Chung Sooyoung: Play Station

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• Chung Sooyoung
  full of choice 8 (beer), 2023, Acrylic on linen, 50x200cm
  
  

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  Chung Sooyoung
  full of choice 8 (beer), 2023, Acrylic on linen, 50x200cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  BIG. 2023, Acrylic on linen, 120x120cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  Creater, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 120x120cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  Biographical object no.1278, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 30x25cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  Biographical object no.1272, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 30x25cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  Biographical object no.1284, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 30x25cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  Biographical object no.1263, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 30x25cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  untitled, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 150x150m
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  Dinosaurs and Bubbles, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 100x100cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  players, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 100x100cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  investor, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 100x120cm
  

  

  Chung Sooyoung
  dialog7_roleplay, 2023, Acrylic on linen, 50x50cm
  

• Play Station
  NOV 23, 2023 - JAN 6, 2024

  
  

  정 수 영 CHUNG SOOYOUNG

  
  

  
  

  아뜰리에 아키는 2023년 마지막 전시이자 새해를 여는 전시로 11월 23일부터 2024년 1월 6일까지 정수영 개인전 《Play Station 플레이 스테이션》을 개최한다. 정수영은 일상적이고 보편적인 현실의 대상을 통해 인간의 감정과 경험을 탐구하며 객관적 시각 아래 위트있게 표현하는 고유의 회화 스타일을 전개해 왔다. 이번 전시는 아뜰리에 아키에서 선보이는 작가의 첫 개인전으로, 동시대를 살아가는 어른으로서 욕망을 다루는 행위(Play)를 드러낸 신작 회화 10여 점과 작가가 지속적으로 선보이고 있는 Biographical object 연작 60여 점으로 구성된다.

   

  정수영은 “정물 하나하나를 인물로 생각한다”고 말하며, 인물의 면면에선 드러나지 않는 내포된  이야기를 담아낸 ‘사물의 초상화’ 작업을 전개해 왔다. 이번 신작의 주목할 만한 점은 인물에 대한 서사를 넘어 동시대를 살아가는 어른에게 보내는 연민이자 가벼운 위로의 메시지를 담아내며 보다 확장된 면모를 구축했다는 점이다. 즉 작가는 욕망을 다루는 행위(Play)와 인간의 성숙도에 대한 담론을 특유의 재치 있는 조형 언어로 풀어내며 작가적 세계관의 외연을 확장해 나간다.

   

  전시 《Play Station 플레이 스테이션》은 ‘좋은 어른’에 대한 작가의 질문에서 시작되었다. 전시 제목에서 엿볼 수 있듯, 정수영은 축구 게임, 건담, 당구, 명품 시계를 리세일하는 등의 놀이 장면을 통해 순수한 즐거움과 그 이면의 욕망과 본능을 담아낸다. 그녀의 화면엔 인간의 솔직하고 원초적인 욕망의 감정과 함께 천진한 아이와도 같은 순수함이 녹아있다. 어린아이와 성인, 순수함과 물질적 이익, 본능과 이성 등 작품 속 대비되는 요소들을 서로 공존시킨 작업을 통해 작가는 어른에 대한 정의를 다양한 관점에서 끊임없이 자문한다. 

   

  감각적이면서도 은유적인 회화 세계를 보여주는 그녀의 작품 속 모티브들은 실제 삶을 기반으로 구성된다. 갤러리 한쪽 벽면을 장식하는 Biographical object 작품은 작가가 지속적으로 선보이고 있는 연작으로 일상적이고 보편적인 현실의 대상들을 구성하거나 배치함으로써 새로운 서사를 구축한 작품이다. 작가는 현실에서 마주하는 대상을 있는 그대로 묘사하는 것을 넘어 화면 속 대상과 관객 간의 새로운 관계성을 구축하며 여러 해석이 가능한 복잡다단한 회화로서 자신의 작업을 제시한다. 이러한 그녀의 작업은 우리가 쉽게 지나치는 일상을 복기하고 유희적인 상상을 통해 또 다른 맥락으로 이동시킴으로써 동시대의 삶을 조명한다는 점에서 독특한 위치를 차지한다. 

   

  정수영은 영국과 서울을 기반으로 국내외에서 개인전 및 다수의 그룹전에 참여하며 국제적으로 활발하게 활동 중인 작가이다. 작가는 이화여자대학교 회화과 학사 및 석사학위를 취득하고, 영국왕립예술학교(Royal College of Art)에서 석사학위를 받았다. 2016년 Arte Laguna Art prize(Venice), 2017년 The Sunny Art Prize(UK) Shortlisted에 올랐으며, 2017년 Hix Art Award(London), Griffin Art Award(UK), 2018년 Graduate Art Prize(UK) 최종 후보자에 선정된 바 있다. 정수영의 작업은 글로벌 로펌기업 DLA piper law firm art collection(London), 영국 해운회사CUNARD(London) 등에 소장되어 있다.

