Octopus Eating an Apple I_ (Collaboration with photographer Song Kwang Chan)_ digital pigment print_150*220cm (Installation of variable)_2017
Mushrooms Blooming from the Body of Gigantic Fish _ Polymer clay, epoxy, styrofoam_200*90*80cm (Installation of variable)_2017
About you(me) ; Poison
This exhibit is about “you” that become a poison to me. The beginning of this story is about me, but I would like to focus on several existences around me that act like a poison. I cannot eat an apple because I am severely allergic to apples. Although it is not a poisonous apple that the Snow White ate, all apples are like poisonous apples to me. Having meticulous prejudice to and imbalanced diet on food, I hate the mushroom scent and don’t eat mushrooms. The mushroom scent is the same as that of a pungent perfume for me. And I am also allergic to animal hair including dogs’ and cats’ and therefore, I keep myself away from any hairy animals. All my allergies are existence called you that will stay with me until the last day of my life.
The story is about poisonous you that should not be kept close or that come to be avoided. Existence called you is not something that approaches and comes close as necessity. It may be the necessity itself. The necessity is very similar to a desire and we already have too many desires.
It may be dangerous to bite an apple given as a gift. Simply staring at a cat causes eyes swollen because of the cat’s floating invisible hairs. The worst case is to mistakenly rub eyes after touching the wet nose of a dog.
Love of necessity tells, ‘I cannot live without her’ for a woman. Love of gift tries to give her happiness, comfort and protection. However, appreciative love soundlessly stares at her, feeling happy for the fact that such a marvelous woman does indeed exist. Appreciative love does not fully despair even if she is not yours, thinking that not having her is better than never knowing her. In real life, thankfully, these three factors of love are mixed at every moment, leading to one another. Except for the love of necessity, none of the love described here may have not ‘chemically’ purely existed by itself for more than a few seconds. It may be because in the life of humans, nothing except for poverty is permanent.
Poverty mentioned here is mental, physical and spiritual poverty, based on the reason that humans need for (long for) endlessly. With endless poverty, ‘you’ that always exists next to one makes one’s life dangerous and fearful with a poison in poverty.
1.Fall in Love
Beautiful mushrooms in various colors are blooming from the body of a gigantic fish. Mushrooms grown everywhere in mountains and fields in different colors and shapes appear suddenly and disappear easily, which therefore, drew people’s attention from ancient times. The people in ancient times considered mushrooms ‘the provender of Mother Earth’ that enriched soil or ‘the incarnation of a fairy,’ and numerous folk legends of mushrooms were created. In addition, mushrooms, due to their unique flavors, have been widely consumed as food or a medicine. On the other hand, poisonous mushrooms have been feared for their lethal effects. Ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed the taste of mushrooms, highly praising it as ‘the food of the gods’, and Chinese people have considered mushrooms seriously as a miraculous medicine for perpetual youth.
Mushrooms blooming from every corner of a gigantic fish look beautiful and useful. These mushrooms are propagated rapidly, generating strong necessity as if falling in love. Easily disappearing mushrooms, however, may also look like a mirage.
핑크색의 아름다운 버섯이 거대한 물고기의 몸에서 피어납니다. 산야에 널리 여러 가지 빛깔과 모양으로 발생하는 버섯들은 갑자기 나타났다가 쉽게 사라지기 때문에 옛날부터 사람의 눈길을 끌어 고대 사람들은 땅을 비옥하게 하는 ‘대지의 음식물(the provender of mother earth)’ 또는 ‘요정(妖精)의 화신(化身)’으로 생각하였으며 수많은 민속학적 전설이 남아 있습니다. 또한 버섯은 그 독특한 향미로 널리 식용되거나 또는 약용으로 하는가 하면 목숨을 앗아가는 독버섯으로 두려움을 받기도 하였습니다. 고대 그리스와 로마인들은 버섯의 맛을 즐겨 ‘신(神)의 식품(the food of the gods)’이라고 극찬하였다고 하며, 중국인들은 불로장수(不老長壽)의 영약(靈藥)으로 진중하게 이용하여 왔습니다.
