Archive for August, 2010

Haegue Yang: Voice Over Three at Artsonje Centre

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Jongno-gu
21st August- 24th October
Opening hours: Tuesday- Sunday 10am- 6pm, closed Monday and Chuseok (Tue 21st- Thurs 23rd September inclusive)
Admission: Adults 3,000 won, students and children 2,000 won, under 3′s and over 65′s free
Exhibition tours: Tuesday- Sunday 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm
http://artsonje.org

Haegue Yang, 'Dehors,' 2006

Haegue Yang, 'Dehors,' 2006

After gaining international recognition through shows in contemporary art hot spots such as Berlin and LA, and perhaps most significantly at the Korean Pavilion in the 2009 Venice Biennale, the time is ripe for the 1st solo exhibition of Haegue Yang in her homeland. Haegue Yang currently lives and works between Seoul and Berlin, and this theme of existing between two places very much informs the art work which she produces. Voice over Three, the current exhibition at Artsonje Centre, is your chance to see what all the hype around Haegue Yang is about.

Numerous small scale works inhabit the second floor, whilst a large scale piece de resistance takes up all of the third floor gallery; all executed in varying degrees of non traditional mediums. There are video works, collages, photographs, boxes, and works made up of mundane everyday objects. The central theme referred to in the title of the exhibition, that of ‘three,’ draws specifically on the tridactic notions of subject, other and another and can be detected interweaving throughout the exhibition. A touch which I loved, is that the theme of three is repeated in the triangular walls that cut through the gallery space and act as supports for various works, as well as silently guiding the viewer through.

Each piece deals with concepts of community, communication and didactic poles of existence and absence, public and personal. A melancholy, disjointed, restless atmosphere permeates the galleries. Voice can be immediately recognised as a key media in her works as it can be heard wherever you happen to be within the exhibition.

Haegue Yang, Still from 'Video Triology,' 2004- 2006

Haegue Yang, Still from 'Video Triology,' 2004- 2006

‘Video Trilogy,’ (2004-6), shows scenes in Seoul, London, Sao Paulo, Berlin and Amsterdam, although the footage contains few clues as to specific whereabouts. Anonymous crowds weave through spaces that could be anywhere, really, to the sound of Yang’s fragmented babelogue. The feeling here is that the artist is lost within these crowds and trying to tentatively reach out to form a bond, but the experience is daunting. The fragmented narration is like private thoughts which often jump back and forth incomprehensibly.

‘Dehors,’ (2006), is a slide projection of 162 real estate adverts taken from Korean newspapers. The images have been back lit so that the characters on the reverse side of the papers are visible, thus highlighting the multi-faceted uses and abuses of the media; fact versus fiction, for example. Somehow, these Utopian ideals of new, desirable homes, are turned into empty and depressing promises.

Haegue Yang, 'Series of Vulnerable Arrangements- Shadowless Voice Over Three,' 2008

Haegue Yang, 'Series of Vulnerable Arrangements- Shadowless Voice Over Three,' 2008

‘Series of Vulnerable Arrangements- Shadowless Voice Over Three,’ (2008) is the showstopper, filling the whole of the third floor gallery. An arrangement of Venetian blinds, heat lamps, mirrors, fans, scent dispersers and lights have been carefully choreographed into a nightmarish maze which is both disorientating and intimidating. The various electrical devices switch on and off at intervals, triggered by movements of viewers to the exhibition. These everyday objects, normally disassociated from one another, are connected as one entity via a shared power source. Un-nerving visual and sensory experiences in which the viewer scrambles to find something familiar in, are interrupted without warning by anyone who cares to speak into the microphone which is amplified throughout the piece. The voice is welcoming and obtrusive in the same time in the fact that it’s both familiar and strange.

I left this exhibition feeling somewhat dizzy and not just from the dark maze of venetian blinds and mirrors. The whole experience was disorientating to me; objects that should be familiar adopt different personas in terms of their relationship to other objects in the space. It’s this literal space between the objects in which communication takes place. Haegue Yang ingeniously manages to highlight these forgotten negative spaces to cast a different light on things. Confused? Me too. Worth a visit? For sure!

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From Turner to the Impressionists: The Collection of British Landscape Paintings at Seoul Arts Centre

Monday, August 16th, 2010
Seocho-dong
26th June- 26th August
Opening hours: Daily 11 am- 8 pm
Admission: 12,000 won
www.sac.or.kr
Joseph Farquharson, 'The Sun Has Closed The Winter Day,' c.1904

Joseph Farquharson, 'The Sun Has Closed The Winter Day,' c.1904

I have a limit to how many traditional landscapes I can take in at any one time. They’re mostly pretty ‘safe’ paintings; pastorals, old oaks bent over streams under blue skies and clean unadulterated countryside, painted mostly by men, often with double barreled family names. However, it was a joy to be transported back geographically and in time, to these idyllic landscapes of my mother country at the current exhibition, ‘The Collection of British Landscape Paintings,’ at Seoul Arts Centre. No neon lights. No apartment blocks. No ajuma’s elbow-ing you in the back to make sure they get on the bus first. Just wholesome, Victorian, British countryside.

