GWON OSANG POSTMODERN TIMES
This catalogue is published by HADA Contemporary to accompany the exhibition:
GWON OSANG POSTMODERN TIMES 4 APRIL - 31 MAY 2013 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any mean, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without prior written permission from HADA Contemporary Ltd.
GWON OSANG SOLO EXHIBITION POSTMODERN TIMES
HADA Contemporary is pleased to announce the solo exhibition by Gwon Osang (b.1974, South Korea) presenting his three series Deodorant Type, The Flat and The Sculpture bringing the genealogy of his ar tistic practice into perspective. Gwon’s ar tistic oeuvre has been driven by his aspiration towards the exploration of the concept of sculpture pushing its traditional boundary as an ar tistic medium. Through closely interconnected three different series, he keenly aims to depict and testify on the temporality and futility of the contemporary lives and society through sculpting postmodern sculptures. In his celebrated Deodorant Type series, Gwon effor tlessly creates sculptural three-dimensionality through weightless two-dimensional photographs. From the fascination of the commonality between photographic negatives and the plaster molds, he conver ts the weightness, volume and density of traditional sculptures from marble and bronze with the fragile lightness of photography. The title, Deodorant Type references on the deceptive and misperceptual mechanism of the product as it conceals the odour without eliminating the fundamental cause. Similarly, his photosculptures por traiting lifelike figures from reassembled photography captured from living models, cease to represent what is being represented devoid of its true essence yet transforming them into another beings. The early stage of his photographic sculptures were characterised by their mutative bodies and objects exploring the possibilities how the figures can express different meanings in different contexts through their gestures and expressions. In accordance with the development of other series, his photo-sculptures gradually evolve to reflect intensively on contemporary life through the product of modernisation as the internet and adver tisement to source his ar tistic pursuits. The Flat series originates from the ar tist’s question on ‘still life.’ From his belief that any freestanding objects can be a sculpture, he adheres wires onto magazine adver tisement cut-outs and photographs his flat sculptures into a frame. His recent works are constructed by versatile compositional images from the magazines that seem to investigate the architectural and structural relationship of the discrepant planar objects vividly elaborating and refining his initial works that were collection of high-end mass products. To question the validity as a sculpture is futile, yet the impor tance remains on his effor ts to broaden the possibilities of the medium by constant oscillation between two dimensionality and three dimensionality the act of conversion from a conversion which in par t coincides with the deconstructive nature of postmodern society. He not only hovers between sculpture and photography, but also fur ther extends his quest on the still life that was primarily governed by two dimensional mediums as painting. The cyclical nature of the images and information that the ar tist employs disorient us from the originality as Walter Benjamin similarly states that ‘even the most perfect reproduction of a work of ar t is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.’ As a magnified and intensified display of a show window, The Flat series comments on the transience of excess in contemporary society which is filtered through the adver tisements of today. 02 | 03
In The Sculpture series, Gwon reilluminates traditional mode of sculpting to reflect his ongoing investigation to procreate sculptures that inevitable reflects contemporary lives. The history of sculpture and industrial designs were significantly founded upon to study of human bodies. As Rodin pursued his belief on the aesthetical possibilities of fragmented body such as ‘torso,’ Gwon focuses on the contemporary industrial design such as high-end automobiles and motorbikes that exemplify the height of commercial society as pure ar tistic materials. His thick glossy painterly surfaces analogous to the expressive gestural paintings repeatedly imply the frail boundary of the ar tistic mediums. The use of images and information accessible only via internet - vir tual reality - without thorough observation or physical engagement also highlights the notion to create an object which reflects the current. As Charlie Chaplin’s por trait of modern industrialised