Countertransference by Ligyung
Date：October 31 (Friday) , 2014 – January 7 (Wednesday), 2015
Le Forum holds an exhibition by artist Ligyung, who lives and works in Seoul, South Korea. Born in Jeonju in 1969, she works consistently with the “light” as a theme of her work from the very beginning of her career.
“Light” itself does not have its own substance, but is a medium that lights up other existence, and it has played a significant role in visual arts. Light is often used as an important element that redefines the relationship between the visible and the invisible. As there is an old saying that “A picture is worth a thousand words”, we give absolute trust to what is visible, but she questions us its limit and reliability.
This exhibition consists of two of her works. “The tree of knowledge of good and evil” (2001) seeks to give shape to the instinctive urge to see the invisible. Forbidden fruits as a metaphor, the room is flooded with the blinding light, as if our excessive desire to see is causing the halation. This installation creates void by eliminating darkness and shadows that should exist behind us, and turns into a paradoxical space where the existence attains certainty by closing our eyes.
“Serpent’s kiss”, a work created for this exhibition, focuses on expressing the invisible itself. Without using light controlled by intricate devices, as she did in her past works, she aims to “draw the rays of the sun” using the natural light that is particular to the space of Le Forum. The installation, with the sound and the floor, crafted like mother-of-pearl inlay, appeals to our senses.
Light always brings darkness and it is fraught with shadows. Drawing light itself means drawing darkness and shadows. It is as if to suggest a method for deciphering the impossibilities filled with contradictions in humans.
In 2014, Le Forum has been studying “materials” in contemporary art, from solid ones used in Hermès ateliers such as leather, crystal, silk and silver, to the bodies which are given to us since our birth, and this exhibition closes the year by challenging the expression created with the immaterialistic “light”.