Archive for June, 2010

Artist’s Body at space*c

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu
6th May- 30th June
Opening hours: Monday- Saturday 10am- 7pm, closed Sundays and National Holidays
Admission: 3,000 won (This gets you into the Coreana Cosmetics Museum upstairs too)
www.spacec.co.kr

The past 100 years or so have been an exciting time in the art world, which saw artists tirelessly searching for ways to rebel from, or pay homage to, what had come before them. A constant experimentation with new mediums slotted in with these searches, and it was in the 70′s that both body and performance art really took off. Violent and visceral performances of, for example, the Vienna Actionists, were shocking; perfect for communicating immediate and urgent, often political messages. I love how the body as a medium has far more attention grabbing potential due to a human narcissism, curiosity and voyeurism. In the exhibition Artist’s Body at space*c, they treat anyone willing to part with 3,000 won to an inspiring and exciting exhibition, which includes some of the art world’s body-as-a-medium heavyweights.

Jia Chung’s contribution, ‘Fixation Box,’ (2007) consists of a small range of objects including glass vases, a mirror, rope and a hair piece, displayed in a case upon some black velvet. They are encrusted with salt crystals which makes them look as if they’ve been rescued from a watery grave. Chung used her own urine to create this effect, which is very beautiful actually. Urine in a gallery? Old hat. But in this context; used to create beautiful and delicate objects which are quite feminine in nature, not used in any machismo way… I like it.

Nikki S. Lee selected=

Nikki S. Lee selected works from 'Seniors Project (1997) and Punk Project (1997)

Nikki S. Lee and Markus Hansen use their own bodies as vehicles for experience and identifying with others. Lee has admirably transformed herself from a trashy hip-hop ho, to punk, to convincing senior, to Hispanic, in a range of photos. Far from being carefully constructed Cindy Shermans, they show her living as part of certain stereotypical groups. Hansen took a range of head shots of various subjects and magically managed to photograph himself looking eerily similar to the originals. Same lighting, same slight head tilts, same expressions, same eyes… very cool and kind of creepy!

Stelarc provides an aspect gruesome enough to make you flinch, using his body to conduct science experiments on, for example, implanting an ear into his arm in ‘Ear Scaffold: Ear on Arm,’ (2006). If you’re interested, the name of the surgeons is provided at the end of the short film documentation!

Julie Jaffrennou, 'Bride III,' (2006)

Julie Jaffrennou, 'Bride III,' (2006)

Julie Jaffrennou uses her body to confront feminist issues, and appears in ‘Bride III,’ (2006) sat upon an extremely high chair, towering over gallery visitors. Her naked torso is tightly bound in wire, whilst water drips down on her, slowly removing her already shredded white ‘wedding’ skirt in a particulary Carrie-esque fashion. She confronts the sadistic voyeurist in us all as she sits in a glass case, wearing an all over plastic body suit which she struggles in and manages to rip holes in, then sew back up in ‘Carnation I,’ (2006).

One of my favourite performance pieces, Janine Antoni’s ‘Loving Care,’ (1996), is shown. She uses her hair as a paintbrush to slather an entire galley floor in hair dye, literally flipping the ‘bird’ toward abstract expressionism.

Janine Antoni, still from 'Loving Care,' (1996)

Janine Antoni, still from 'Loving Care,' (1996)

‘The Grandmother of Performance Art,’ Marina Abramovic obviously could not be missed out of this show. In ‘Nude with Skeleton,’ (2005), she lies naked under a skeleton which has been placed face up on top of her. She tenderly holds it’s hands and forces us to confront our own mortality.

A show entitled ‘Artist’s Body,’ would surely never fail to excite, amuse and disgust in my opinion. This one certainly doesn’t. Each piece uses the human body as medium to explore different themes such as identity, taboo, femininity, spiritualism, voyeurism and the possibilities and limits of our own bodies. Each artist has finely tuned their works to the message they are attempting to convey. These messages are made all the more immediate to us as consumers, considering we can relate instantly with the human body more so than a painted canvas, for example. I was certainly inspired!

