[Exhibition of the Week] Im Oksang 'Here, the Rising Land' · Go Heeseung Solo Exhibition and More

Sound of Soil, 2022, soil, mixed media, 390x480x300cm. Photo courtesy of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] ▲Im Oksang: Here, the Rising Land = An exhibition exploring the current activities and works of Im Oksang, who expanded his artistic domain from realism painting to earth art and environmental art, has been prepared. The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art announced that it will hold 'Im Oksang: Here, the Rising Land' at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul until March 12 next year.

This exhibition introduces over 40 works including six large-scale installations and more than 130 archival materials. Centered on one of the artist’s new works, the 12-meter-high large-scale installation 'Here, the Rising Land' (2022), installation works are placed in Exhibition Hall 6 and the exhibition yard, while flat works are located in Exhibition Hall 7, connecting the artist’s early paintings and recent works like interlocking fingers.

Here, The Rising Land, 2022, soil, mixed materials, 200x200x10cm (36 pieces), 1200x1200x10cm (total), Photo by National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

Upon entering the exhibition space, the installation piece 'Sound of Soil' (2022), whose surface is molded from earth, resembles the head of Gaia, the earth goddess, lying sideways. One side of the work has an entrance that allows visitors to walk inside the enormous human head. In this somewhat dark, cave-like space, visitors can sense the breathing of Gaia, the mother earth. Passing through a long staircase and corridor, a huge earthen wall unfolds in a dim space. 'Here, the Rising Land' (2022) is a large-scale installation measuring 12 meters vertically and 12 meters horizontally, composed of 36 panels fitted together. The artist worked on this piece from last year to this year in a rice paddy field in Jangdan Plain, Paju.

Visitors encounter 'real' earth, not processed or refined soil for art materials, but land soil as a living space for survival. Beyond the recognizable shapes on the surface of the work, the tactile texture and color of the soil come immediately to the senses. The stumps left under the cut rice bundles, footprints of farmers and agricultural machinery, traces of unknown creatures settled in the paddy, and the still lingering smell of earth and breath seem to touch a primal unconsciousness. The exhibition runs until March 12, 2023, at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Cake, Archival pigment print, 70x52.5cm, 2022. Photo by Space Willing and Dealing

▲Jang Seongeun Solo Exhibition 'to my birthday' = Space Willing & Dealing is hosting a solo exhibition by Jang Seongeun until November 7. The artist, who has worked with photographic media, has consistently expressed the visual representation of invisible personal emotions. Additionally, she has maintained an interest in the online space and media as alternatives to material artworks. Selected as a project under the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service’s Technology Convergence Support Program, this exhibition simultaneously presents physical and virtual exhibitions, showing the artist’s perspective on materiality that can and cannot be faced directly. It also suggests the expansion and evolution of the modes of expression in the works while narrating the process by which art lyrically transforms technology and imbues it with emotion.

In this exhibition, the artist presents a photo series themed on birthdays. Rather than the generally associated happy scenes (moments) of birthdays, she expresses the hidden scenes and the remaining times ? unfamiliar images of the special day called a birthday. The artist notes that the images imprinted on certain words often constrain people’s thoughts and sometimes subjugate them. She feels that the adjective 'happy,' often attached to birthdays, emphasizes and forces happiness.

Recalling memories of having quietly sad birthdays due to even small expectations on her birthday, the artist says that when she thinks of related words like surprise parties and unexpected gifts, she confronts a sensitive self different from ordinary days and recognizes that her emotions on birthdays are distinctly different. She conveys to the audience that all kinds of emotions about birthdays ? quiet birthdays, moderately happy birthdays, or even tiresome birthdays ? are precious and valuable. The exhibition runs until November 7 at Space Willing & Dealing, Changseong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

The Korea Craft & Design Foundation is hosting a solo exhibition titled "Nesting" by craft artist Go Hee-seung, who was selected in the individual artist category of the KCDF Craft & Design Competition. Photo by Korea Craft & Design Foundation

▲Go Heeseung Solo Exhibition 'Nesting' = The Korea Craft & Design Foundation is holding a solo exhibition titled 'Nesting' by craft artist Go Heeseung, who was selected in the individual artist category of the KCDF Craft & Design Competition Exhibition.

This exhibition is a solo show of Go Heeseung, who has consistently worked on jewelry for 30 years, presenting about 40 metal object works that express the relationship between jewelry and objects with visual fun elements and expanded meanings. The artist’s rings act as subjects and mediators, creating relationships with the body, objects, space, and place, communicating with viewers under titles such as 'Stay,' 'Extend,' 'Press,' 'Lean,' and 'Face.'

The artist emphasizes, "The power and aura felt from small jewelry or objects approach with very delicate and high density, and these parts are trivial yet fundamental and important." Especially, she says, "I find it very interesting when a ring feels like a living object as it conveys the wearer’s warmth or energy." In this exhibition, the artist proposes a new concept of exhibition about the relationship with objects beyond the simple meaning of jewelry storage. The exhibition runs until the 24th at KCDF Gallery, Insadong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.