SOLO SHOW: 복덕방(福∙德∙房): Organised Art Fair

The COOP(Check Out Our Project) curated ⟪SOLO SHOW: 福∙德∙房⟫ will be held in December 2021 at One Edition Art Space in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam, operated by Eight Institute (Director: Park Hyekyung). The venue was originally built as a model house used as a sales office for residential properties and is now temporarily used for various cultural events. 

⟪SOLO SHOW: 福∙德∙房⟫ takes its title from the site’s original purpose, pointing to the connection between art and spaces where exchange takes place. The name highlights its literal meaning’ “a room that brings fortune and virtue”, and suggests a place where art can offer rich emotional experiences and create higher value. In this former real estate office, a new form of value exchange is proposed, offering artists, audiences, and collectors a distinctive setting, experience, and sense of time. 

This event brings together many professional galleries, each presenting a solo exhibition by one artist in their own assigned space. The format is designed to highlight the relationship between galleries and their artists. Through this project, COOP explores practical approaches to gallery work and art circulation through diverse curational strategies. 

In particular, the exhibition introduces mid-career and senior artists over the age of 50, setting it apart from previous editions. By focusing on artists who have sustained long careers through consistent practice, the exhibition aims to convey the depth and meaning found in everyday life through the working attitudes and artworks of an established generation. 

Participating Galleries

PKM gallery, Gana Art, Gallery 2, Gallery Hyundai, Kukje Gallery, Gallery Shilla, Gallery Chosun, Leeahn Gallery, Space Willing N Dealing, Artside Gallery, Esther Schipper Gallery, Johyun Gallery, KÖNIG Gallery, Hakgojae Gallery

Jeong Jeong-ju has long explored the organic relationship between architectural space and light, focusing on the structures of modern buildings. In his work, architectural space is always shown in relation to the light cast upon it. 

For Jeong, light is “another being”. It may be a divine presence, a person who causes difficulty, or a social system; something outside the self that brushes past one’s inner world. The contrast between shifting light and solid architectural materials feels like a physical form of anxiety, shaped by what the body senses: external space, other people, light, air, the city, and its atmosphere. 

If the interior of the architectural space in his work is a metaphor for the human mind or inner self, the exterior speaks of the world around us; others, society, power, or even God. The unstable boundary between the self and the other is broken down through architectural structures, light and colour, leaving traces made of physical form and visual illusion. In his most recent solo exhibition ⟪Illuminate⟫(2021, Gallery Chosun), he presented sculptural relief works that combine abstract forms with LED lighting. In these pieces, his ongoing process of breaking down, reducing, and abstracting architectural structures is taken to its fullest point. The LED light suggests an abstract world, while its shimmer on metal surfaces recalls the illusions of the digital cities we live in.