Barakat Contemporary presents The Sea Life of South Korea and Other Curious Tales, the first solo exhibition in Korea by Mark Dion who often transforms as an amateur ecologist, archaeologist, ornithologist, naturalist, and avid collector.
The Sea Life of South Korea and Other Curious Tales is where the ambivalence of indignation and grief for human destruction along with a deep love for nature meet.
— 'Nature is the most elaborate space to produce power and ideology.' Dion utilizes his artistic practice to constantly question what we believe in, and if it is true.
— The new large-scale installations, Cabinet of Marine Debris (2021) and Sea Life of South Korea (2021), explore how collections of discarded objects and debris can acquire an elevated status as something precious when they become separated from our lives, transcendent of time and space.
— Art as a space for critical discussion that allows tireless questioning.
— The Sea Life of South Korea and Other Curious Tales conveys a tragic allegory of loss and extinction as well as the imaginative possibilities of the wonderful.
— Along with a new set of large-scale drawings, the exhibition will also present monumental sculptures that allow for a critical reflection on the relationship between nature and culture.
— 'I am interested in artists who are not afraid to have a didactic aspect to their work. Who are not afraid to say something and have a position. That is the kind of art I like. So, I am not afraid to make that kind of art myself.' Quote from Theatre of the natural world: An interview with Mark Dion and Iwona Blazwick by Thomas Rackowe-Cork.
Mark Dion (b. 1961) was born in New Bedford, a port city in Massachusetts, USA, and studied at the University of Hartford, School of Art, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. From 1984-1985, he participated in the Independent Study Program of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Dion has also participated in solo and group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, New York Drawing Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum, London Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Gallery, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Münster Sculpture Project (1997), Kassel dOCUMENTA 13, Venice Biennale's Norway Pavilion, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, etc. Dion's works are in the permanent collection of leading art galleries and institutions around the world such as the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the Harvard University Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Tate Gallery in London, the British Museum, the Manchester Museum, the Henry Moore Institute in England, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, and the Israel Museum.
Opened in 2016 in the centre of Seoul, Barakat Contemporary is an exhibition space where visitors can appreciate and anticipate the contemporary art that must be noted internationally today. Barakat Contemporary focuses on in-depth research and planning into the important topics in international society and contemporary art, presenting to the domestic and international audience artists who show a humanities-based perspective on the present era. The gallery supports long-term growth of unique artists from various cultures, including Africa, America, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and offers audiences an uncommon opportunity to explore contemporary issues arising from the points of contact between each society and culture.
