Lim Myung-ock Shows Sacred Landscape
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Brilliantly hued optical glass sculptures radiate a warm glow, while a black stainless steel LED installation flickers with bursts of color at the Royal Gallery, Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul.
Viewers might feel a sense of calmness as they gaze at the mesmerizing light created by the colorful artworks of artist Lim Myung-ock at her solo show ``A Sacred Landscape.''
In an interview with The Korea Times, Lim said she was interested in inner peace, and attempts to use light to convey this to the audience.
``Light is supposed to represent hope. I wanted to use light to turn the entire space as a sacred space for the viewers. I want viewers to come and see the light from the glass and get the feeling that it is a sacred space. They can feel a sense of peace,'' she said.
A professor at Suwon University, Lim tackles time, space and light in the exhibition, which consists of optical glass sculptures and LED (light-emitting diode) installations.
``My previous artworks had a title of `A Sacred Space,' but I thought it was too broad because sacred tends to mean something related to religion. But I wanted sacred to mean that viewers can soothe their minds when they come, but without a religious connotation,'' Lim said.
Lim, who is a Christian, said the spiritual aspect of the work is not rooted in her religious beliefs. ``The light transforms things into something sacred. But my artworks are not necessarily influenced by my religion. It's more of an indirect influence,'' she said.
The glass sculptures are perched on shelves against a white wall, giving off prisms of rich color as the light hits them. Each glass piece is individually crafted and hand-painted. It can evoke a variety of responses from the viewer depending on what time of day they look at it.
Lim said she carefully arranged her works in the gallery to allow the natural light in the day time to create a different effect as opposed to the light in the evening.
``The viewers can come at different times of the day, and they can connect with the art works in a different way. In the morning, the glass pieces will look bright, but when they come at night, the pieces will look darker,'' she said.
The exhibition marks a change in Lim's oeuvre, since it is the first time for her to use LED. The LED light installation, which offers glimpses of colors behind the black stainless steel frame, is like a landscape.
``I used LED for this piece because I wanted to enhance the property of light... This was my first time using LED. Before I used neon, but neon is only one color. With LED, you can mix the colors. I also used a timer to change the colors every few seconds,'' she said.
Lim has a fine arts degree from Seoul National University and a master's degree from Sungshin Women's University. Her works have been featured in exhibitions at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Goeun Art Museum in Suwon, and Park Ryu Sook Gallery and Moin Gallery in Seoul.
The exhibition runs through April 11. To get there, get off at Hakdong Station line 7, exit 7 and walk 70 meters to the Royal Building. The gallery is located on the second floor. Admission is free. Visit art.royaltoto.co.kr.