I think I might have given a little squeal as I set my beady little eyes upon two works by my favourite Glasgow Boy, Edward Atkinson Hornel. ‘Spring’s Awakening,’ 1900, and ‘A Summer Idyll,’ 1908, both portay rosy cheeked, white aproned and bonneted young girls frolicking amongst blossoms. Admittedly, they are guilty of very twee subject matter. However, it’s the paint handling that I love so much. It stands out boldly from the canvas in defiant marks and it’s difficult to decipher where the girls end and the negative spaces between them begin. The air is portrayed as physically as the subjects themselves. These paintings are more than representational, tantalising to all of your senses, not just your eyes. He seems to be celebrating the simple pleasure of paint on canvas.

Edward Atkinson Hornel, 'Spring's Awakening,' 1908. This wasn't the exact painting included in the exhibition, but it's similar!

Edward Atkinson Hornel, 'Spring's Awakening,' 1908. This wasn't the exact painting included in the exhibition, but it's similar!

Hornel’s blocky brushwork was something that obviously the Impressionists explored even further and there are examples in this exhibition. There’s a Pierre Bonnard, ‘Palmiers as Cannet,’ 1924, which also portrays physical shadows. There’s helpings from the two Pissarros; Camille and Lucien, and Paul Gauguin. However, the majority of works on display are by British painters.

A few more of Turner-esque stormy scenes would have been ideal. There were only three small Turners exhibited, none of which contained his remarkable mastery of storm clouds. However, there were a few notable stormy contributions by Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding, for example, ‘Coast Scene,’ 1834 and William Clarkston Stanfield’s, ‘The Mouth of the Texel,’ 1855.

So, go treat yourself to some respite offered in these harmonious, mossy green landscapes of fair Brittania. It really is worth the 12,000 won entry fee. Then it’s back out to these vociferous, sharp elbowed ajumas.

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La Sombra Del Habla (The Shadow of Speech), Coleccion MACBA at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Seoul Grand Park
7th July- 3rd October
Opening hours: Tuesday- Thursday 9am- 10:30pm, Friday- Sunday 10am- 8pm
Admission: 5,000 won
Guided Tours: Saturday and Sunday 2pm

The Shadow of Speech, Museau d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) showcases super duper highlights from the Spanish Museum’s collection and celebrates 60 years of diplomatic ties between Spain and the ROK. It focuses on the use of semantics in art to suggest diametric meanings.

The introductory blurb is somewhat misleading when it proclaims that the works on show will help the viewer understand Spanish culture, as the show contains numerous European, American and South American artists. So whilst you shouldn’t expect an overview of contemporary Spanish art, you should expect a very interesting array of contemporary artworks with a focus on Spanish art, from the 60′s onwards.

Marcel Broodthaers, 'Museum- Museum,' 1972

Marcel Broodthaers, 'Museum- Museum,' 1972

The work of Belgian poet, film maker and artist Marcel Broodthaers provides an excellent introduction to the exhibition, acquainting the viewer with the concept of semantics in art. He uses text in a Surrealistic manner, splicing often seemingly unrelated images and text. However, in the work ‘Museum- Museum,’ (1972), he uses words to suggest a link between art works and commodities. The piece is made up of two prints, both portraying identical gold bullion. The bullion has been labelled on one print with famous artists’ names, and on the other, with food commodities. At the bottom of each print are the words, ‘IMITATION, KOPIE, COPIE, FALSCH, ORIGINAL.’

Francesc Torres, 'P...O...E...M...A... Prototip per a una edició il·limitada,' 1968

Francesc Torres, 'P...O...E...M...A... Prototip per a una edició il·limitada,' 1968

I especially enjoyed the works of one of the pioneers of installation art, the Spaniard Francesc Torres. Four uncased white boxes are displayed, and upon each is a different arrangement of letters. For example, the letters of the box entitled, ‘P… O… E… M… A…’ (1969) have been placed on a cuboid, which slips out of the cube, meaning that the ‘poem’ only really comes into existence when pulled out and read by the viewer. I love the Minimalist, lettraset look of these pieces; they are very reminiscent of the 60′s when lots of fantastic experimentations were being made into the use of semantics in art.

