The Cold Face of the City

Urban life is a theme that presents inexhaustible topics. Every city dweller is like a cell, and there are countless stories in each cell. A city is defined in an increasingly similar way in the East and the West. But the culture residing inside can be so different. People from China and South Korea have so many cultural similarities that we can be said as in the same cultural circle. But we also differentiate in ways we understand and describe culture. This time, the two Korean artists will show us how to appreciate differences in commonalities by showing the urban landscape in their eyes.

Mr. Lee Yong-Hwan’s works are like narrative poems, describing scenes that we tend to take for granted but are precisely the most moving parts of urban life. One cannot help but feel that there is no need for big dramas or grandiose setting. A relatively micro world of dribs and drabs will suffice to make passers-by linger on. On the other hand, the works of another Korean artist, Park Chanmin, deliberately ignore the defining features of a city, invoking a feeling of sudden strangeness, wondering in a trance whether this is the place we live in. The power of these works is profound and thought-provoking.

They are both scholarly artists, always cool-headed but never short on passion and energy inside. You will not find fast and furious in their works, and hustling and bustling is also rare, but under the seemingly cold face they assume throbs of the artists’ care and love for the city.

Curator: Yao Lu