Cover Image: East Palace, H150cm x W300cm – 2 panel ( H60in x W118in – 2 panel ), buttons, pins, beads, 2011
I was very honoured to have been invited for the ‘Becoming Again’ exhibition by Ran Hwang presented by Fondation D’Enterprise Hermès on the opening night. Held at the third floor of the Hermès store at Liat Towers, Singapore, audiences were delighted with the amazing and intricate work of Ran Hwang.
Hwang a Korean native, works with the humble button as a metaphor for the common before transforming them into extraordinary landscapes by hammering them into plexiglass in a repetitive and mediative process. The exhibition also explores the idea of fragility of life through time that is further enhanced by an immersive multimedia video projection of the four seasons. Audiences were invited to the back each plexiglass panels and bask in the shadows and coloured lights created by the projection. That temporal adrenaline of experiencing beauty fades off as quickly as it came.
“I create monumental iconic imagery using materials from the fashion industry. I hammer thousands of pins into wooden panels like a monk who facing the wall, loses himself in a deep conversation” – Ran Hwang
The Spider’s Strategem, 2014, paper buttons, beads, pins, plexiglass H240 x W900cm
Motifs like the Phoenix and peonies which are long regarded in Eastern culture as symbols of grace, poise, strength and renewal further echo the transient nature of Hwang’s work. Repetitive and surreal, I can’t help but sink into the mediative world of Hwang’s.
East Wind, H180cm x W360cm – 2 panel ( H71in x W142in – 2 panel ), Buttons, Pins, Beads, 2011
Sweet In Yean, H180cm x W720cm – 6 panel(H71in x W283in – 6 panel), Buttons, Beads, Pins, 2010
The exhibition runs from 7 November 2014 to 31 January 2015.
Image Source: ranhwang.com