  
  

  As the final exhibition of 2023 and the opening of the new year, ATELIER AKI will present 《Play Station 플레이 스테이션》, a solo show by CHUNG SOOYOUNG, from November 23^rd, 2023 to January 6th, 2024. Chung has developed a unique painting style that explores human emotions and experiences through the daily and universal objects of reality, expressing them wittily under an objective perspective. This is the artist's first solo show at ATELIER AKI and consists of 10 new paintings that reveal the play dealing with desire as an adult living in contemporary times, as well as more than 60 works from her ongoing series of biographical objects.

   

  Chung says, "I think of each still life as a person," and has been working on 'portraits of objects' that capture the implied stories that cannot be seen on the face of a person. What is noteworthy about this new work is that it goes beyond the narrative of the characters to include a message of compassion and light consolation for adults living in contemporary times. In other words, the artist expands the periphery of her worldview by exploring the discourse of the act of play with desire and the human maturity through her characteristic witty sculptural language.

   

  The exhibition 《Play Station 플레이 스테이션》 began with the artist's questioning about 'good adults'. As the title suggests, Chung captures pure pleasure and the desires and instincts behind it through scenes of play, such as soccer games, Gundam, billiards, the resale of luxury watches, etc. Her paintings convey a childlike innocence along with the emotions of honest and primal human desires. Through the coexistence of contrasting elements in her works, such as children and adults, innocence and material interests, instinct and reason, the artist constantly questions the definition of adulthood from various perspectives. 

   

  The motifs in her works, which present a sensual and metaphorical pictorial world, are based on real life. Biographical object, which adorns one wall of the gallery, is an ongoing series of works in which the artist creates new narratives by organizing or arranging the daily and universal objects of reality. The artist goes beyond depicting the objects she encounters in real life as they are and presents her work as complex paintings that can be interpreted in multiple ways, establishing a new relationship between the objects on the screen and the viewer. Her work occupies a unique position in that it sheds light on contemporary life by recalling everyday objects that we easily pass by and transporting them to another context through playful imagination. 

   

  Based in London and Seoul working at the forefront of the contemporary art, the artist CHUNG SOOYOUNG(born.1987, South Korea) participating in solo and group exhibitions in Korea and abroad. She received her BFA and MA in painting from Ewha Womans University and her MFA from the Royal College of Art, UK. She was shortlisted for the Arte Laguna Art prize (Venice) in 2016, The Sunny Art Prize (UK) in 2017 and final-listed on the Hix Art Award (London) in 2017, the Griffin Art Award (UK), and the Graduate Art Prize (UK) in 2018. Chung’s work is in the collections of the global law firm DLA piper law firm art collection (London), British shipping company CUNARD (London), etc.

   

   

  Lately, my interest has been in the question: what makes being a good adult?

  I think "adult" is a word that can be used to describe something that is different from just "adult" and is more or less mature. Whereas children are a bundle of uninhibited instincts, adults are supposed to be able to contain and control their fullness. A person's maturity is measured by how they play with their inherent desires. So to be a good adult, you have to learn to indulge those inherent and seductive instincts and desires as tastefully, pleasantly, and in moderation as possible within this complex social structure.

  For children, toys provide pure, carefree fun, and for observing adults, children's play becomes a means of interpreting and expressing experiences, emotions, and social roles that go beyond innocence. So the pure playfulness associated with toys often becomes a doorway into the very nature of the adult self, with its intersection of responsibilities, hopes, and social expectations. And the colorful nature of toys through an adult lens invites us to think about play with more complex motivations and desires. In general, adult play is not just an experience of pure imagination and exploration, but also has other motives such as material gain, competition, social status, power, etc. Therefore, playing with toys through the eyes of adults paradoxically amplifies their worry-free enjoyment.

  The works in this exhibition, PLAY STATION, contain several scenes of play. Nostalgic scenes of childhood play are a mixture of pure enjoyment and other motives behind it. It is compassion for adults who lack a sense of complete fulfillment without worries, a mild consolation, and maybe it is all about the process of becoming an adult. In the adult play scenes, the ulterior motives are a little more blatant, and I wonder if a playful confrontation with one's desires is a necessary precursor to dealing with them gracefully.