Anselem Kiefer :The Secret of Fernery

 

‘The Secret of Fernery’ is the title of the exhibition and as well as an individual work. ‘Fernery’ is very important material to express Kiefer’s work and concept. It has very long history compared to other plant so it is used to contain many motives in his works. His works are usually overwhelming in scale and his use of earthy or heavy materials.

When you go into the gallery, there are 20 huge panels covering the whole wall. Panels look like vasculum or fossil at the first sight because inside, the panels are full of toil and plants. But in the distance, it seems lika abstract painting even as it uses real materials. In the center of the room, there is one big structure made up of steel scrap. I wondered why these two kind of works were put together in one space because it looked very irrelevant. But I think this shows the paradox of finiteness and infinity. The circulation of nature and the decadence of the artificial. He showed this message abstractly.

On the second floor, there are huge canvases consisting of various objects. He uses many objects on canvas like photo, ashes, clothes, straw… All these objects make his panting more affluent. Especially his work ‘Sky on the ground’ shows rough and live painting. Straws attached on the bottom connect outside and inside of canvas. It seems as if I can touch that material and behind that something mysterious world will exist along the long road to the sky. These dried or dead plant paradoxically shows vitality and history of nature.

His works seem full of ciphers and stories that hardly unravel. Meanwhile the images and materials he use very familiar to us. For me, the plant attached on canvas was very strong. It mingled each other in one picture roughly and makes some narrative in that space. That unpredictable format encouraged me to imagine more about that picture.

PARK Sunmin

 

Thomas Struth & Hiroshi Sugimoto

Gallery Artlink 6 – 27 May 2008

 

The forest represents as western’s atmosphere which is virgin and chaos before civilization. Consequentially, the sea represents Asia, meaning the truth mostly mentioned by Buddhism. Though there are some differences between them, Sea and Forest are the origins of nature and life, would be chaotic and rough, and then lead us to calmness and comfort in our inner mind.

Thomas Struth is a famous German photographer, who comes from the Hilda and Berndt Becher’s classes, At Artlink, he presents a recent series “Paradise” as 3 pieces of large photographs (the longest is 6m) which occupy 3/4 of the floor in the gallery. The Forest as the subject of photography, which he has studied around the world,

Generally huge prints tend to have tough grains, but in his prints they are delicate. The forests in his photos look like reality, and then they overwhelm you with a mysterious beauty.

Hiroshi Sugimoto puts his own Asian identity on photograph. In his work “Sea of Buddha” in the exhibition, he presents a spread picture book in a side of the exhibition space which is common in Asian countries.

The Buddha statues come from the 1000 Buddhas in the 12^th century temple of Sanjusangendo in Kyoto. It looks like deep universe why depends on the light of the morning sun rising over the Higashiyama hills without any artificial lights. For the reason, sea of Buddha might take us to the period of Heian and eternal truth.

Both people in Asian countries and western are living in tough world as technique developing. To make matters worse, the natural environment is getting polluted and destroyed. Therefore, people usually feel fatigue; they are willing to take a rest in the nature. For these reasons, the photography of Struth and Sugimoto can arouse sympathy and awaken sensibility.

KANG Soomin

 

Christo and Jeanne Claude

Park Ryu Sook Gallery

 

It seems like Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born for each other. Their native countries were just different, they were born in the same year, on the same day. This couple have done all projects together from when they were unknown artists until they became famous. The art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude is known worldwide today. Their large scale environmental art is meant to broaden people’s perception of their own surroundings. Often using fabric in expansive landscapes, Christo has created an art which no one has yet emulated.

 

Park Ryu Sook gallery, Seoul is presenting Christo’s drawings. We could see the impressive begining of their works here. The exhibition displays a huge amount of works from their two still not realized projects, The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates and Over the River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado.

 

The drawing of Mastaba shows artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s planned Mastaba project. The structure is made of nearly 400,000 stacked oil barrels and would stand about 500 feet tall. Oil barrels have consistently held a place in Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work, from Christo’s wrapped oil barrels of 1958 and the 1962 Iron Curtain–Wall of Oil Barrels, to a wall of 13,000 barrels constructed in the Gasometer, Oberhausen, Germany, in 1999. The artists’ proposed project for the United Arab Emirates will take the form of a colossal mastaba, a trapezoidal tomb used in ancient Egypt. Comprising 390,500 vividly colored oil barrels, the Christos’ mastaba (at 492 feet high, 984 feet wide, and 738 feet deep) will be comparable in size to the great pyramids. Its immensity and location will address the enormous global consumption of oil and dependence on it.

