Going Astral With Art Shows

By Seo Dong-shin

Staff Reporter

Mired in the mundane hustle and bustle of everyday life, who doesn’t look up to the sky for solace from time to time?

Living in a city like Seoul may not easily offer the solace looked for - such as a night sky dotted with twinkling stars or a vast horizon that makes you dream of another time and space. But at least there are art shows that understand the penchant for nature and the unknown realms.

At Gallery Ihn in Palpan-dong, Seoul, Korean-American artist Paik Youn-hee has created a space that brings together nature, the universe, and the longing of the spirit.

In her second solo exhibition in Seoul which opened Wednesday, titled “Ascending River,’’ the astral paintings hang in curved formation from the ceiling. Viewers can lie down on mattress-like couches and listen to the sounds of flowing water from the audio system, while watching the reflections of flowing waves projected onto the starry constellations on the paintings above. The waves are those of the Hudson River, New York.

Paik, who has studios in both San Francisco and New York, said she had the idea of “ceiling painting’’ when her mother was hospitalized for one and a half years before succumbing to cancer.

“It was such a pity that she had to stare at the barren, empty ceiling in the hospital room all day long for such a long time,’’ the short-haired artist said, calmly recalling the time of her mother’s illness 15 years ago. “I couldn’t do anything about it at the time because it was a hospital, but the thought kept gnawing at me later, so I tagged a slogan saying ‘Look here, mother’ on one of my first ceiling paintings.’’

Her paintings now go beyond personal memory. Floor plans of churches from cities around the world such as Prague, New York and Paris, are planted on some of the celestial constellations in the paintings. They make viewers imagine gazing from above, or below, in either case seeming like a human spirit “ascending’’ into space. In her other oil paintings hung on the wall, symbols such as the helm of a ship or a jar also appear.

“I tried to put together the sky, the river and civilization,’’ Paik said. “So we can imagine a space yet unknown.’’