거대한 물고기의 몸 구석구석에 피어나는 버섯은 아름답고 유용해 보입니다. 이 버섯들은 사랑에 빠지듯 강한 필요를 일으키며 빠르게 번식하였습니다. 그러나 쉽게 사라지기도 하는 버섯은 신기루 같이 느껴지기도 합니다.
The vast Forbidden City is filled with seawater. The Sunfish bloomed from a pink mushroom is unhurriedly swimming around the City as if it is the lord of the City. The Forbidden City where a lot of kings in China had resided is submerged into seawater with a brilliant golden rooftop. This place is filled with people like the sea is filled with water, and the people want to shine by themselves, rather than the Forbidden City, which may lose its shinning light without endless repairs.
I have gone through the time that no hope remained in me because of mirage-like mushrooms all over my body which was believed to be a poison. However, I think now is the time for me to live a life that those mushrooms do not become a poison to me anymore. Suicide happens whenever an individual shrinks his/her world by losing interest in another individual, place or thought, and losing hope is the most common type of suicide. And falling in love is to gain hope.
드넓은 자금성에 바닷물이 가득 차있습니다. 핑크 버섯이 피어난 Sunfish(개복치)는 그 성의 주인인 듯 유유히 자금성 주변을 헤엄칩니다. 중국의 수많은 왕들이 살았던 이곳 자금성은 금빛 지붕을 빛내며 바닷물 속에 잠겼습니다. 물이 바다를 덮음 같이 사람들은 이곳을 덮고 있고, 이젠 더 이상 끊임없는 보수공사를 하지 않으면 빛을 잃어버리는 자금성 대신, 그들 스스로 빛나길 원하고 있습니다.
나는 독이라 믿어졌던 신기루 같은 버섯들이 온몸에 피어나, 이젠 더 이상의 희망이 없을 것 같은 시간들을 지나왔습니다. 그러나 이젠 더 이상 온몸에 피어난 버섯이 독이 되지 않는 삶을 살아가야 하지 않나 싶습니다. 자살은 한 개인이 다른 사람이나 장소나 생각에 대한 관심을 끊음으로써 자신의 세계를 축소 시킬 때마다 발생하고, 가장 흔한 형태의 자살은 희망을 잃는 것입니다. 그리고 사랑에 빠진다는 것은 희망을 갖게 되는 것입니다.
Octopus Eating an Apple I_ (Collaboration with photographer Song Kwang Chan)_ digital pigment print_150*220cm (Installation of variable)_2017
2. Need-Pleasures and Love
We should be careful enough not to say love of necessity is “merely selfishness.” ‘Merely’ is always a dangerous term. Love of necessity, of course, can be selfishly indulged like other impulses. Atrocious and avaricious request for affection is indeed horrible. However, no one in life calls a child rushing toward her/his mom for comfort or adult finding friends ‘for dating’ selfish. Regardless of age, showing less of such behaviors does not indicate selflessness. Even if you feel love of necessity, there is a case that you should hide it indifferently or bear it patiently. However, if one can never feel such love, he/she may be the symbol of a heartless egoist. As we are the being who needs each other in fact, not recognizing love of necessity, that is to say, deluding living alone for a good life, is a (spiritually) bad symptom, as in the case that having no appetite is a medically bad symptom for humans that essentially need food for survival.
It is the story about an octopus eating an apple and the Snow White who became a mermaid. The octopus that came to eat an apple for necessity is devouring apples without recognizing that those apples are poisonous. The Snow White that had almost killed herself after eating a poisonous apple never came to eat an apple.