 

Over the river project is a long wave of see-through fabric, about 2.4 to 7.6 meters, which will be connected to cables on both sides of the river, allowing rafters and kayakers to see the illuminated contours of trees, mountains and clouds through the fabric as they paddle up river.

 

These two projects are still ongoing. The drawings on display serve many functions in the artists’ projects. They satisfy practical needs to raise money and provide visual samples of the site investigation, which often includes technical data, fabric samples and an aerial photograph with topographic elevation. However, the scientific details also build an aesthetic layer to the work. Perhaps it’s the underlying illusion for an unborn art.

 

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s, Robert Smithson’s, and James Turrell’s art all have one thing in common , the environment. All of the art works mentioned above have been primarily engaged deeply with the surroundings of Christo & Jeanne-Claude, and those are known as the environmental art. It is through environmental art (also known as earthworks) that these great artists have reacquainted people to land, water, atmosphere, and light. They have focused their environmental art on getting people to interact with the environment in new or unusual ways and in doing so, their art works have the potential to speak to people in order to inspire, provoke and amuse.

OH Min Kyung

 

 

 

 

Kwak, Nam Sin: “Viewing”

Sungkok Art Museum
11 January – 23 March 2008
For centuries artists have studied shadows as an important aspect of painting. Furthermore, in modern art shadows are connoted with emotions such as instability, nihilism and so on. KWAK Nam Sin is no different to those artists. Originally a print-maker, KWAK Nam Sin has attempted to combine both print-making and painting elements in his work. Over the recent years, he has focused solely in developing the effect of shadows as a reflection on the artist himself. In this exhibition a wide range of works using various different materials are displayed on two floors. The works consist of a combination of paintings and installations.
The shadows of people are expressed on metal sheets welded together and also on spandex canvas. On some the canvas is wrinkled to add motion and three dimensional qualities. Furthermore, there are works composed with found objects such as a flower or a beer bottle cap. The same themes of human shadows are expressed in sculpture installation, hinting the outline of the shadows using cutout metals, almost like wire sculpture. The images are taken from everyday life, magazines and they are self-studies for portraits. Some have a statement and some are pure depictions.
The images are sprayed on to the different surfaces using stencil cutouts. These are placed in front of the canvas rather than flat on the canvas to blur the edges for a hazy effect.
In general the works are quite humorous and the subject matters tend to have some serious conception. But if the museum docent had not given me a tour, then I would not have been able to catch some of the points that were pointed out as they are not visible to the eye. Much of the images are graphic with far too many experimentations of the same kind. Furthermore, the details on some works seemed unnecessary, less serious and in some ways corny. In some of the works, parts were drawn with shading and realistic depictions. This distracts the entire composition.
The works seemed still at an experimental stage without being able to go beyond a certain boundary. The shadow is a subject that has many possibilities. It could be expressed in a more interesting and exciting method. The depictions in this exhibition were too much clichéd and not very original.
CHO Hyeyoung

Ian Davenport

Hakgojae Gallery
29 February – 21 March

We often believe that an artistic movement expires when it was outstripped by new ones. But Ian Davenport’s paintings awaken us to realize that some movements do not die out, but continue to evolve. The calculated compositions and the almost anonymous surface appearance clearly show that Davenport is attached to Minimalism. However, the high-glossy synthetic hues and the gestural elements, such as the occasional drips, brush marks, pouring, and the tension created by all this, distinguish his work from the previous Minimalist paintings. Perhaps he seeks to find the interface between Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism. Or perhaps the immaculate finish achieved by using bright household paints tells that he is seeking to find his place somewhere between Pop Art and Minimalism. Either way, he is obviously contributing to the linear development of abstract paintings.
Although Davenport, as a member of yBa’s, widely exhibited his work in the prominent museums and galleries in Europe, his exhibition at the Hakgojae gallery, marks his first solo show in the Asian art scene. The exhibition presents 17 paintings, which consist of three different groups according to the patterns – arches, circles, and vertical stripes. One of the notable features to this exhibition is to see the marriage of Western painting and traditional Korean architecture. His work beautifully suits with the hanok (traditional Korean style building) of Hakgojae. But one small yet vital flaw of the display would be the amateurish labeling – it hinders the exhibition from being exceptional.

