Dear Diane and Shaded
Viewers,
One of the most interesting
people I met during our awesome experience in Korea was a young visual artist, SoYoung Chung. I found out about her work a couple of years ago through a mutual friend from UK, artist Tobias Sternberg, and since I was in Seoul I took the chance to visit her studio with Gyarfas
and to learn more about her recent site-specific installations on space and architecture.
Olah Gyarfas, Keiwon Lee – costume designer and
SoYoung Chung
after years of following her
parents in Moscow, studying and working in Paris and all around
Europe,
SoYoung returned to Korea last year and quickly got invitations to prepare shows
in a few influential galleries and museums.
ZERO CONSTRUCTION_ solo
show at the Project Space Sarubia, Seoul, earlier this year
installation in situ. mixed
media, cement
"I built the
installation during one month at the gallery- this alternative space already
entirely in concrete structure located in basement like a cave. The structure
in concrete fills up almost the entire space so that only 2-3 people can get in.
The blocks of stone would normally
have been taken out to construct another building outside and leave a negative space in
the subterranean world. Some reflective glass blocks are a
metaphor for precious stones, discovered in this gallery while I was
digging"
SoYoung Chung
BROKEN MOUNTAIN at the Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul 2008
plywood, florescent light
Ruins of walls evoke the
landscape of mountains. light projected on the ceiling deconstructs the space
and the structure made of wood erupts from the floor to create a space where
the calm and unstable feeling is perceived.
SHATTERED GALAXY at Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul
chrome and welded copper
tape mounted on stainless steel frame a frame with metal tapes drawing the
cracks in a shattered glass emphasizes the immateriality of glass, tricking the eye
to see the presence of transparent glass where there is nothing.
Reversing the positive into the negative makes both transparent somehow, showing a
shattered glass that leaves a trace of tension.
metal structure
A shiny black ink drips on a
white piece of paper and remains as a little dot on the surface forming an
ephemeral and accidental shape. Ink Drop captures this organic and fluid characters of liquid.
Two dimensional dots are separated from the white paper (the floor where they
are located), the ink drops are formed in different heights in a three
dimensional space creating a different type of imaginary topographical
map.
The drops drain down by gravitational force and bring up the image of growing
stalactites of a cave.
www.soyoungchung.com
good vibes,
Dragos
