Future Economy | The ‘Marriage and Childbirth’ Problem … Artist Kim Hyun Jung Playfully Unpacks ‘Holiday Stress’
Future Economy reported that artist Kim Hyun Jung is holding her 23rd solo exhibition, 'A Tray of Eggs, Marrying Age,' from September 2 to 14 at Keumboseong Art Center, to commemorate her Korea Young Artist Award. The article explained that the artist playfully unpacked, through the technique of parodying famous paintings, the financial insecurity, fear of childbirth and childrearing, and other anxieties felt by a younger generation facing marriage.
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Kim Hyun Jung Solo Exhibition 'A Tray of Eggs, Marrying Age' ... Exhibition on the Theme of Young Generation's 'Marriage'
[Future Economy, Reporter Kim Mi-jeong] Korean painter Kim Hyun Jung, who has been sharing the stories of the younger generation through her 'Naesoong series' of women in hanbok, holds her 23rd solo exhibition, 'A Tray of Eggs, Marrying Age,' from the 2nd through the 14th, on the 1st floor of Keumboseong Art Center in Pyeongchang-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
This exhibition is held with the support of the Korean Fine Arts Association and Keumboseong Art Center, to commemorate artist Kim Hyun Jung's Korea Young Artist Award.
'A Tray of Eggs, Marrying Age' deals with the process of establishing a sense of self, caught in conflict between the roles others expect of you within relationships and what you truly want for yourself, extending the line of Kim's 'Naesoong series.'
In particular, it cheerfully captures the artist's struggle, as she faces the real-world issue of marriage, with the identity she must confront in new roles as someone's wife, daughter-in-law, and eventually mother.
The artist wants to convey how she and her peers in the younger generation are coming to terms with the daunting uncertainty of achieving financial independence, the fear of the unknown territory of childbirth and childrearing, and the pressure of the role of daughter-in-law.
This exhibition introduces a number of works that borrow the basic composition and imagery of famous paintings.
Artist Kim said, "I thought the composition and coloring of famous paintings could be effectively used to express the message a painter wants to convey. The element of wit in parodying masterpieces can help ease the weight that comes with a sensitive subject like marriage. If you imagine parents and their children of marriageable age coming to see this exhibition together, the charm of that wit will shine all the brighter."
She continued, "I thought I'd be unshaken even if my mother's lament that 'my only wish this year is for my daughter to get married' kept echoing like it always does, but at some point I realized it had built up into real stress, and my work had started staring straight at the subject of marriage."
Her earlier work, the 'Naesoong series,' was entirely focused on 'me' and 'my own interests' — an exploration of the inner self, a pursuit of outer beauty, an aspiration toward an attractive life —