BE A CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD
I love exhibitions, looking, admiring and creating by myself. For an artist, photography exhibition is a reward of long lasting projects. It is a way to show my works to a wider audience, to let audience interpret it by themselves. Exhibitions are meant to showcase an artist, an idea, a concept, other project, it wasn’t different this time.
I was a part of an amazing exhibition in Seoul, Korea. The organizers: ArtRooms were on the top of their game. But starting from the beginning: I was approached by them to submit my images for a competition from which exhibited works will be selected. And I got in! I was accepted. After such a thrill we needed to sort out shipping and all the documents. And bear in mind that sending large glass/wooden frame with a huge image inside is not such an easy task. Especially if most of the shipping companies decline it due to the size.
Obviously I needeed to wrap it all up to protect my fragile content,anf finally UPS one way and DHL the other made it work at the end of the day. My artistic piece arrived perfectly on time and without a scratch.
The venue was carefully selected prior to the competition and it was Hotel Riviera Cheongdam in business district in Seoul. Event took place three days, was proceded with Press Conference and reported in local media (coverage at the bottom of the post).
My work and display
I don’t like to talk about my photographs, I think the image itself should speak to the viewer. That is the reason of art – to make someone else think/admire/ surprise. Although I think the image we created is really good, especially that with a model Annie, we wanted to create a deep image with a troubled ballerina. I think it perfectly shows that so called ‘beautiful people’ also have mental health problems. I wanted to create a work that would suit into Mental Health Awarness Year. I believe it is very important to add courage to anyone who might have a situation in their life that is difficult to handle. Not only to add them courage that ‘you are ok/ wou will be ok’ but the deeper meaning, you might feel alone, but you are not. Behind your back is a person happy to listen, help and support.
Nowadays mental health is loudly spoken about, yet it is one of the ‘problems’ in the society. We want to always be shown in best possible way, carefully taking care about our PR. But noone knows what is happening inside of us, as deep down there we might not be as happy as instagram shows. We might not be loved as we would like to, we might not be successful as people think we are. We might be just unhappy temporarily, or for a longer time, we might be overwhelemed, we might be lonely (regardless the age), we might suffer…
And it is important to show that ‘yes, it is difficult’, and even if you are not in the situation right now, you will have empathy for those who need it. You will be a human for few minutes when someone else needs you. And if my art convinces someone to do just that, or to stop and think for a moment – I am a succesful artist.
Audience Comments:
- ‘I wouldn’t say it is a depressing image but it is a powerful, quite dark and mildly disturbing image. The dark, bruised looking hands are very powerful. They look to be too big and as if they don’t belong to the ballerina and contrast strongly against her very pale back and the delicate lace below. Almost like ‘alien’ hands pulling her into the darkness! I can see how it fits with the Mental Awareness theme.’C.
- ‘I like multiple level of darknes in here. It is deep, as you can see Ballerina emerging from it, yet still being absorbed by it. Disturbing but quite beautiful.’ L.L.
- ‘It made me think. I was in the situation like that not once, it is visualizing all the moments that I went through. It is quite mesmerising how one image can make you think and bring back not only memories but show you how far you went.’ U.I.
- ‘My dad suffered on depression for years, pretending he was perfect. He never wanted to admit that he had troubles. I can see him on this image, on the moments that was most ‘dark’ he probably sat like her holding himself not to fall. Also title is very accurate. Are we all a bit like her?’ T.R.
You can see how the exhibition looked like over here:
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There are also other posts about it:
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PRESS COVERAGE
Nocut News, 10 October 2018
‘아트룸스 아트페어 서울 2018’ 국내 미술계 순수와 공정의 새로운 패러다임
Read More
Daum, 6 August 2018
Artrooms Fair Seoul – Artist Contest
아트룸스 페어 서울(Artrooms Fair Seoul) 작가 공모
격조 높은 현대미술 아트페어인 ‘아트룸스 페어 서울’이 오는 24일까지 참여 작가를 공모한다. 아트룸스(Artrooms)는 영국에서… Read More
ArtSum, August 2018
From London to Seoul – Artrooms Fair Seoul 2018 worldwide artist contest
런던 아트룸스페어 서울 2018 전세계 아티스트 공모
ARTROOMS는 영국에서 2016년 설립되여 ‘참가비 없는’ 최초의 ‘독립작가 중심’의 국제 현대미술 아트페어로서 에 이어 아시아 최초로 런칭, 오는 10월 26일 부터 3일간 전세계 40여개국 에서 선정된 100여명의 작가를 Seoul 에 유치하여 전시합니다. Read More
ArtHub, August 2018
From London to Seoul – Artrooms Fair Seoul 2018 worldwide contest
런던 아트룸스페어 서울 2018 전세계 아티스트 공모
공모기간 : 2018년 8월 24일 마감
홈페이지 신청 https://seoul.artroomsfairs.com | 발표 : 2018년 8월31일 웹사이트 | 전시장소 : | 호텔리베라 청담 (서울시 강남구 청담동 53-7) | 문의 (Email) : [email protected] / [email protected] | 공모상세요강 한국블러그 : https://blog.naver.com/artrooms. Read More
Kimdajlin Art Research and Consulting, August 2018
Artrooms Fair Seoul Open Call for Artists
런던 아트룸스 페어서울 2018 전세계 아티스트 공모
ArtroomsFair서울이 예술가의 작품이 관람객, 특히 유수갤러리, 컬렉터들에게 세계적으로 주목받을 수 있도록 도와드립니다. Read More
Mur Mur of Art, 22 July 2018
Artrooms Fair apre le sue porte alla Corea
Dopo Londra e Roma, Artrooms Fairs apre una nuova edizione a Seoul, Corea del Sud, dal 26 al 28 ottobre 2018. La fiera verrà organizzata in collaborazione con IACO Korea e avrà luogo al Riviera Hotel, nella nota area di Gangnam District… Read More
Hanoi Grapevine, 22 July 2018
Call For Artists: Artrooms Fair – Seoul 2018
TArtrooms is the first international contemporary art fair offering free exhibition spaces to independent artists, innovating the way artists and buyers meet. After London and Rome, the Artrooms Fairs open a new edition in Seoul, South Korea…. Read More
Recursus Culturales, 18 July 2018
Call for Artists – Artrooms Fair Seoul 2018, feria para artistas independientes
Artrooms es la primera feria internacional para artistas independientes que ofrece un espacio gratuito para que los artistas puedan exponer, innovando la forma en que se encuentran artista y comprador. Después de Londres y Roma, Artrooms Fair ya ha hecho publicas las fechas de su nueva edición en Seul, Corea del Sur… Read More
Texas Commission on the Arts, 18 July 2018
Call for Artist: Art Fair Installations
Artrooms is the first international contemporary art fair offering free exhibition spaces to independent artists, innovating the way artists and buyers meet. After London and Rome, the Artrooms Fairs open a new edition in Seoul, South Korea… Read More