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    February 2024 Overview

    The Romantic Mundane

    Gallery Vidi hosts a group exhibition by three artists - Kim Young-Gon, Lee Joo-Young, and Hong Eun-Pyo - which explores everyday life from different angles. The show looks at the magic hidden within seemingly mundane moments and even goes as far as to seek for rainbows in difficult moments. Hong Eun-Pyo's works (bottom right on the poster) were inspired by a childhood memory of being hospitalised and learning to find joy in toys, balloons and life in imaginary worlds. 

     

    Kim Young-Gon (botton left on the poster) paints the dreams that later become our reality, the thoughts that later become our actions. He covers the eyes and removes the mouths of his characters, leaving it to the viewer to imagine the feelings, thoughts and intentions that accompany the situation. We see what we choose to see, we live what we choose to focus on.

     

    Lee Joo-Young explores the topics of prejucide and context. We conclude that something is inappropriate when we see it does not fit the context but that doesn't mean that the something in and of itself is wrong or bad - it is just a mismatch with the surrounding environment. His works combine elements coming from different worlds to create a patchwork of influences that strangely resembles a modern interpretation of the classic ink and brush paintings which also combined fragmented images and text.

     

    Cho Kyung-Kyu's "Honey Masterd" is another show that highlights the joys of small everyday moments. The works are centered around food and the act of nourishing one's self. The artist combines the spiritual act of nourishment with the familiarity of popular brands and foodstuffs. The works invite the viewers to discover the magic and soul of simple everyday acts that support the larger structures of our lives.

     

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    Lee Joo-Young

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    Lee Joo-Young

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    Lee Joo-Young

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    Lee Joo-Young

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    Lee Pu-Reum

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    Lee Pu-Reum

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    Cho Kyong-Yu

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    The Question of Values

    Pyo Gallery presents Berry Kim's "Very Berry" - an exhibition that invites us to think about modern-day value systems and why we value what we value. For him, it's not just the obsession with brands and social media but rather the obsession with the material in general.His question for the audience is this: Can you find the value within your self? Stripped of brands and flashlights, left with nothing, can you find some worth within you? Would you like to go on this journey or does fear prevent you?

     

    The artist studied Communication Design at Samsung Art & Design Institute before moving on to work in London and exhibit in L.A.

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    Bridging Tradition & Modernity, Here & There

    "Timeslip - bluehour" by Lee Ji-Hun is on show at Ocean Gallery. The exhibition explores the journey to utopia, the artworks combine our material environments with the dream of faraway fairylands and the bridges that will hopefully get us there some day.

     

    From time immeorial, people across countries and cultures have had it in their minds that dream vision of a better elsewhere - the strive towards another world is evidently manifest in religions and other spiritual, shamanistic and mythological beliefs. What is this dreamyelsewhere for each and everyone of us? How do we get there? What bridges are we building? Are they really going to take us to utopia or are they leading us elsewhere?

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    Seo Ki-Hwan

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    Seo Ki-Hwan

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    Yoo Mi-Sun

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    Park Daesung is one of the key contemporary artists working to innovate within an established tradition. Even though, he never formally studied landscape painting, he won a total of eight prizes at the Korea Art Exhibition from 1969 to 1978 and won the grand prize at the 2nd JoongAng Art Competition in 1979. He studied ink and calligraphy under the mentorship of Keran Li, a master of modern Chinese painting (guohua), and devoted himself to examining the calligraphy penmanship of famous writers.

     

    After studying the tradition inside out, he took to exploring ways of modernising it while staying within boundaries. His goal is to bridge the gap between traditional and modern styles through his technique and colour scheme choice.

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    Kim Hee-Yong's "Latent value" explores the formation of consciousness. She creates her works by immersing herself into the process of carving out "something" out of a clay that can be anything thereby repeating the process of character formation. Looking at her works one can feel the calm, meditative state of the artist as well as the energy and direction of the process. The surface of the material - be it stone or ceramics - serves as the basis for the expression of unique qualities - what do we make out of a human, what do we make out of ourselves?

     

    The resultant lines resemble a frequency wave - is this the frequency of the human heart, of emotion, of love? Either way, it testifies to the vitality and energy existing in our world. The artist hopes that by looking at her works, viewers can contemplate the many energies that have shaped them as people.

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    Byon Jae-Hee's "Color Phantasmagoria" explores the parts that remind of the whole, the elements that contain the whole within them. The show asks if the fragments can be enough, if they can obtain and contain a meaning in and of itself. The question is an echo of the religious understanding that humanity has lost its oneness with God.

     

    E-land Gallery presents Kwak So-Yeon's latest works (below) that aim to bridge the gap between traditional painting and modern visual culture. Faithful to the Korean tradition, the artist uses shamanistic and mystical motifs as her departure and goes on to include innovative colors and animation-style elements. The subjects she depicts are rare animals and more specifically, animals from traditional Korean myths believed to have supernatural powers. Animals are explored also in their capacity as humans' best friends and life companions.

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    Kwak So-Yeon

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    Kwak So-Yeon

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    Kwak So-Yeon

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    Kim Min-So

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    Kwak So-Yeon