London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Exhibition news: Shin Meekyoung’s Translation Paintings at Asia House

Shin Meekyoung’s exhibition of her Painting Series earlier this year came to a slightly premature end when the gallery hosting it unexpectedly closed. The exhibition had been beautifully set up, and we really enjoyed it. Hopefully the series should work equally well in Asia House’s Georgian interior.

Translation Paintings by Meekyoung Shin

Friday 14 August–Friday 11 September
Open Monday to Friday 10.00 – 18.00
Asia House Gallery
Free entry

Shin Meekyoung Asia House

Asia House has great pleasure in presenting an impromptu summer exhibition ‘Translation Paintings’ by renowned London-based Korean artist Meekyoung Shin.

Shin is known internationally for her ‘Translation’ series (2000-ongoing) where she painstakingly creates reproductions of museum artefacts and Chinese porcelain vases (an age-old commercial commodity in the trade between the East and the West) using a very unique material: soap.

Soap is a material, the existence of which is premised on its very transience, bringing into question notions of permanence and originality.

Through transforming an everyday household product which can be purchased commercially in large blocks and transforming it into sculptural objects that are ‘copies’ of well-known art objects such as ceramics, paintings or furniture, she intentionally creates an ambiguous image, one that challenges the viewer to pause, to look closer, and to reflect on the surface of each work, rather than casting merely a cursory glance. Not only are the works visually compelling, the fragrance emanating from each piece is highly notable and fills the room.

Her wonderful array of antique frames also deserve our attention as they are beautifully crafted and the frames often get overlooked whist we tend to gaze at the content within. Collected by the artist herself each frame holds its own hidden story. What was in the frame before?

To read an interview with Meekyoung Shin about this exhibition on the Asia House website click here.

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