world through newly developed technology of moving pictures in culturally significant film, Modern Times (1936), Gwon ceaselessly attempts to por trait contemporary society and life through the sincere observation and usage of the materials that are fruits of modernisation. Modern and postmodern societies has been developed, judged and classified by the aspects as convenience, technological developments, efficiency, mass production and adver tising which also played a major par t in cultivating ar tistic developments. These attributes play as key catalysts for Gwon as well in his creations as he seeks to produce convenient, efficient and light sculptures. Dada ar tists believed the intense necessity for ar t to engage with the modern world and that the work of ar t could be gather from the modern life itself. If Dada ar tists’ practices were the profound ethical response to the historical circumstances of world wars and the seismic shifts in the modern world during the time, Gwon’s ar tistic practices may perhaps share the similar attitude in displaying the abundance of fantasical images and information, which manifest the transience of overflow of the contemporary world. As he ardently claims The Flat as a sculpture, which reminds us of Duchamp’s statement of urinal as an aesthetical object, Gwon inherits this legacy to explore and enlarge the scopes and definitions of mediums showcasing the contemporary society. The photomonatge has been prevalent since early 20th century as an active interdisciplinary agent to foster the dialogue between ar tistic mediums, movements and society at large by ar tists such as El Lissitzky and Kur t Schwitters and continuously tantalises many contemporary ar tists as David Hockney and Richard Hamilton. Gwon fur ther focuses on photography’s nature to magnify, reduce and multiply which simulatenously are the essential traits of the current society that one can also observe in adver tising. All of his sculptures are clear representation of contemporary society where nothing is truly what you see, as Baudrillard argues regarding simulacrum, which ‘bears no relation to any reality whatsoever’ yet ‘becoming truth in its own right’. Gwon Osang (b. 1974) received MFA and BFA in sculpture at Hongik University, Seoul, Korea. He exhibited internationally as Seoul Museum of Ar t, Leeum Samsung Museum of Ar t Seoul, PLATAEU Seoul, Saatchi Gallery London, Manchester Ar t Gallery, National Museum of Fine Ar ts Buenos Aires, Arken Museum for Modern Ar t Copenhagen, The National Por trait Gallery Canberra, The National Ar t Museum of China, Singapore Ar t Museum. He par ticipated in various residency programmes as National Ar t Studio Changdong and collaborated with ar tists as Keane and fashion and spor ts brands as Vogue and Nike.
04 | 05
THE SCULPTURE SERIES
The Sculpture 9 | acr ylic, resin and aluminum on stoneclay | 48 x 182 x 91 cm | 2008
08 | 09
The Sculpture 9 | acr ylic, resin and aluminum on stoneclay | 48 x 182 x 91 cm | 2008 (detail)
10 | 11
12 | 13
Tor so (The sculpture 11) | acr ylic on stoneclay, resin, aluminum on stoneclay | 142 x 185 x 70 cm | 2008-9
14 | 15
Tor so (The sculpture 12) | acr ylic on stoneclay, resin, aluminum on stoneclay | 142 x 160 x 70cm | 2008-10
16 | 17
THE FLAT SERIES
2009, April | lightjet print, wood frame | 217.6 x 172 cm | 2011
20 | 21
2010, March | lightjet print, wood frame | 231.6 x 186 cm | 2011
22 | 23
2011, November (Tumbler) | lightjet print, wood frame | 146 x 97 cm | 2012
2011, November (Bird) | lightjet print, wood frame | 146 x 97 cm | 2012
24 | 25
2011, October (3D) | lightjet print, wood frame | 146 x 97 cm | 2012
26 | 27
DEODORANT TYPE SERIES
Harper’s Bazaar | resin coated C-print sculpture | 180 x 55 x 105 cm | 2008
30 | 31
Harper’s Bazaar | resin coated C-print sculpture | 180 x 55 x 105 cm | 2008 (detail)
32 | 33
Fuse | resin coated c-print sculpture | 165 x 47 x 71 cm | 2007-8
34 | 35
St. Sebastian | resin coated c-print sculpture | 173 X 55 X 70 cm | 2009
06 | 07 38 39
St. Sebastian | resin coated c-print sculpture | 173 X 55 X 70 cm | 2009 (detail)
40 | 41
v
GWON OSANG ( b.1974 )
