2009.4.7
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Artists are often considered mirrors of society. Their works reflect the actions and minds of their contemporaries.
Two American artists, both introduced to Korea by the Seomi & Tuus Gallery, reflect on their country and people in the past eight years through their works, though in totally different ways.
George Condo's way is to paint portraits. But instead of selecting a model and reproducing the exact appearance, Condo pulls out the figures from his imaginations and deforms them to look like eccentric cartoon characters.
"I see them when I walk down the streets. I see their expressions and their feelings. The society creates the expressions giving them pressure," said the artist, who lives in New York.
"Let's look at it this way. In the last eight years during the Bush regime, there was a dehumanization of the population. There was a conflict in people's minds between what they were told to believe in and what they truly believed in. I wanted to express the conflict that is written on their expressions."
A fat superhero smoking a cigarette, a disfigured woman -- Condo's characters are ironic and grotesque. Condo says they are a "realistic representation of what is artificial."
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| "I Like You A Lot" by Michael Scoggins [Seomi & Tuus Gallery] |
"The world is basically man-made. If you want to be a realist, than we have to represent what is man-made, what is artificial," he said.
The 52-year-old artist started his art career in Andy Warhol's factory, and was influenced by many great artists. His cubistic style reminds of Picasso's and his brilliant use of colors reminds that of Matisse.
"What Picasso did when he painted, was to go back and look at the works of the old masters. I do that too, and one of them is Picasso. I can't ignore him," he said.
Michael Scoggins is another American artist who captured the last eight years of America. The artist, who is in his mid-30s, chose to grow a couple dozen years younger to express it.
On what looks like a page ripped off from an oversized notebook -- at least six times larger than regular ones at least -- Scoggins scribbles stick figures and word balloons with pencils and markers like a 10-year-old.
Sometimes he colors them with colored pencils, crayons, or anything that could be seen in a kid's school box.
"The oversized notebook papers were to draw more attention. And since the mass produced papers are so much treated as disposables, I also wanted to question what is fine art by making the works on them," Scoggins said.
Let alone the size of the giant notebook papers, the contents themselves are fairly amusing.
"... the truth is, I've always had a HUGE crush on you. I think we would be good together. Now it's in the open. Love? Michael S," reads one of his works.
"It is ripped off at the top so you never know who I had the crush on," Scoggins said with a mischievous grin.
"Sometimes I like to play some tricks to the viewers. Art doesn't have to be serious all the time. Humor could be a good material," he said.
The humorous artist's works are mostly based on his personal life or childhood memories. For some of them he actually referred to his childhood notebooks.
But are his works all just simply pure? No way. Scoggins is a grown-up. The most intriguing part of his works is that they always have an adult twist.
Take "Good Guys Again" for example.
"Can we be the Good Guys again, please?" reads a yellow word bubble on top. "We'll see," reads a smaller blue one below. At first glance, it looks like a phrase some kid might have copied off from a comic book. But Scoggins actually intended to deliver a more serious thought.
"I was thinking about America after the last eight years, trying to move past it, wondering if we could be the good guys again after all that," Scoggins said.
"There are lots of layers on my works. The surface of them is easy, something everyone could enjoy and relate to. But if you can also get the underlying political messages, it can be more fun."
George Condo's exhibition runs through April 29 at Seomi&Tuus Gallery in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul. Michael Scoggin's show runs through May 1 at Seomi & Tuus Gallery in Gahoe-dong, central Seoul. For more information call (02) 511-7305 or visit www.seomituus.com
By Park Min-young
(claire@heraldm.com)
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