Friendly Modern Art at Gyeonggido Museum
By Lee Hwan-hee
Staff Reporter
"What is art?" is a question frequently asked when discussing modern art. Because the appreciation of modern art partly involves the answer to that question, modern art tends to be theoretical, experimental and to some, boring and pretentious.
Then what would be the best way to engage those who are aesthetically alienated? One solution proposed by the exhibition "Charge Your Imagination," presently being held at Gyeonggido Museum of Art, is that we must be instilled with the belief that art is something to be enjoyed and celebrated.
The exhibition is organized around six themes with which art can be equated: mirror, mind, story, question mark, play, and dream. If those smell slightly pretentious, do not despair; the exhibition is filled with wonderfully playful works that can be enjoyed by the people of all ages.
The curator of the museum, Lim Keun-hye, believes that "art should be approached with the mind of a child; a child will approach something new that he encounters with natural curiosity and will respond to it with imagination, not something he learned at school."
She also finds the introduction of the book "Story of Art," by E. H. Gombrich inspirational, which states that art should be understood as products of human activities of various sorts, not sacred objects. And as art "may mean different things in different times and places, we must realize that art with a capital A has no existent."
The works exhibited manifest such belief in that many of them feel refreshingly light-hearted, or even childlike. But the level of craftsmanship is generally high so that they are not actually childlike in the sense of being unsophisticated. The most interesting works are probably organized under the section "mirror," which deals with the theme that art is a mirror to the world. But the notion of mirror is more interestingly explored than the usual one of merely reproducing the world as it is.
For instance, the work that immediately grabs your attention, "Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles (2007)," by Nam Kyung-min obviously refers to the famous Van Gogh painting "Bedroom at Arles." It is a mixture of homage, reproduction and an honest depiction of how an artist actually sees the world when he is under the sway of a great master such as Van Gogh.
Another interesting work in the section is Yoon Byung-rock's "Autumn's Fragrance (2006)." It is a picture of boxes containing apples, but because it is so lifelike and almost like a photo, the picture, ironically, suggests qualities beyond the mere visual ones, such as smell.
Another interesting work is in the "Story," section; "Till We Have Faces (1995)," by Kim Won-sook, which may be a recollection, a picture of a subjective mental state, or a symbolic rendering of the artist's life story; we are informed that she is an expatriate artist who left her homeland at an early age. In any case, the mood evoked by the painting is that of utter solitude.
The exhibition will last through Oct. 17. For more information visit www.gma.or.kr.