Torres sounds an overtly political voice in ‘Construction of the Matrix,’ (1976). He uses a pile of rubble littered with empty bullets to provide home on opposing sides to a lamp lit Bible and Communist Manifesto, highlighting the consequences of the two opposing ideologies as they both seemingly are reduced to dust. In the background, the video work, ‘Portrait,’ (1994) by Muntadas plays. Here, we witness close up gesticular hand movements of politicians and hear them speaking; except that both have been slowed down so that the gestures become silly and the voices become nonsensical and unnervingly animalistic.

Eugènia Balcells, "Boy meets Girl", 1978

Eugènia Balcells, "Boy meets Girl", 1978

A look at the advent of TV and its role in political activity and generating of media stereotypes has been given a lot of attention. For example, Eugenia Balcell’s ‘Girl Meets Boy,’ (1978), highlights the ridiculous sexist archetypes conveyed in the media; shy, buxom blondes with thick eyelashes, cowboys, sailors…

It’s interesting to give speech and written language such an important role to play in an exhibition. A lot of these pieces have a grounding in Spanish politics and culture, whilst the rest slip neatly beside them, into six subcategories. You can check out the MACBA collection on their really cool website, but you can’t beat seeing art works in the flesh. I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition and think that you would too!

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Rodin Retrospective at Seoul Museum of Art

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Jung-gu
30th April- 22nd August
Opening hours: Tuesday- Friday 10am- 9pm, Saturday, Sunday and National Holidays 10am- 7pm, closed Monday
Admission: Adults 12,000 won, Teens 10,000 won, Children 8,000 won
http://seoulmoa.seoul.go.kr

Rodin Retrospective at Seoul Museum of Art

Rodin Retrospective at Seoul Museum of Art

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), I’m sure you aware, is a pioneer of modern sculpture. He dragged the art form kicking and screaming from the idealism of the Greeks and decorative aesthetics of both the Baroque and Neo Baroque dominating styles. to something new and exciting. His works are renowned for their portrayal of emotion through their textured tumultuous surfaces and emphasis on the individuality of his subjects. From big, ambitious works to smaller ones, all are arresting in their sheer PHYSICALITY if this make sense. I often feel that some invisible hands are manipulating the sculptures as I gaze upon them. No wonder people were gawping, wide eyed, as I went to view the Rodin Retrospective currently showing in Seoul Museum of Art.

Hats off to the curators of this exhibition. Works are presented thematically in wonderful airy rooms, each of which have been painted in what I would describe as muted 1920′s colours; a dull blue green, a pale lilac, olive green and classic gallery red to describe a few. The predominantly black and white sculptures sit perfectly amongst these colours. Strange but inoffensive additions to the exhibition are the recreated garden arches in front of a giant picture of the Rodin Museum in France, and false, back lit windows in two rooms that create the feel of some sort of Neo-Classical grand hall. The ‘Gates of Hell,’ are substituted by a disappointing three metre high photo. However, I’ve just found out that there is a Rodin Museum in Seoul which houses a cast of the gates. Hooray!

Auguste Rodin, 'Saint Pierre,' 1887

Auguste Rodin, 'Saint Pierre,' 1887

113 sculptures realised in plaster, bronze and marble constitute as the star attractions of the exhibition. A marble example of ‘The Thinker,’ (1907) is there, as is ‘The Kiss,’ (1889). It would have been a great touch if ‘The Burghers of Calais,’ (1889) had been exhibited sans plinth as Rodin had intended. Nevertheless, the magic of seeing these works up so close is astounding. One can appreciate the tremendous physicality of the the oft unfinished looking sculptures and castings. Works of varying sizes prevail and I took note that the smaller works should not be dismissed as studies but pieces of art in their own right, wether they are headless or limbless torsos, or lone hands. It’s possible to really pore over the uncased smaller sculptures, exploring every wonderfully gouged nook and cranny.

Rodin’s depictions of the human physique are amazing. Muscles and eyes bulge. Nostrils flare. Fists clench. And the feet… oh! the feet! They are my favourite part. Veiny, tendony feet. Toes curl and appear to grip their bases as if their lives depended on it. Each body part has been considered carefully to fit with the emotion being conveyed in the works.

Auguste Rodin, 2 drawings from his 'Cambodian Royal Ballet' selection, 1906

Auguste Rodin, 2 drawings from his 'Cambodian Royal Ballet' selection, 1906

42 less well known but equally incredible line drawings are on show too. Female nudes have been completed with minimal lines and blocks of pale watercolours. The most remarkable of these for me was a selection of small studies of dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia (1906). They are simple in execution, yet the few delicate lines convey the graceful movements of the figures.

Aside from a small pamphlet on the exhibition, there is no written English, which is disappointing. However, the works speak for themselves through their amazing craftsmanship and meticulously defined moods. Unmissable.

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