YOO Seungeun

Ian Davenport

                               

Hakgojae Gallery
29 February – 21 March 2008

It’s spring! Entering the exhibition space, and being confronted by all these panels in pastel tones pastel, you find yourself surrounded by bright tones and hues. Light and smooth color fields are displayed along the white walls to brighten up our eyes and minds. In the central gallery room, you will notice there is long, lean arch and lines forming round shapes. Reminding of the colorfield abstract painting of the 60’s or 70’s, these are the works of British painter Ian Davenport.
Ian Davenport is considered as one of the YBA:s (Young British Artists) and graduated from Goldsmiths college. After being nominated for the Turner Prize in 1991, he’s been awarded many prizes and been showing at countless museums and galleries. So what makes his works so special, or different from what already has passed and dominated the world of painting, like Minimalism or the colorfield abstract painting?
The glossy finish of his works could make us assume that the artist uses very special and costly materials, but the works are in fact made with the same enamel household paint used for painting woodworks in our homes. The extremely elegant lines on the panels look like he was mastering some wonderful and adorable technique, but this is done by injectors (or sometimes just poured on the panels) and dried with fans. Minimalism and abstract art movements ended with cutting off their ties with daily life, but Ivan Davenport starts his art works with mundane materials and finishes them with daily utilitarian methods.
For some his work might seem too pretty and commercial, too easy to sell and buy. But considering the art world of today, where shocking and dreadful images are overflowing, Ian Davenport’s works can be a way to have a rest and feel relaxed from just seeing art works as they used to be.
PARK Eun-jin

Ian Davenport

Hakgojae Gallery
29 February – 21 March 2008
Once he was suspected of being a drug addict, just because of the enormous amount of syringes he used in his works. Ian Davenport, one of the YBA:s, used the syringes for his series of paintings called ‘Poured Lines’. From a distance his works seem to consist of geometrical forms, and yet on a closer look they display the free motion of paint.
In contrast to painters like the Korean monochrome conceptualist Ufan Lee, Davenport is less interested in creating deep meanings. He is more interested in the traces of everyday life. His color scheme, for instance, is inspired by the American cartoon “the Simpsons.”
His other series, “the Circle Paintings” have found useful inspiration from making pancakes. He poured the enamel paint on top of a board and allowed it to spread out, and then turned the board controlling the flow of the excess paint so it was distributed in circles. Timing is as crucial in his work as it is in cooking. Using primitive methods, he creates sophisticated paintings. Not controlling the material of the painting, he simply lets the materials make things themselves.
The trace of paint running down the sides of his paintings reveal a difference between his approach and traditional painting. He claims that his paintings are bringing in something new to an old and ongoing story, but I have my doubts. Davenport certainly has struggled with his formalistic paintings. But still, we have already seen this kind of painting, from Abstract Expressionism and on, especially the Color-field or Hard-Edge painting. One of the differences is that Davenport uses industrial materials for his works and the Abstract Expressionists used more traditional materials in theirs. Also, his concepts are far simpler. No matter how much they are different and what material exploration he is making, it is too much to say that the represent something entirely new in the art of the 21st century.
Still seeking a chance of factor, the free motion collides with systematical geometry in his works. There is this accuracy in controlling the flow of time and material that still makes me interested in his work. It conveys the tension between the free painterly approach and a counterbalancing geometry.
SHIN Young-ji

Kijong Zin: ‘On Air’

Arario Gallery
14 February – 13 March 2008

A lot of controversy exists over whether the news media provides people with credible information or not. Many people believe that TV programs are beneficial in that they always convey accurate and reliable information. Some people, meanwhile, casts doubt on the fact that the media is trustworthy, including the artist Kijong Zin. His exhibition, On Air tries to find the answer and show his conviction regarding this controversy.
Above all, his technique is perfect enough to make people believe that the manipulated TV programs he creates are real. The eight single programs on aired by Zin seem to be ‘the reality’. When audiences enter the gallery, they can watch familiar TV programs, CNN, Discoversy, History Channel etc, without the need for any doubts. However, if they enter the space behind the monitors, they will soon realize that the programs are manipulated by Zin. At the same time, they can also consider how information is distorted by the directors’ intentions.
His questions originate from simple curiosity, his childhood wonder wether “people of black-and-white TV are really black-and-white in reality?”. This allows him to try to find and to prove his own answers.
Most importantly, Zin conveys a strong message to his audience. These days, people are flooded with a variety of information and news. With the diversity of its distribuyion through different media channels, people are often unable to tell what one is true and what is false. In this way, people have no choice but to regard the information they receive as true.

