Viewing the Front Page Artwork of the Newsletter (17) Koh Sang Woo, ‘Woman on Field’
2017-05-02 l Hit 1443
Viewing the Front Page Artwork of the Newsletter (17)
Koh Sang Woo, ‘Woman on Field’
 Koh Sang Woo, ‘Woman on Field’, 2014, Archival digital print on diasec, 101 x 134cm |
It is May, the queen of the seasons, and fresh green leaves grow thick and flowers are in full bloom. What if you lie quietly in the grass and close your eyes? Then you will hear more vividly the sound of the wind brushing on blades of grass, the birds singing, and the noises of small insects. For the cover artwork of this month’s newsletter, we decided to present ‘Woman on Field’, which depicts a woman lying on a large grassy field with her eyes closed, by artist Koh Sang Woo, who was selected as a 3rd year member of the Korean Artist Project.
The model featured in the work is hearing-impaired. Because of that, the model could not hear anything, though she was lying in a thicket. However, artist Koh has been trying to allay her disability by traveling to the mountains, fields, and rivers together.
The artist introduced the work with the following comments, “while the model was lying in a grassy field and taking a rest, I tried to ease her impairment by having her sense the sounds from butterflies, bees, and birds.” The artist created performance art while making his work and the video can be seen on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/89192470).
The artist introduced the work with the following comments, “while the model was lying in a grassy field and taking a rest, I tried to ease her impairment by having her sense the sounds from butterflies, bees, and birds.” The artist created performance art while making his work and the video can be seen on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/89192470).
 Koh Sang Woo, Endless Love, 2012, archival Inkjet Print on Diasec, 122 x 91cm |
The artist recruits ordinary people with their own stories who are not celebrities or professional models, and creates work with them over three to four years.
“In the exhibition 《Join Me There》 held at the Zaha Museum in 2012, I cast widows and exhibited images of the widows holding fabricated remains of their husbands. There was an overweight woman with whom I was working for four years and she was not confident about her appearance. I wanted to alleviate such pain with my work,” the artist said. He criticized the standards of beauty that modern society demands and emphasized that everyone has their own beauty in them.
“In the exhibition 《Join Me There》 held at the Zaha Museum in 2012, I cast widows and exhibited images of the widows holding fabricated remains of their husbands. There was an overweight woman with whom I was working for four years and she was not confident about her appearance. I wanted to alleviate such pain with my work,” the artist said. He criticized the standards of beauty that modern society demands and emphasized that everyone has their own beauty in them.
Artist Koh Sang Woo’s work is largely divided into 'performance', 'woman' and 'self–portrait’ and recently he began to work on self-portraits again. The artist explained, “It seems that I work on self-portraits every seven years. If I work with models for a while, I end up with a thirst to share autobiographical stories.” His current self-portraits are in the same context as his past self-portraits, but their style of expression has changed: The self-portraits of the past had been executed while he wore makeup and women’s dresses, and for these self-portraits the artist wrote words on his face while looking into a mirror and carried out a performance.
The words on his face are the ones from a diary that he wrote 25 years ago. The artist immigrated to the United States as an adolescent and had to suffer racial discrimination. He wrote about a sense of alienation and suffering in the diary. He wrote the words on his body where the words best associated. For example, he wrote ‘LOVE’, ‘HATE’, and ‘FEEL’ on his head, ‘SPEAK’ on his lips, and ‘BELIEVE’ on his neck. Through the work, he tells us how much he and the world has changed in 25 years.
 A view of the exhibition 'Better Man' at the Savina Museum of Contemporary Art. |
The self-portraits of artist Koh are being shown in the exhibition《# selfie - people who photograph themselves》being held at the Savina Museum of Contemporary Art until August 4th. The artist will hold a solo exhibition at the AAW(Asian Art Works) in Beijing for two months starting on September 7th.
2017. 5. 17.ⓒKorean Artist Project
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