Gallery chosun presents Jungho Oak's solo exhibition "Wanderness" from 28th september to 7th November 2018. Jungho Oak has been working on the social issue by bringing it into the realm of personal creativity. Jungho Oak drew the heavy theme into the works. Ironically, however, the fact that the image itself is very humorous is a special point of Jungho Oak's work.
Jungho Oak's solo exhibition "The World of 미망Mimang(迷妄/彌望)/wanderness" starts with an incident occured in 2014, which is common to everyone in Korea. Having witnessed children and their families die in vain, we shared sorrow, guilt and hope together. Jungho Oak confesses that he fell into lethargy due to a series of social deaths and situations following that incident. The artist, who recovered from his lethargy only in 2017, hopes to revive the year 2016, when he had to pass away or lost.
As always, the artist is paying attention to the corrupt parts of society in this work, but has not forgotten how to investigate positively. The artist reminds us of the guilt that has been weighed down by showing us the struggle to clear away the guilt of the individual. Although the helpless and unstable life that does not result from individual faults, social structural problems are being supplanted by the lack of individual ability.
"...The scapes, another photograph of Jungho Oak, are also statements about the irony of the reality he has pursued, an incomprehensible daily eccentricity and distortion. The way to make statements has become more objective and therefor makes more sense. Lined up fishing site (shown in previous work of Jungho Oak), camping tent, container and crane, wall and church spire and so on show how different objects comnined to make a weird harmony. What makes this harmony weird depends on the way how we read these symbol. For this reading, Oak uses a code called "comparative or natural contrast of images."
"...The photograph of Oak is in the gap between reality and conceptual performance. More precisely, Oak tries to bring something more about photograph by capturing his perfomance and mischiefs in photograps. He now tries to approach the photographic pleasure or the pleasure of photography itself rather than conducting conceptual performance. In the process, the current works emerged." "Behind the holy scape"
Hong-gu Kang(Artist, Art Critic)
The word "Mimang" has two meanings : 'wander' and 'look broadly'. Although the word sounds the same in Korean, it ends in a completely different meaning like cause and effect. In this exhibition, Jungho Oak will prepare several connection points linking the artist himself (I) and the rest of the world. By looking back on the three relationships, "I-We", "I-World", and "We-World" we hope to look broadly about the times that we've been wandered.
Artist's note
In a solo exhibition in the summer of 2015, I talked about our sense of personal and social guilt since the Sewol-ferry disaster. And after the death of the farmer Baik(Namki Baik), I fell into a state of lethargy, seeing a series of extraordinary events that have taken place. – Despite occasional resistance - my lethargy, which began like that, disappeared completely in 2017 after passing a whole year(2016).
"The World of Mimang(迷妄/彌望)" is about my recuperation from 2016.
The dictionary defines '미망Mimang' as '1. lost in self-delusion.' and '2. look far and wide'. A word pronounced in the same sound has two entirely different meanings and somehow relatied, as if they are the cause and effect.
This exhibition is about the time i wandered between 'world and world', 'I and world' and 'I and You', and is also about the lethargy we've been through as a common public throughout the year 2015, 2016. I hope to look far and wide about the world through this exhibition, as a artist and citizen.
jungho Oak
BF1, 2F
64, Buckchon-ro 5-gil
Jongno-gu
Seoul, 03053
South Korea
www.gallerychosun.com
+82 2 723 7133
Tuesday – Sunday
10:30am – 6:30pm