Friday, September 11, 2009

Deeper in to the duality

There is a saying that the “Court jester is the most serious man in the kingdom.” I kept thinking of this phrase since I first saw the artist works in the exhibition. Why? At the first sight, the whole exhibition looks like a totality of colors, jokes, transformations and cheerfulness. Even people at the opening looked very joyful and touched by the beautiful lines, and funny images (and the chocolate fountain, of course :)) If we look closer and bit longer, however, we see that it is not only about beautiful images of superwomen (Min Kim Park), colorful interior (Daniel Kaufmann), or sharp - tongued stories about supermodels (Robert Heinecken). Even though everything stands in an absolute harmony of the reality of reality, in my opinion (point of seeing it) has this dual light within.

On closer inspection, one superwoman [made by Min Kan Park] has a masculine, tired face, uptight stance, and a broken heel. This made me think of all the (expectations of) shopping, smiling, working, being flexible, etc that women are faces with nowadays. They are (constantly) stressing out to become the women from the magazines; the ones with a cute husband, bright white teeth and a mind - boggling career. In the pictures, these (super) women look limber, stylish and feminine, but only briefly from afar.

Really funny stories about supermodels seemed to me, at first, as a really good joke. I was laughing loud and thought that the artist [Robert Heinecken] had a really great sense of humor. Then, after I came home, I saw those stories in every newspaper, on my shampoo bottle, on the TV, and even in my friends’ profile pictures on Facebook. It took me a long time to stop thinking about it.

I guess that this exhibition shows that people (including me) are attracted to famous, funny and intriguing things, but only at first sight; they like it and they consume it. After making me laugh, this exhibit made me think, just like the court jesters in the middle ages.

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