Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night: Song Su Min, Woo Jeong Su, Yoo Jae Yeon, Lee Mo ka

The title of the group exhibition, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, in which Song Su Min, Woo Jeong Su, Yoo Jae Yeon, and Lee Moka participated, is an excerpt from one of the representative works by a prominent Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas (1914–1953). The poem whose repetitive verses are “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” seems to be a voice from afar to every member of this chaotic world in a state of a tremendous upheaval due to the pandemic.

The exhibition attempts to suggest a certain answer by reflecting upon what meanings art can have in the current circumstance of being stuck in actions for survival under restrictions of some basic human rights such as freedom of movement, assembly and association. From a general point of view, the internal value of art can not be revealed as statistics and it does not provide us instant prosperity, materialistic satisfaction or practical solutions for countless problems. Also, in the present society where constant development is ongoing based on the extremely advanced technology of AI and other industries, art does not give us a clear direction because it exists as a sum of overlapped emotions which includes inherently incomplete aspects of human expression, a wide spectrum of ideas and fixed manners and choices of artists.

Nevertheless, art not only stimulates visual sensations and diverse sentiments but allows spectators to contemplate on and interpret presented works and their hidden intentions. Having been threatened by excessive concentration on efficiency, uniformity and automation and the overflow of media and SNS, the human intellectual activities can be retriggered by art. Since its intrinsic worth lays on establishing individuality of each person through a process of observation, introspection and cumulative experiences, art enlightens us to ‘re-humanize’ ourselves in a time of turmoil.

In this exhibition, works of four artists who have different backgrounds, artistic styles and approaches are connected so that they ultimately send a uniquely intertwined rhizome-like message. Each practice of the artists delivers its own clues such as ‘creative adoptions of historical symbols’, ‘uncanny cohabitation of tranquility and failures of the system’, ‘persistent investigation of otherness’ and ‘fairytales about the niche between fantasy and reality’. The works whose traits are varied co-occupy the exhibition space and they unfold their sophisticated visual achievements by deliberately summoning the apocalyptic mood which still remains in many people’s memory. Responding to this year, 2020, labelled as ‘the time of hopelessness’, the artists seem to silently appeal to the audience who has been patient with the grim and frightful situation through their works which can be a milestone of transition they have desired. Thus, instead of hastily giving closure to the year relying on a naïve expectation of an uncertain future, they rather encourage us to remember significant occurrences of this time and express our frustration and rage against this difficult state of affairs.