Tricks of the lights
South Korean and Russian artists present eye-catching media works in a new exhibition
A man painted from head to toe stands against a painted wall as if he had walked straight from a portrait painting. His moving hands seem so unreal that it looks like he could only exist in a painting.
When it is taken as a photograph, the scene actually turns into a two-dimensional painting.
In this opening performance for a joint Korean and Russian media art exhibition, artist Yoo Hyun-mi shows the audience how she paints on real people and objects to make painting-like photographs.
Visual deception is the overarching theme of this new exhibition that presents media works of art by Korean and Russian artists at Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang. It runs until September 30.
The museum has brought together photographs, videos and media installations of 12 Korean and Russian media artists to mark the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two nations.
“This is the first exhibition to introduce Russian artists as a group to Korea, although there have been many Korean artists introduced to Russia before,” artistic director Kim Young-ho told the press.
Media art has emerged as a popular medium but Russia’s contributions are still unfamiliar to many people outside the country.
“Russian contemporary art is barely known outside Russia in part because it has not been long since the country started reconnecting with the outside world. Most of the popular Russian artists people know are from old days. This exhibition means a lot because we can introduce compelling contemporary Russian artists to the Korean public,” says Andrey Martynov, general director of the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, who is co-directing the exhibition.
Martynov selected the works of six Russian artists that have clear meanings and expressions so that viewers could easily understand the artists’ intentions.
Russian artist Leonid Tishkov presents mystical photographs featuring a crescent moon placed in urban and rural places. The artist travels the world carrying a moon-shaped light installation and places it at seemingly random spots, such as at a construction site in Taiwan, on a lakeside or at an abandoned hut in the Arctic.
Artist duo Mioon takes over the magical ambience with tall shadow play installations featuring different shapes of objects and light that create architectural structures, human and animal figures through translucent screens.
Rauf Mamedov, one of the top-selling artists in Russia who is also as a movie director, presents a unique photograph featuring people with Down syndrome posing as biblical characters. In his “Pieta,” the artist himself becomes a crucified Jesus and people with Down syndrome act as his 12 disciples.
On the Web:
www.WooyangMuseum.org
