Lee Hanbi's "Paradise Condo" invites us to a difficult conversation covering everything from cosmetics to theology. Is plastic surgery similar to technology? Can we say that a face which has had plastic surgery done on it is similar to a technological product? We update our software, upgrade our equipment - do we also upgrade our faces? We make improvements on devices, should we also approach our faces/bodies with the same mindset (as if they are external to us products)? Are machines/robots becoming more human-like or are we becoming more like machines/robots? These deep psychological questions blend the two things Korea is most famous for - plastic surgery and technology. At the same time, the topic of what is human is religious in origin with some theologists suggesting that the whole idea of the tech-improved (whether through plastic surgery or through brain implants) post-human is Satanist. At any rate, very timely, very relevant exhibition by a young artist!
"Aluminum Cucumber" by Jeong Yeon-Doo (b. 1969) sheds light on the so-called "diaspora art" or art by Koreans living in the former Soviet countries. An aluminum cucumber is something unnatural, something that natural soil (read: roots, home country) will not support. An impossible crop. A tree without roots. A mismatch between the individual and the environment. A forced, crooked result. It is this discomfort and lack of sense of belonging that the artist is exploring. In a world in which ever more people live as migrants/expats or move from hometowns to the bigger cities in their countries in search for a better life, the topic of this exhibition is relevant to far more people than just the Korean diaspora in the former Soviet Union.
Gana Art presents the master of Korean modern ink painting Park Dae-Sung (b. 1945). "Where silence dwells" is a tribute to classic Asian ink landscapes. The artist is a representative of a generation of Korean artists which tried to blend Eastern and Western elements, to remain faithful to tradition but not reject the contributions of Modernity. He travelled the Silk Road and then toured the USA extensively - this cosmopolitan experience is considered to have contributed greatly to his understanding of East and West and to his choices as to what parts of the Western tradition can best compliment the Eastern style.
Lee Jae-Hyun's solo exhibition "Here I am" features artworks on which the present-day version of the artist meets his old self and fragments of his past. The canvas itself is the meeting point of past and present, of memory and emotion. Time is broken in space. Past and present coexist in front of us. This experience can be seen as an everyday occurrence or as a life-shattering moment of realisation.
Lee Min-Su's "Time that remains" explores the topic of accumulating paint and experiences on the canvas. Time as a process of delivering results. The artwork as a product of time accumulated. The time that has passed is not time which has disappeared but rather it continues to live as the results of whatever was done during this time. In a way, the passage of time is the accumulation of matter/results. Matter is trapped time. This theological/philosophical topic is presented visually through family lineage and the individual's lifespan.
Kim Hee-Gon's solo exhibition "Human Pilgrimage" features more than 200 works including large-scale paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, and videos which treat the topic of the human self and how we create and re-create ourselves as we go through life. The show also invites us to think about those events outside of our control which have shaped and re-shaped us and how that process happened. The exhibition is designed to be a pilgrimage of the visitor to himself/herself. An examination of their own experiences in which the artworks are just prompts for our own personal conversations with ourselves and our destinies.
On a somewhat similar note, "Body of the Soul" by Gu Nari also explores the topic of the deconstruction of the self. Usually, we see (the body of) a person and we ask ourselves: "Who is this person? What personality do they have? Will we get along well? Will we become friends?" - in other words, we hope to discover the soul within the body which currently stands before us. This exhibition flips that process and sees the body as a result of the actions of the soul.
Hong Sung-Yong's "Taxidermy: A Memory of it" explores the fading traces of emotions and memories and the artist's attempt to trap/lock these traces in matter (in this case, the lacquered surface of the artworks). The canvas is like a collection of memory fragments, something like a photo album but of a very different shape.
Song Hayoung's "Pavilion" draws our attention to the concept of boundaries and its many meanings. Post-modern Western culture tends to see boundaries as things that isolate and separate and juxtaposes them with bridges, connection and belonging. But boundaries also protect, shelter, define and, maybe most interestingly, boundaries are the points where one thing turns into another. They are places of transformation and alchemy. The exhibition invites us to explore the often-forgotten depth of this concept.
