo and the preface of Jingbirok, high-ranking Joseon scholar-official Ryu Seong-ryong`s memoir of the 1592-1598 Imjin War that the calligrapher reinterpreted in his own handwriting.

Lee, the eldest grandson of the head family of Lee Sang-ryong (1858-1932), former independence fighter and the first prime minister of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, presented "Rethinking My Country" as the theme of his solo exhibition. "I ruminated on the will of our ancestors who sacrificed their lives for a great cause when our country was in an extremely precarious state," he said. His transcriptions of a suicide poem left by independence fighter Hwang Hyeon (1855-1910) when Korea was annexed by Japan and Adm. Yi Sun-shin`s poem expressing his commitment to defending the country during the Imjin War shows extraordinary determination.