Installation
view of 《The
Garden of the Black Rainbow》 ©Kim Chong Yung
MuseumKim Chong Yung Museum presents a solo
exhibition 《The Garden of the Black Rainbow》 by artist Kim Meehyun, through August 17. This exhibition is a part
of the annual program 《CREATIVE YOUNG ARTIST Exhibition》, which introduces and supports young artists in an effort to carry
on the artistic spirit of the sculptor Kim Chong Yung (1915-1982), who pioneered
abstract sculpture in Korea and dedicated his life to art education.
Kim Meehyun, this year’s selected artist,
presents from her early works on the bodies of people with Down syndrome to her
depictions of Siamese twins and her Venus Series, what characterizes Kim
Meehyun’s artworks is their bizarreness. The central question posed in this
exhibition is “How does the artist Kim Meehyun arrive at her own version of
grotesque?”
Installation
view of 《The
Garden of the Black Rainbow》 ©Kim Chong Yung
MuseumBeauty and elegance are intertwined with
grotesque forms, deformed and twisted shapes that are hard to get accustomed
to, as well as the death of animals and the life of plants. The small pieces
resembling animal bone joints look like supple petals at one sight and thorns
at another. These small pieces are interconnected, bent like plant stems, and
spread out like animal tentacles.
Decorated like chandeliers or Baroque
sculptures found in European parks, Kim’s sculptures grotesquely overturn the
historical, institutional, and hierarchical difference between sculpture and
decorative arts, just as grotesque art had done during the Classical period.
The small sculptures, refined with delicate porcelain techniques, have a
smooth, elegant shine, and the finished pieces exude a sense of splendor and
grace.
Installation
view of 《The
Garden of the Black Rainbow》 ©Kim Chong Yung
MuseumInside these elegant and polished sculpture
are things—the beautiful and the grotesque, the good and the ugly, the normal
and abnormal, love and violence, control and conformity, truth and lies, the
inevitable death of animals roaming the Earth, and the immortality of plants
extending infinitely underground—everything in the fragmented world we call
reality appears in hybrid forms.
Through this exhibition, you will come to
find a new aspect of art, rediscover the beautiful yet ugly truths in life, and
see our experiences from a different way and perspective.
