[Exhibition of the Week] 어떤 삶, 어떤 순간 Exhibition · Ipero Solo Exhibition Swipe Out and More

Pattern with trees, 2022, Acrylic, ink on canvas, 116.8 x 91 cm. Photo by BB&M

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] ▲Woo Jungsoo Solo Exhibition Palindrome = BB&M Gallery is hosting Woo Jungsoo's solo exhibition "Palindrome" until December 17. His works, which delicately redraw and boldly reinterpret images from classical paintings and illustrations across various temporal and cultural layers, have garnered significant attention through consecutive presentations at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (2021), Seoul Museum of Art (2019), and Gwangju Biennale (2018). Established as a leading young Korean painter, the artist introduces about 15 new works in this exhibition that symbolically reinterpret the intriguing facets of narcissistic sensitivity through the myth of Narcissus.

The exhibition title, Palindrome, refers to words, numbers, or strings that read the same backward and forward, allowing endless repetition. The exhibition metaphorically reflects the mythological figure who falls in love with his own reflection and meets a tragic end, paralleling the characteristics of narcissistic sensibilities commonly reproduced in daily life today. Universal yet abstract modern signs are expressed through decorative patterns created by rollers, squeezes, and stencil techniques, overlapping and deconstructing scenes from the classical Narcissus myth as a backdrop. This repetitive process conveys the artist’s unique visual imagery. Various layers on the canvas scatter and spread gently like the surface of the water Narcissus gazed upon, creating a distinctive rhythm and new interpretations between images.

The exhibition runs until December 17 at BB&M Gallery, Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul.

Love(rainy day), 2022 mixed media on paper, 60.5x60.5cm. Photo by Raheen Gallery

▲Ipero Solo Exhibition "Swipe Out" = Rahin Gallery is holding a solo exhibition "Swipe Out" by artist Ipero until December 10. The artist has long used the canvas as a refuge to offset bodily pain that has troubled him and sought transcendence from all external things through his work. His previous works mainly explore food, dining tables, and the relationships established through them. This stems from the artist’s desire to maintain bodily health and his understanding of the life processes sustained by food, offering himself and viewers a "key to healing." He also draws on the fact that all living beings survive by consuming food and are driven by appetite, deriving themes of "instinctive will and desire for life" from this.

In this exhibition, the artist showcases various dining tables and appetizing foods he has consistently explored. However, his focus differs from before. Rather than visualizing specific foods and tastes or vividly displaying symbols of desire and will, he presents how futile it is to build a tower of desire and will.

Birth, 2022, mixed media on canvas, 53x53cm. Photo by Raheen Gallery

In particular, the artist reveals this principle through "the act of erasing forms." Upon completion, he suddenly pushes brushstrokes across the canvas to erase them, fills the mouths of people or animals with food to erase the mouth, and by removing the mouth, erases facial expressions as well. Ipero delivers a message that by sweeping away all strategically borrowed food motifs, life’s essence can become clearer amid ambiguity.

After a long hiatus, the artist approaches painting as a form of practice, presenting works that evaporate instinctive desires for life and gradually approach a world of enlightenment with the viewer. The exhibition runs until December 10 at Rahin Gallery, Yongsan-dong 3-ga, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

▲Curated Exhibition "Our Lives, Our Moments" = Kumho Museum of Art is hosting the curated exhibition "Our Lives, Our Moments" until February 12 next year.

The exhibition is designed to provide time for self-reflection by discovering oneself within an organically connected world and encountering various moments of relating to the surroundings. Seven artists participate: Kang Woon, Park Juae, Eom Yujeong, Lee Seongwoong, Cha Hyunwook, Hong Nagyeom, and Hong Jiyoon.

Kang Woon presents abstract paintings as a process of healing life’s pain and loss; Park Juae offers an installation space likening the process of living her life to a forest. Eom Yujeong depicts ordinary people and plants composing the calm landscapes of life through paintings and drawings, while Lee Seongwoong creates a small resting place for busy people through media and installation works. Cha Hyunwook projects stories of imperfect life onto transcendental landscapes, Hong Nagyeom presents sound and video works that allow one to feel the changed living environment, and finally, Hong Jiyoon expresses the will toward a free life and the joys and sorrows of life through ink paintings and installations themed on flowers.

Based on their unique perspectives and attitudes toward life, these artists vividly express experiences and thoughts encountered at life’s crossroads through art. A common keyword found throughout the exhibition is "nature," "human," and "relationship." While the ways and forms of dealing with nature differ, and actual human figures appear only partially, the artists aim for a harmonious relationship between nature and humans. They also find solace in nature and seek directions for life’s future. The exhibition runs until February 12 next year at Kumho Museum of Art, Sagan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.