RESTAGE: 조문희
From April 8 to May 7, 2021, Gallery Chosun presents a solo exhibition by Cho Moonhee in its B1 exhibition space.
In this exhibition, Cho presents photographs that explore the surreal qualities of townhouses and the aesthetics of human life embedded within them. Luxury townhouses, often found in newly developed suburban areas on the outskirts of Seoul, appear elegant and refined, with architecture and interiors reminiscent of scenes from films. To those accustomed to the standardized layouts of apartment living, these townhouses suggest a kind of ideal simply by being seen.
Set within meticulously planned complexes and landscaped environments, these buildings, finished with premium materials, form a new kind of landscape that reflects contemporary desires. While changes in how we perceive and inhabit homes naturally follows shifts in time and environment, townhouses emerged as a distinct response to density and development. For the artist, they became a particularly compelling subject.
“Are the people who live in places like this happy? These townhouses, at times resembling empty theatre sets or scenes from advertisements, evoke both beauty and distance. Gazing at these immaculate yet cold spaces invites reflection on life itself. Just as an artwork is completed through its encounter with the viewer, a truly beautiful home is one that fully carries the lives of those who inhabit it.
Surreal Presence and the Ventriloquism of Silence: An Aesthetics of the Townhouse
Text by Lev AAN (Art Critic)
Translated by Gallery Chosun
Landscapes change constantly. Just beyond Seoul, unfamiliar and foreign scenes begin to appear. These new landscapes carry the utopian dreams of their time. What does it mean to live within such landscapes today?
Townhouses, conceived as idealized representations of domestic space, evoke mixed emotions. They create exotic surroundings while remaining coldly sealed off to preserve perfect privacy. At certain moments, however, they reveal their bare faces and quietly signal the presence of human life. In those moments, a living beauty emerges. These spaces hold layers of emotion, from strict protection to luminous stillness, and invite sustained contemplation.
“I am always curious. What kind of lives are being lived inside? There is beauty in knowing that such moments exist, even briefly. The moment when the bare face is revealed.” (Interview)
For Cho Moonhee, these fleeting glimpses into the interior are the true face of architecture. They reveal what a building essentially is. By presenting the many layered faces of townhouses, the artist uncovers their complex meanings. The closed nature of Korean townhouses, the warmth of life that seeps into them, and the moments when architectural beauty surfaces all form a kind of self-portrait
Once resembling film sets that sell dreams of Western lifestyles, or empty theatrical stages, townhouses are transformed by the simple fact that people live inside them. Flat sets become sites of lived experience. It is now time to read these layered and latent stories of townhouses, written from within their formal structures in an emotional language.