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Walker Evans at the Hanmi Photography Museum

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Jamsil, Songpa-gu
19th June- 4th September
Opening hours: Weekdays 10am- 7pm, weekends 11am- 6:30pm
Admission: 7,000 won

Walker Evans,'Roadside Stand near Birmingham,' 1936

Walker Evans,'Roadside Stand near Birmingham,' 1936

Walker Evans (1903- 1975) is one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, meaning that this exhibition at the lovely Hanmi Photography Museum is not to be missed. Evans took his photos from straight forward, eye level viewpoint when other photographers were experimenting with strange angles to make the familiar appear unfamiliar (think Bauhaus) or different techniques to create dream-like or nightmarish visions (think Surrealism). However, Evans strove to produce honest pictures, sans illusions. The kinds of pictures familiar from newspapers, postcards and real estate adverts; pictures of his America.

Walker Evans, 'Sharecropper's Family, Hale County, Alabama,' 1936

Walker Evans, 'Sharecropper's Family, Hale County, Alabama,' 1936

The selection of photographs in this exhibition are largely taken from the 1930′s; a most productive period in Evans’ career. The work he is best known for is the work he did for the Farm Security Administration, documenting the effects of the Depression in the rural southern states. These pictures relay images which I, for one, have come to associate with early 20th century deep south; dry, dusty poverty with a big dollop of faded glamour. He shows us families in their minimally furnished, worn but tidy houses, or out on their wooden porches, shaded from the heat. He records people-less interiors with empty chairs, walls adorned with disused coca cola ads, beds with rifles hanging above. These pictures are solid and dignified, the light perfect. One is reminded of the still, silent houses as families toiled all day long in the sun; these mute objects communicating as much as his human subjects.

Walker Evans, 'Lunchroom Buddies,' 1931

Walker Evans, 'Lunchroom Buddies,' 1931

Evans also takes us to 1930′s New York; into the streets and into subway where he took pictures with a hidden camera in his jacket. We’re also shown pictures of Cuban workers in much the same vein as his portraits of the deep south. However, despite different subject matter, all photos seem to convey a solid sense of carefully catching and preserving a segment of time.

Don’t be put off by the 7,000 won entry fee. It’s a steal for seeing the works of one of the socio- realist photographer heroes of our time. So Walker on over there!

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Kim Beom at Artsonje Centre

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Sokeuk-dong, Jongno-gu
15th May- August 1st
Opening hours: Tuesday- Sunday 11am- 7pm, closed Monday
Admission: Free
http://artsonje.org

Kim Beom, 'Spectacle,' 2010, courtesy of Artsonje Centre

Kim Beom, 'Spectacle,' 2010, courtesy of Artsonje Centre

Last week, I went to see the Kim Beom show in Artsonje Centre, Jongno-gu. Consisting of works executed in various mediums, the pieces made me double take, squint, scratch my head, furrow my brow and laugh out loud. They are funny and intelligent works which invite viewers into an upset and unfamiliar world, one that is well worth entering into!

Engage in eye contact with a plain, double layered canvas with two eyes cut out and find yourself looking back over your shoulder to check if it’s still staring. It will be! Try and fail to find a path through the headache inducing black and white mazes depicted in the ‘Intimate Suffering’ series (2008). See if tilting your head to consider ‘A Draft of a School of Inversion’ (2009) at different angles helps make sense out of it. It won’t! Take in the spectacle of ‘dead’ inanimate objects puffing, swelling and deteriorating in ways far more familiar in rotting organic matter in ‘Inanimated Objects’ (2008). And what’s that? An antelope hunting a cheetah in ‘Spectacle’ (2010)?

Kim Beom, 'A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird,' 2008, courtesy of Artsonje Centre

Kim Beom, 'A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird,' 2008, courtesy of Artsonje Centre

For me, the highlights are on the second floor, where numerous video lectures are being conducted to a series of inanimate objects. A bowl, mug, knife, fan and other banal everyday objects sit in little chairs in a mock classroom set up, facing a blackboard, ‘listening’ intently to their teacher’s definition of them in ‘Objects Being Taught They are Nothing but Tools’ (2008). Other works include ‘A Rock That Was Taught It Was a Bird (2010), and ‘A Ship That Was Taught There is No Sea (2010).

