exhibition Report： Leandro Erlich: Both Sides Now － Seoul Museum of Art (Buk-SeMA)
2019-12-17～2020-06-21
Solo exhibition by Leandro Erlich held from 17 December, 2019 to 15 April, 2020 at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art. The exhibition included new works by the artist with a support of highly motivated museum curator. Some works were planned according to the space and the fact that the exhibition is in South Korea.
In the Shadow of the Pagoda
Under the Covit-19 situation, there might be a limited people who actually were able to see this exhibition or knew about this exhibition.
There were large number of interesting projects in the exhibition, and the first installation to be introduced might be this piece “In the Shadow of the Pagoda” reflecting the history of South Korea.
This was a significant piece having both "reflection" and "real vs. unreal contrast" frequently appearing in Leandro Erlich's work. The artist developed this special work for Korean audience based on Korean folk tale "Shadowless Pagoda"※.
※Sad folk tale based on the construction of two towers in Bulguksa Temple, World Heritage site located in South Korea.
From the second floor, audience were able to see the pond and tower with its reflection on the water surface. Then the audience is led to go down the staircase and finds a doorway to see the pond from below.
Audience would find the reflection of the tower on the water seen from above actually was a distorted tower suspended from above. People would be now looking up the tower over the water. The tower above now looks like a illusion, also distorted by the moving water.
The work was a large piece (920 x 560 x H.900 cm), specially considered according to the space. By relating the work to the old folk tale, the work also became a profound one containing Buddhist philosophy (existence and illusion, philosophy on emptiness) behind.
The Cloud (Sounth Korea), The Cloud (North Korea)
The second works to introduce here is the new version of the Clouds, with the shape of South and North Korea.
Viewers were able to read the delicate balance of two separated Korea. The title of the solo exhibition was taken from Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" which refers to the clouds in its lyrics.
| I've looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down and still somehow It's cloud's illusions I recall I really don't know clouds at all | 私は 今、雲を両側から見ていた 上から下から そしてなぜか いまだに 思い出すのは 雲の幻影 私には 雲について何も 分からない |
Car Cinema
Next image is the work entitled Car Cinema which 13 cars made of sand are watching the video image of real cars running on a highway.
It was a humorous installation as if cars on the beach made by kids are dreaming to become real cars. It was an interesting work by Erlich who is always trying to question the meaning of "what we are seeing". In this work, cars were those who are seeing and the viewers were to objectively see those who are seeing.
Coming Soom
This was actually located as the first installation for audience to see in the exhibition. Audience were welcomed to enter the lobby of a movie theater, and they will see movie posters in the lobby. The posters were oil paintings showing projects by Leandro Erlich in different parts of the world.
Elevator Maze (2011), Changing Rooms（2008), Lost Garden（2009), The View（1997） were also installed in the exhibition.
※ArtTank worked with Leandro Erlich Studio and Soyeon Bang, curator from the museum coordinating the production and installment to realize this exhibition.