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The mystery of Lee Jae-hyo’s artwork titles unveiled

Lee Hae-hyo’s works have been regularly featured in London – at Albemarle Gallery, at the current HADA Contemporary exhibition, and in the Korean Eye collection.

0121-1110=1
Lee Jae-hyo: 0121-1110=1090510 (2009). Stainless steel bolts, nails and wood, 54 x 102 x 7 cm

Regular gallery-goers will have noted that all his works have a puzzling name which looks like a non-sensical mathematical equation. Thanks to Sun at HADA Contemporary, the secret of his naming convention can be revealed: the formula simply represents his name and the date of completion.

Take the above work, entitled 0121-1110=1090510, from the catalogue of the current HADA show. This title can be split into two segments: 0121-1110=1, which represents Lee’s name; and the date 10 May 2009 in YYMMDD format. It takes a bit of imagination to get from 이재효 to 0121-1110=1. The trick is that you have to cheat a little by rotating the final 효 through 90 degrees. Here’s how it works:

Lee Jaehyo trivia

So there you have it folks.