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People in the Arts
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
April 2021
FEATURE
An Artist Couple Living in the Arts By Kang Jennis Hyun-suk ▲ Father and Son, by Goh Geunho.
FIRST ENCOUNTERS
A couple of months ago, I went to a gallery cafe on Gwangju’s Art Street (예술의 거리). A lot of wonderful artworks were hanging on the walls in the cafe. Among them, a little surface relief caught my eye. It was a nude. I asked the owner of the cafe whose work it was. The lady said that her husband bought the relief as a congratulatory gesture at an artist couple’s wedding. The couple was Ju Hong and Goh Geunho. She said the two artists’ wedding was held in a gallery, where they exhibited the works that they had made during their dating period. The surface relief was also made during this time by Goh. How romantic! I thought the artworks were like love letters the dating couple sent to each other. Thinking back, I remembered that I had once previously seen a piece of Goh’s work. It was a sculpture of two molded clay men. One was an older man in a loose suit. He had bent shoulders as if he had carried many heavy burdens on his back throughout his life. And the other was a young man in jeans with a skull-shaped buckle. One of his eyes was hidden by his long hair, and his arms were folded as if he was challenging the world. The title of the sculptures was “Father and Son.” I could empathize with the work. The era of my parents required going through a lot of difficulties on this land in the early 20th century. Thanks to them, the next generation could enjoy the fruits of life, but that is also why we do not have the ability to understand the shadows of the former generation. At the time, I wondered who this artist was who had depicted the stark contrast between the two generations. From these two encounters, I wanted to know more about this
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artist duo and thought that I could do so through an interview. I set up separate interviews for the two of them because I guessed that the artistic expression they were pursuing might be quite different. Before going to the interview with artist Goh, I browsed through his recent artworks on the internet. His works have changed over the years. Recently, Goh is known for his pop art. I had heard the term pop art before, but I was not sure exactly what it referred to. So, I headed to the library. This is my favorite part of writing art articles. Going to the library helps me to learn about the artists. What I learned from the library was that “pop art,” an abbreviation for popular art, was originally born in England in the mid1950s. After World War II, pop art emerged as an art movement in England and the United States. There are several world-famous pop artists you might know: Roy Lichtenstein, who is known for the work Happy Tears; Andy Warhol, who asserted that everyone in the world should be able to enjoy the arts equally, just as everyone can enjoy the same taste of Coca-Cola; and Jean-Michel Basquiat, who brought wild graffiti into the galleries. “But are there pop artists in Korea?” I thought. The concept of pop artists was a little surprising to me.
GOH GEUNHO
At last, I could meet artist Goh at his studio in Gwangju. When I followed him up to his studio, I thought I was in an animation park or Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. Colorful metal pieces were connected with nuts and bolts to create interesting stories. When I saw a bike emitting flower farts flying against the wall, I could not help but
3/25/2021 3:28:04 PM