Kijong Zin’s exhibition On Air reveals the fact that many TV programs are untrustworthy. One of the videos shown, CNN (2007), gives a colorful and dramatic description of the 9.11 terror events. The “reality” perceived through a TV monitor seems to ‘real’ but in fact, it is just made of tiny miniatures. The work proves that TV programs are more likely to depict incidents as more colorful and sensationalized information order to catch more people’s attention. Discovery (2007) also shows the legendary first moon landing, which has caused some controversy in the world. He demonstrates the possibility of it all being false information, showing his Discovery Channel which looks like reality but is totally manipulated. In this way, Zin tries to not only prove lots of mass media is an unreliable source of information, but also lead audience to think about the thin line between reality and fiction. In our digital age, On Air is quite noteworthy in that it warns people not to believe blindly in every information that is aired.
SEO Youjin

Gimhongsok: ‘In Through the Out Door’

Kukje Gallery
17 April – 19 May 2008

The term ‘Virus’ normally means a sub-microscopic infectious agent that can cause disease, and also in computer technology, a virus is a program introducing itself into a system, altering or destroying the information stored in the system. As following original meanings, ‘virus’ technically indicates a living (or non-living) germ, but at the same time, it also can account metaphorically for someone who is messing up or making tangle in certain situation. And after seeing Gimhongsok’s exhibiton at Kukje Gallery, I had an idea that this artist can be described in this short one word ‘Virus’.
A virus is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell. As viruses do, Gimhongsok’s art works are not stemming from original ideas, but manipulating already existing ones. For instance, in the gallery, you can encounter a rabbit costumed mannequin with a standing sign for illegal immigrants, which is inspired by ideas from Santiago Sierra. Two flat plastic boards talking about word definition of ‘friend’ also reminds us Joseph Kosuth’s renowned work ‘One and Three Chairs’, and standing sculpture shape of handicapped person and description of this art piece brings us to one hall of the Louvre with the antique schulpture ‘Dying Slave’.
In terms of themes, Gimhongsok presents works that critically deal with communication dilemmas and sub-social irregularities in our world. These two elements, communication and social issues, are first of all difficult to describe in a short definition, secondly not by themselves visual, and finally they rely on people acting as intermediaries, which means that rather having a fixed center, the works are milling around an assumed center, creating meaning via others. This smart artist is standing ‘in between’ art and society and working just like virus to destroy preconceived notions, fight against force of habit, and transforming his ideas to sophisticated art works
As like his one of sculptures ‘LOVE’- in this work, he squeezed certain part of Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture taking off ‘O’ part to use as a chair- artist is dealing with words, art, communication, society and moes on from there to design (Gimhongsok actually made a window display for Louis Vuitton in Korea in 2007). We need to keep an eye on Gimhongsok, because just as suffering from flu virus, which ultimately makes us stronger than before, his artistic movement like virus will give us a far better understanding of the world.

PARK Eun-jin

Kijong Zin: ’On Air’

Arario Gallery
14 February – 13 March 2008
It is said, that Leonardo’s Mona Lisa in the Louvre has 6 sets of copies. Those copies are displayed one after another to protect the real Mona Lisa from exposure to changes in temperature and humidity. Nobody knows when the real Mona Lisa is displayed, except the person in charge and the director. As part of the audience, we don’t know whether we saw the real Mona Lisa or not. However, it remains real as long as we believe it is the real painting.
The works of Kijong Zin are good examples of how reality is manipulated by fabrication, copies of copies, or what has been called ’simulacra’ by postmodern philosophers.
The impression of the eight monitors in the ‘Transmission Department’ in the first room of Arario Gallery is like being confronted with the visuals of MTV’s music videos or a simulation game. It is like watching a horrifying terror scene or tragic war, but still it is like watching only game clips. In fact, those clear pictures on the TV screens are transmitted from the ‘Production Department’ in the next room in real time. Among the objects seen on one of the scrrens I see plastic bags from an outlet mall in NYC.
At a first glance, I thought the installations of ’On Air’ were real. When recognizing everything as imitations of reality, fake expressions of what I am already familiar with through media. I loose the sense of reality for a moment, feeling a kind of vertigo. The ’reality’ created by Kijong Zin’ crosses over to the actual life I live in.
’Reality’ might be something that we just believe in. It might be fragmented pieces of virtual images. Still, I have my doubts. Does reality stop existing once these ’truths’ are revealed? In all these games with virtual and secondary realities, I still hold on to a belief in that Reality. Something we must see and realize directly.

The opposition of ’Reality’ and ’Fabrication’ has been a main theme in art, and in the discussions on art, for a long time. The scepticism about reality has become commonplace for people living in the 21st century. We know that the images we receive of ’Reality’ are not more than fictionalized versions of reality. Kijong Zin’s ’On Air’ is a remarkable exhibition, with its playful way of disrupting our sense of reality. However, what I am waiting for, is an exhibition that takes us further than just the sense owonder.

OH Minkyung