EDUCATION 2004 MFA, Graduate studies in Sculpture, HongIk University, Seoul, Korea 2000 BFA, Dep. of Sculpture, College of Ar ts, HongIk University, Seoul, Korea SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2013 HADA Contemporary, London, UK 2012 Arario Galler y, Seoul, Korea 2011 Doosan Gallery, Seoul, Korea Ando Fine Ar ts, Berlin, Germany 2010 Gallery 2, Seoul, Korea Doosan Gallery, New York, USA 2009 Arario New York Solo Show, Arario Gallery, New York, USA 2008 Manchester Ar t Gallery, Manchester, UK 2007 Arario Beijing, Beijing, China 2006 Gwon, Osang, Union II (Opening show), London, UK The Sculpture, Arario Gallery, Cheonan, Korea 2005 Deodorant Type & The Flat, Andrew Shire Gallery & 4-F Gallery, LA, USA 2001 Deodorant Type, Insa Ar t space, The Korea Culture& Ar ts foundation, Seoul, Korea SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2012 Thoughts on Body, Soma Museum of Ar t, Seoul RE-OPENING DOOSAN GALLERY, SEOUL, Doosan Gallery, Seoul Jin (to Advance). Tong(to Communicate), Contemporary Korean Ar t Since the 1990s, Gwangju Museum of Ar t, Gwangju On Manner of Forming, Edwin Gallery, Jakar ta 2011 The Korean Miracle: A Cultural Evolution, Asia House, London, UK In association with HADA Contemporary, London, UK Embracing the Void, Hada Contemporary, London, UK The Purpose of Life, Pohang Museum of Steel Ar t, Pohang Chopping Play, ION Gallery, Singapore Collector’s stage, Singapore Ar t Museum, Singapore 2010 A POSITIVE VIEW, Summerset House, London, UK Korean Eye, Fantastic Ordinary, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK Seoul Museum of Ar t, Seoul, Korea Korea Foundation, Seoul, Korea Roundabout Collection, Museum of Wellington, New Zealand 2009 Ar t & Techne, Jeju Museum of Ar t, Jeju, Korea Peppermint Candy: Contemporary Ar t of Korea, National Museum of Korea, Gwacheon, Korea Manipulating Reality, the Center for Contemporary Culture Strozzina, Florence, Italy Conflicting Tales - Inaugural Exhibition of the Burger Collection, Zimmerstrasse, Berlin, Germany Logic of Sensibility, Interalia Gallery, Seoul, Korea 2008 Youth Por traits, Avanthay Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland Peppermint Candy: Contemporary Ar t of Korea, The National Museum of Fine Ar ts, Buenos Aires, Argentina Asian Ar t Triennale, Manchester Ar t Gallery, Manchester, UK Global EurAsia Special Exhibition, Ar t Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2007 Contemporary Korean Ar t : Wonderland, National Ar t of Museum China, Beijing, China Peppermint Candy: Contemporary Ar t of Korea, Museo de Ar te Contemporaneo, Santiago, Chile Urban Reviews Seoul: Space, People, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgar t & Berlin, Germany 2006 Give Me Shelter, Union Gallery, London, UK 2005 Beautiful Cynicism, Arario Beijing, Beijing, China Seoul; Until Now, Charlottenborg Udstillingbygning, Copenhagen, Denmark Post IMF, Ar tArk Gallery, Shanghai, China 2004 Young Ar tists from Korea, China and Japan, National Museum of Contemporary Ar t, Gwhachon, Korea Officina Asia, Galleria d’ar te moderna, Bologna, Italy Unusual Combination, Plus Gallery, Nagoya, Japan Real Reality, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea Out the Window, The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo, Japan 2003 Unique, Gallery VU, Paris, France Facing Korea-ID, FOAM- Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands Mobile, Alternative Space Care Of, Milano, Italy 2002 Orient-Extrime, Le Lieu Unique, Nantes, France Area of Photograph, Museum of Ar t Saitama, Saitama, Japan Area of Photograph, Sendai mediatheque, Sendai, Japan Mirror of daily, Pusan Metropolitan Museum of ar t, Busan, Korea 2001 Silence of the city, Gwangju ART Museum, Gwangju, Korea Alchemy, Sungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea Family, Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Ar t, Seoul, Korea 2000 Disturbance Exhibition: Selected two person’s exhibition, Boda Gallery, Seoul, Korea Join & Expression, Youngeun Museum, Kwangju, Korea Expression of the Times – eye & hand, Seoul Ar ts Center, Seoul, Korea Error Interchange, Soungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea Ji-Rok-Wi-Ma, Seonam Museum, Seoul, Korea 1999 Hoboo-Hohyung, Ar t Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea Transtion of the Century, Sungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea Vacuum-packed Exhibition, Alternative Space in the Loop, Seoul, Korea COLLECTIONS Singapore Museum of Ar t Leeum The National Museum of Contemporary Ar t, Korea Busan Museum of Ar t, Busan Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Ar t Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Ar t, Gwangju Ar t Sonje Center Ssamsie Ar t Space, Seoul Asano Institute, Japan Laurence Geoffrey’s, Seoul Embassy of Switzerland David Rober ts Ar t Foundation Zabludowicz Collection Burger Collection Roundbout Collection Universal Music Group Arario Collection
42 | 43
This catalogue is published by HADA Contemporary to accompany the exhibition:
GWON OSANG POSTMODERN TIMES 4 APRIL - 31 MAY 2013 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any mean, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without prior written permission from HADA Contemporary Ltd.