East and West meld in jade green

The artwork on view at Seoul’s Leeum Samsung Museum of Art boasts graceful curves and a delicate jade-green hue. The exhibition “A 12th-century Celadon from the Goryeo Dynasty” also features two paintings from the mid-1990s in different shades of celadon green, by artist Byron Kim. They share a very modern simplicity with the centuries-old artefact. 

The two artworks, made 800 years apart, show a harmony that transcends time in the pursuit of pure elegance. The link between old and new, East and West runs throughout the exhibition, which opened on Tuesday and runs until December 21.

From priceless artefacts and eye-catching paintings to avant-garde contemporary art, the exhibition displays diverse aspects of art that aficionados look for.

The museum connects theses works based on ideas, expressions and application to today’s society. The pairings offer a fresh perspective on appreciating masterpieces from different periods.

Highlights include Buddhist statues and metalwork from the Three Kingdoms period (fourth to seventh century) and the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), paired with Alberto Giacometti’s skeleton-like sculpture and an abstract painting by Mark Rothko. 

Rothko’s work, based on the artist’s belief in “simple expression of the complex thought”, is in sync with Buddhism, which aims to liberate people from self-conceit and a troublesome life, and attain the ultimate goal of nirvana. 

“A Giacometti sculpture and a Rothko painting juxtaposed with a Buddhist painting inspire the viewers to think of a universal value beyond time and space, which is contained in each artwork,” the Leeum’s chief curator Woo Hye-soo writes in the exhibition catalogue. 

Another link is between Western mainstream art movements and their influence on Korean artists. This section focuses on abstract expressionism, minimalism and pop art, which have dominated the modern art world since the 1940s. 

A section is devoted to the Western Minimalism of the 1960s and the 1970s Korean monochrome painting style known as Dansaekhwa. Here the different minimal styles of West and East converge. Monochrome paintings by Park Seo-bo, an abstract piece by Agnes Martin and a light-blue glass sculpture by Roni Horn are seen side by side, sharing an effort to achieve simplification. 

A stairway has been transformed into an infinitely expanded universe with Olafur Eliasson’s “Gravity Stairs”, a site-specific installation. Mirrors and LED tubes follow the order of the planets in the solar system. 

In the Ground Gallery and Black Box, Ham Kyung-ah presents a colourful North Korean embroidery work in an attempt to communicate with the northerners cut off from the outside world. 

Other works explore the relationship between art and life. Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho shed light on the influences of art on life in the past, present and future through the film “q0”, inspired by the Leeum’s collection of decorated clamshells dating back to the eighth century.

Ai Weiwei’s “Tree” fills the Black Box, which was designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. His five solid, primitive tree sculptures made with different parts of dead trees are metaphors for the forced integration by which Chinese authorities sought to unify the country, and for its artificial cityscape due to rapid urbanisation.

On the Web: leeum.samsungfoundation.org

 

 

Leeum gives Rirkrit space

Seoul’s Leeum Samsung Museum of Art also has an installation by Thailand’s Rirkrit Tiravanija, “Demo Station No 5”, a “contemporary re-creation” of Friedrich Kiesler’s “Space Stage”. 

Kiesler’s circular theatrical stage, built in 1924, had a spiral ramp. Rirkrit, 53, has reinvented it as an “open station” where visitors can watch performances, interact with each other or just relax. 

Defying the conventional notions of art being static and a museum being quiet and austere, Rirkrit’s station will host crossover performances of all genres, plus flash mobs, fashion shows and workshops, with casual visitors urged to join in.

THE NATION