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| yna@yna.co.kr 2023-02-28 10:04:31
SEOUL, Feb. 28 (Yonhap) -- The Coreana Cosmetic Museum, organized and run by Coreana, has been standing as a complex cultural space consisting of items collected by Yoo Sang-ok, the founder of Coreana Cosmetics, since 2003.
The Museum, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has opened an exhibition venue, named ‘Space C,’ where it introduces the Corena Cosmetic Museum and several historical items related to the history of makeup culture, in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
The first and second basement floor of the Museum has been exhibiting contemporary art under the themes befitting the cosmetic company, such as female physique, women, and beauty.
The Museum is scheduled to hold a solo exhibition of soap sculptor Shin Mi-kyung starting on Tuesday in commemoration of the 20th anniversary. Shin is a sculptor who has been working on reproducing Western classical sculptures or Eastern ceramics exclusively using soap. She has been introducing about 120 works to the world, including the new 70 pieces that will be unveiled for the first time during the exhibition.
As soon as one enters the underground exhibition hall, the fragrant scent of the soap will captivate one’s heart and nose, which is from the “Large Painting Series” that will be introduced for the very first time. The eye-catching work, which is sculptured by melting more than 100kg of soap in a large iron frame, appears to be a painting, but its production method and physical characteristics are close to those of sculptures.
In another underground exhibition hall decorated just like the gallery in a museum in Europe, the new “Romantic Sculpture Series” will be on display. The displayed works have been sculptured by getting inspiration from the collection of Western paintings and sculptures of the art museum that is displayed right next to each other. The work, which seems just like a Greek statue, will be standing in the center of the exhibition room, but when looked at closely, the sculpture will be found to have been made entirely of soap. This piece, titled “Translation – Greek Sculpture,” was first presented by Shin at the Hayward Gallery in England in 1998, and the time has made the piece look even seem more like a relic from the ancient past.
The exhibition will especially be held from the first basement to the 5th and 6th floors above the ground.
The “Fossil-Like Time Series,” which had silver and copper foil wrapped around the ceramic-looking soaps, blends in and harmonizes with the bronze mirrors from the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties that are displayed together to the point that they are hard to distinguish from one another.
Meanwhile, Shin’s “Toilet Project” will also continue: By placing a soap sculpture in the toilets at the exhibition hall for visitors to use while washing their hands, the artist intends for the soap to become an artwork itself by the hands of visitors. A total of 6 soap sculptures, which have been used as soaps and then transformed into original pieces of artwork at 5 different toilets of department stores all over the city of Seoul over the past five months, will also be on display at this exhibition.
The exhibition will also present Shin’s other soap sculpture on which she applied the bronze casting method so that it will not change over the course of time.
The Corena Museum of Art will continue its attempt to expand its exhibition space to the point that it would have as many collections related to cosmetics and makeup history to the point that it would earn the reputation as a cosmetic museum.
Director Yoo Seung-hee said, “For the past 20 years, we have been holding various exhibitions about women, their physiques, and the true meaning of beauty,” adding, “We will carry this onto the next level by carrying out exhibitions that can exclusively be watched at the Corena Museum of Art.”
The forthcoming paid-for exhibition will be held until June 10.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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