The Soft and Brutal Allure of Beauty... Jangpa's "Gore Deco"

Feminine Visuality and the Aesthetics of Ornamentation: Jangpa's Exhibition
Debut at International Gallery, Showcasing 45 Works
Challenging Conventional Perceptions of Women through Humor and Subversion

An exhibition by artist Jangpa, who has garnered attention for her original paintings that combine feminine visuality with the aesthetics of ornamentation, is making its debut at International Gallery. This exhibition features approximately 45 works, including the painting series "Gore Deco," as well as drawings, etchings, and silkscreen murals.

Jangpa 'Gore Deco Stupidity'. Courtesy of International Gallery

The exhibition explores how the body and identity are defined within structures of social violence, while simultaneously focusing on the hierarchical meanings of ornamentation. "Gore" represents the physical and symbolic violence inflicted on marginalized bodies throughout history, while "Deco" symbolizes the trivialized nature of ornamentation. By juxtaposing these opposing sensations, Jangpa visually reveals the tension between body and ornament, the sublime and the abject. This approach goes beyond merely deconstructing traditional painting conventions, leading viewers to sensorially experience the narrowness of aesthetic norms.

In the K1 exhibition hall, inverted triangular canvases and a cross adorned with images of internal organs immediately capture the viewer's gaze. The artist subverts the symbolism of the Holy Trinity and Western rationality, and through silkscreen murals, critically condenses the visual history of female representation. Patterns and decorative elements resembling internal organs make the paint appear almost flesh-like, disrupting the familiar ways in which we view and appreciate paintings.

On the second floor of K1, skull motifs collide with vibrant colors and decorative elements to create uncanny images. Jangpa emphasizes the background over the figures, undermining the hierarchy of painting, and incorporates non-traditional materials such as metal hardware and hair to blur the boundaries between concept and materiality. This process transforms physical scars into ornamentation and converts images of pain into objects of sensory enjoyment.

At K2, historical images of women, misogynistic images collected from the internet, and poems by Emily Dickinson are transferred onto silkscreen and juxtaposed with fragmented bodies. The method of embracing a hybrid of painterly purity and ornamentation induces a sense of cynical playfulness and temporarily collapses visual hierarchies. Here, the body is reconstructed not as a mere object of suffering, but as an agent of sensory subversion.

"Gore Deco" seeks to restore perspectives overlooked by traditional painting through the aesthetics of marginalized sensation and ornamentation, and to expand the boundaries of contemporary painting language. Jangpa employs improvisation, humor, and at times, irony-all of which ultimately reveal the seriousness with which she approaches painting. The exhibition runs through February 15 of next year.

Meanwhile, Jangpa graduated from the Department of Western Painting and the Department of Aesthetics at Seoul National University, and received her master's degree from the same graduate school. She has held solo exhibitions at Incheon Art Platform, Soma Museum of Art, and Doosan Gallery New York, and has participated in exhibitions at major institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Seoul Museum of Art. Her works are included in the collections of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Art Bank and the Seoul Museum of Art, and she is currently based in Seoul.

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