The third interim exhibition at Hanmi Gallery continues the theme of site-specific work by young Korean artists.
On the ground floor, Eunsook Choi is an artwork in herself as she locks herself in the small glass-windowed office creating new paintings in real time.
Juyoung Lee’s work responds to the imperfections of the building: mapping out the damp patches in the plasterwork of the first floor she converts them into a grid pattern and thence to musical notation: a soundtrack generated by the blemishes in the room itself plays as you examine the stains. On one wall is hung a delicate work, which must have required very steady hands, in which tiny dandelion seeds are fixed to a black panel (see the bottom of this post).
Yeojoo Park on the second floor again uses the bare walls of the building as part of her work, painted a vibrant pink and orange. We view the panels of bold colour through narrow slits in a wooden fence constructed in the middle of the floor, which we are encouraged to walk around.
EJ Cho’s contribution is part history lesson, part autobiography. On the top floor of the building she has painted the walls with blackboard paint and written some childhood memories in chalk. Carefully avoiding the more significant holes in the plaster (“these damages are important”) she talks about the music she liked in her childhood (Jackson Five, John Denver), her experiences at school and – referencing London’s status as Olympic City – her memories of the Seoul, Barcelona and subsequent Games. There are amusing personal cultural references a-plenty: from the Goldstar CD player (now part of LG, and over which a Japanese brand was much preferred at the time) to her love of sweet potato flavoured candy there is more than enough to bring a smile to the face.
NOWS – Traverse over Time and Space continues at Hanmi Gallery until 26 August 2011.