'The Importance of Pretense'
[SEOUL
MAGAZINE ENGLISH ber. ] 2013_09 'The Importance of Pretense'
Artist Kim Hyun-jung's paintings
address a key part of Korean culture
HELLO, I AM KOREAN OREIANTAL
PAINTER, KIM HYUN JUNG
SEOUL MAGAZINE ENGLISH ber. Interview
and Filming Sketch in September 2013
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We had a great interview time with
newshawk Go Yeon Gyeong and Ben Jackson
Thanks for good words and pretty
pictures RAUM Studio
What is it about
Kim Hyun-jung’s Feign series
that has got Koreans talking? To the uninitiated observer, this is a series of
watercolors showing young women (or one young woman?) in a variety of everyday
scenes played out all over contemporary Korea: pondering a large shoe
collection, eating instant noodles cooked on a portable gas stove, inline
skating, holding a pampered-looking dog on a leash, absorbed in phone messaging
while sitting on the toilet. Perhaps it is the way the women are all clad, with
seeming incongruity, in hanbok, the traditional Korean dress
normally reserved or ceremonial occasions. Or the fact theme running through
the works, a phenomenon known as naesung 내숭-a noun-in Korean and translated by Kim using the verb “feign”? Whatever it is, this Seoul
National University graduate student has already done what many of her fellow
artists spend much longer trying to achieve: the creation of ripples beyond the
boundaries of the art world itself.
Keeping up
appearances
Naesung is one of those words that neatly
pins down a particular type of behavior in Korean society but lacks a direct
English equivalent. “I’ve thought about how to translate naesung into
English,” says Kim. “There are
various related expressions, like ‘coy,’ ‘prudishness,’ or ‘pretending
to be innocent.’ In my works, naesung indicates
any behavior that involves putting on an outer appearance different to what’s in your mind in order to conform to the expectations and
conventional judgments of others. So I chose to use the English word ‘feign’ to express the concept of naesung.
I don’t think it’s a phenomenon
particular to Korea; rather, it’s something that can be
seen universally, wherever people live together, I think it begins with the
desire to be acknowledged by others-that’s an almost
instinctive quality of people as social beings. Of course, it’s natural that the naesung in my works has a
particular Korean quality, because I’m Korean and I use
Korean motifs and techniques.”
Viewers
unfamiliar with Kim may not realize that the woman who appears in each picture
in the Feign series is, in fact, the artist herself. Though it
was not originally her intention, she says, to create a series of
self-portraits, it turned out that she was the most easily available model. “It occurred to me that I
live with as many prejudices as anybody else and that these are, in some ways,
instinctive and universal things,” she says. “From then on, I started painting self-portraits based on my own
thoughts, daily life, and experiences.”
But is naesung confined
to only half the population? Not necessarily. “Recently, lots of people have been
asking me to deal with naesung on the part of men,” says Kim. “I’m
thinking about it, but I don’t feel confident to depict
it because I’ve never experienced life as a man. But it’s something I’d like to try when I’m a bit older and have a broader perspective.”
The significance of ‘hanbok’
Like naesung,
hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) is something associated much more
with women than men, with the exception of grooms during the traditional part
of Korean weddings. While the hanbok has, at times, been used
as a source of erotic symbolism, Kim uses it in her works because of the
contemporary connotations it has acquired. “Today, hanbok are generally worn for ceremonies
and regarded as symbols of dignity and refinement. My paintings show these
symbols of dignity and class being worn for everyday activities: they are a key
motif for presenting such contrasts.”
Diverse reactions
So how are
viewers to interpret the works in Kim’s Feign series? Has she managed to avoid the wrath of
Korea’s notoriously judgmental online critics? Not
entirely, it appears. “The reactions of netizens have
been really varied,” she says. “While some have praised the works, calling them beautiful, others
have been sharply critical. Comments that left a particular impressions on me
were those that claimed my work Oops [which shows a young woman in a hanbok squatting
on the floor and eating instant noodles cooked on a portable stove while gazing
at a Louis Vuitton handbag and disposable Starbucks coffee cup on the floor
next to her] lampoons contemporary women. I agree that there is room for it to
be interpreted that way, but in fact I had hardly any intention of making a
social issue out of and satirizing ‘the tendency of
young women toward extravagant consumption.’ Interest
in nice shoes, expensive bags, and brand-name coffee is a reference to myself;
I think it is one manifestation of naesung, resulting from an
awareness of the opinions and judgments of others. If you look at all of my
works, you’ll see that only a few of them contain
luxury items. Of course, if you look at my critical assessment of myself from a
wider perspective, it may be possible to generalize it as satire. Since the
works are now out of my hands and in the public realm, I leave it entirely up
to viewers to appreciate, enjoy, and judge them.
International
interpretations
Kim has also
exhibited her works in Germany and Hong Kong, places where the unfamiliarity of
Korean culture produced yet more different reactions to her works. “In Germany, I needed to
explain to people what hanbok, paper and ink, and naesung were;
that was how unfamiliar Korean culture and painting was to them. But seeing
them taking interest in and enjoying my works despite such unfamiliarity have
me a glimpse of how Korean paintings could strike a chord with the rest of the
world. I’d like to develop my concept of naesung into
something with more universal resonance and hold a solo exhibition overseas
later on.”
Currently
enjoying the freedom to study while creating works and giving exhibitions, Kim
has plans to start expressing naesung through a new medium:
installation art. “If
I make it into something directly visible and tangible, I think viewers will be
able to accept the essence of naesung more closely and
intuitively.” If she has her way, we may soon be
finding installations of her works in places such as the entrances to
department stores, library toilets, and vets’
surgeries. Having already achieved a degree of success at the start of her
career, Kim clearly had much more to offer.
Copyright ⓒ 2014 By Kim hyunjung
All Pictures Cannot be copied without permission.
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