It is genuinely refreshing experience humour in a gallery setting and to hear other gallery go-ers giggling. However, this does not mean that Kim’s work may be passed off as frivolous. He highlights conflicts between internal and external realities and encourages viewers to think about socially constructed perceptions. The video lectures highlight our tendency as humans to believe what we are told or read, despite any well know sayings! The means by which we are educated at school and by our families, as well as first hand experience, forms our views of the world. We don’t need to look too far back in history to see examples of how this can be manipulated to devastating effects.

So, take the time to step into Kim’s fantastical universe. Why you wouldn’t is Beom-d me.

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Cecil Beaton, ‘Beauty of the Century,’ at Seoul Arts Centre

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Seocho-gu
30th April- 24th June
Opening hours: Daily 11am- 8pm
Admission: Adults W9,000, teens W8,000, children W6,000
www.sac.or.kr

Cecil Beaton, 'Marlene Dietrich,' 1935

Cecil Beaton, 'Marlene Dietrich,' 1935

Cecil Beaton is one of the most recognized and influential photographers of the 20th century. Although not known as a skilled technical photographer, by focussing on capturing the essence of his celebrity sitters, he managed to create some of the most memorable portrait images of the 20th century. He photographed a dizzying amount of superstars in his time and six of them are the subject of the current exhibition ‘Beauty of the Century,’ at Seoul Arts Centre.

The entrance to the exhibition is a giant white embossed frame, marking the movement into a dreamy realm of white draperies set as backgrounds to images of some of the most well known 20th century foxes. Audrey Hepburn is there, looking very prim and proper in her lavish costumes for My Fair Lady, which Beaton actually designed himself. Elaborate hats frame her pretty face and highlight what Beaton referred to as her “heron’s eyes and eyebrows slanted toward the Far East.” He has somehow managed to make her appear different in each photograph.

Elizabeth Taylor is there in full glamour mode with her gorgeous shapely eyebrows and perfect features. Marilyn Monroe is there in positions which we are familiar with by now; playful and seductive, a mischievous twinkle in her eye… frolicking on hotel beds and sofas. Vivian Leigh is there too, in her exotic Anthony and Cleopatra get up, as well as in a series of more casual shots.

However, it was the Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich portraits which really appealed to me. The shots of Garbo, with whom Beaton had an affair with, were all taken at the Plaza Hotel in New York in 1946. They are melancholy and dark, yet sultry. She lies on a velvet couch, looking out with sad eyes. She straddles a chair in a Pierrot outfit, looking unhappily down at the floor. She faces the camera, arms full of flowers, a shoulder bared and hair tousled as a blinding light shines straight into the camera from the top right. Most striking is the image of her leaning on a white wall, a strong sideways Caravaggio-esque light illuminating half of her face, the rest in shadow, an elongated silhouette thrown against the wall to the side. This particular piece exemplifies a fine use of negative space in the picture, which is visible in occasional photographs.

Cecil Beaton, Marlene Dietrich, (1935)

Cecil Beaton, Marlene Dietrich, (1935)

Dietrich blurs in and out of her otherworldly backdrops of meshes, gauzes and wisp- like threads; her perfect, porcelain features sometimes mimicking small statuettes placed beside her. Some of the shots are even slightly blurry and I find them surrealistic in their dream- like nature. My favourite is a portrait which shows Dietrich peering out of a black background, her head resting on her palms. Only her head and hands are shown, as if they are floating in some kind of cosmic soup with some white flowers in the bottom right foreground.

I arrived expecting a Beaton retrospective, crammed full of 20th century celebrities grinning out of the photo frames. However, I think that this small selection of work sums up what Beaton did well. He photographed famous people; beauties of the last century, in stage costumes, in hotel rooms, and staged atmospheric sets for them to indulge in fantasy. He made use of strong lighting and worked with mainly in black and white, allowing for striking arrangements which resemble modernist paintings. He showed us the personalities behind these glamorous public figures, and a little of his own at the same time. So take a step through the Alice in Wonderland style giant photo frame and into his exotic world!

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