Ju Se Kyun : Notional Flag #5-A
Chapter II is delighted to announce Ju Se Kyun (b. 1980)’s solo exhibition, ‘Notional Flag #5-A’, from 13th December 2019 to 8th January 2020 in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul. Ju has dealt with multiple media including installation, sculpture, drawing and video to manifest his investigation into skepticism about implicative aspects of symbols and structures of the public system which perceived as social conventions. In this solo exhibition, he unveils his large installation, <Flag>, and a new piece, <Tracing Drawing>, in Chapter II’s main gallery and window space respectively.
There are multicolored flags. Borrowing the format of common flags of all nations occasionally appeared in parades, 208 flags are carefully placed side by side on the floor of the exhibition space. These flags actually consist of colorful sand the artist died by himself. The entire pattern is achieved by the elaborate process of sprinkling the particles on the floor. This ‘delicately sprinkling’ progress which signifies the artist’s disciplinal performance is carried out depending on the sole external force¾gravity, and this meticulously intended original form is maintained throughout the exhibition.
As the tile of the exhibition, ‘Notional Flag’, suggests, the patterns of the flags do not exist. Each A3-sized image depicting nonexistent objects and substance is interpreted as an actual flag, since it meets requirements of national flags’ fundamental elements such as patterns, emblems, colors and appearance already imprinted on our recognition system. The artist’s initial aim for the exhibition, establishing and displaying the fictional flags and causing association effect related to the pattern, is selectively achieved depending on viewers. In other words, their background knowledge about certain flags, for example, their own countries’ or widely known flags frequently exposed in media, plays a role of a standard point which distinguishes the real ones from imitations. Nevertheless, it does not guarantee the group’s accurate assessment, because the images have considerably plausible features.
The installation reminds of a certain situation of a traveler who crossed the American continent in the past. In the story, he discovered that marks of Utah and Colorado on his map were accidentally swapped due to a typographical error. Let us imagine his inner conflict between trusting that it was the only error in the entire book or doubting reliability of the map. This anecdote consequently demonstrates what message the artist attempted to deliver. It explains that ‘notion’¾the part of the title and the central keyword of the exhibition¾does not necessarily reflect precise facts, as though we easily misinterpret the arbitrarily invented patterns as real flags. According to the argument by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) in which the relationship of the Signifier and the Signified is arbitrary, the Stars and the Stripes of the US and the Union Jack of the UK are outcomes of decisions and coincidences rather than products of regulations and formulas. Unless an absolute truth exists, numerous norms, definitions and meanings that we constantly come across in an ordinary circumstance inevitably inhabit somewhere between reality and notions. For the artist, the ‘Notional’ always has potential to be inverted into the ‘National’; at the same time, it implies that the existing norms, definitions and meanings can be overturned in any time. Thus, the action of shifting the artwork into a pile of sand by sweeping it out with a brush after the exhibition stands for a complete stage of the work, instead of indicating the disappearance of the work.
Ju Se Kyun completed his BA and MA in Sculpture at Kookmin University and he also did his sub-major in Ceramic. He has consistently presented his practice at diverse internal and external major establishments including OCI Museum, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, SeMA Nam-Seoul Museum of Art, Kumho Museum, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Korean Cultural Center China and Taiwan Ceramics Biennale. His works are included in collections of prestigious museums such as Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum, Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art and OCI Museum.