우리는 필요의 사랑을 “단지 이기심일 뿐”이라고 말하지 않도록 조심해야 합니다. 단지라는 말은 언제나 위험한 말입니다. 물론 필요의 사랑도, 우리의 다른 충동들 처럼 이기적으로 탐닉 될 수 있습니다. 포악하고 탐욕적인 애정 요구는 실로 끔찍합니다. 그러나 일상생활에서 어느 누구도, 평안을 얻고자 어머니의 품으로 달려가는 아이나, ‘교제를 위해’ 친구를 찾는 어른을 이기적이라고 말하지는 않습니다. 아이든 어른이든, 그런 행동을 덜 한다고 해서 이타적인 것도 아닙니다. 필요의 사랑을 느끼더라도 상황에 따라 짐짓 숨기거나 꾹 참아야 할 때도 있습니다. 그러나 그런 사랑을 아예 느끼지도 못한다면 그런 사람은 무정한 이기주의 자의 표상일 것입니다. 우리는 사실상 서로를 필요로 하는 존재이기에 필요의 사랑을 인식하지 못하는 것은, 다시 말해 혼자 사는 것이 좋다고 착각하는 것은 (영적으로) 나쁜 증상입니다. 음식을 꼭 필요로 하는 인간에게, 입맛이 없다는 것은 의학적으로 나쁜 증상이듯이 말입니다.
Octopus Eating an Apple II_(Collaboration with photographer Song Kwang Chan)_ digital pigment print_150*220cm (Installation of variable)_2017
Octopus Eating an Apple III_(Collaboration with photographer Song Kwang Chan)_ digital pigment print_150*220cm (Installation of variable)_2017
Pattern of Apples and Pink Mushrooms_ Polymer clay, epoxy, sponge_340*500 (Installation of variable)_2017
The pattern of apples and pink mushrooms covering the entire wall means an addiction in the repetitive life. It is not easy to confess that you desperately need someone. Taking out apples and pink mushrooms filled in me one by one and attaching it to the wall is showing my obsession and confessing someone that I need that person. I myself also want to find a new direction while respecting the passion of people who continue their own search in the repetitive and obsessive daily lives. How can we soothe the hunger created by not getting full recognition, and how can we recognize those who are not like-minded? We should not be captured by the futility that longs for more understanding and more kindness of human beings.
반복되는 삶 속에서 사과와 핑크 버섯으로 벽면 가득 꾸며진 패턴은 중독을 의미합니다. 누군가가 너무나 필요하다고 고백하는 일은 그리 쉽지 않습니다. 내 안에 가득 채우고 있는 사과와 핑크 버섯을 하나씩 꺼내 벽면을 붙이는 일은 집착적인 일이고, 누군가에게 필요하다 고백하는 일입니다. 반복적이고 집착적인 일상에서 자기만의 탐색을 지속하는 사람들의 열의를 존중하면서 나도 새로운 방향을 찾아가고 싶습니다. 온전히 인정받지 못해서 생기는 허기를 어떻게 달래주고, 마음이 맞지 않는 사람들을 어떻게 인정해줄까? 더 큰 인간의 이해와 더 큰 친절을 갈망하는 허무에 사로잡히지 말아야합니다.
Snow While who Became a Mermaid ; WARNING_printing on the canvas _25*25cm (Installation of variable)_2017
독이든 사과를 먹고 죽을뻔한 백설공주는 다시는 사과를 먹지 않게 되었습니다. 두 다리로 땅을 딛고 걷는 것 이상의 것을 하고 싶었던 공주는 인어의 지느러미를 갖고 바다를 자유롭게 헤엄치길 원했습니다. 그러나 지느러미를 갖기위해서는 두 다리를 포기해야 했습니다. 인어의 지느러미를 가진 백설공주는 모든 이들에게 독이 든 사과 대해 경고하고 있습니다.
Snow White, who almost died after eating an apple whether it was poison or not, stopped eating apples again. The princess, who wanted to do more than walk on two legs on the ground, wanted to have the fins of a mermaid and swim freely in the sea. But she had to give up her two legs to have the fins. The finned snow white mermaid warns everyone about poisonous apples.
