Ju Money: Sang Wook Lee

The Art Center of Troy was exhibiting the work of Sang Wook Lee in its gallery down town. The work that she exhibited was made specially for this gallery and it is easy to see why as you walk into the space. 

 

The Art Center also featured student work. It was hard to tell what age groups made each print because of the varying levels of complexity in each one. It seemed that the general message in each piece was about the same though. From the top picture it looks like the student wanted to show a need for unity among the people of Earth. 

These small pouches are called 'bokjumoney' which is a Korean costume associated with 'hanbok'. The pouches used to be carried around by children and were filled with red beans but now they are typically filled with money. They are meant to represent good will in the new year. Alone, these Ramen Noodles are insignificant, but when put together their meaning becomes much greater. 

This instillation is of Ramen Noodles. The purpose of this piece is to magnify the color, texture, and line of an object that is in our everyday lives and we are accustom to seeing. Lee puts this everyday object into a new light by showing many of them and from a new angle. 

The Ju Money piece was definitely my favorite at the exhibit. Even though there weren't a lot of pieces there I enjoyed how large and detailed each one was. It seemed that it took a lot to make this and like the Ramen Noodle piece, alone these pouches don't mean very much but once they are put together their meaning changes. I liked the way that it was hung from thin strings attached to the ceiling and that they all met at the top. I don't think it would have been as successful if they didn't all meet at one place on the ceiling. This point makes each individual piece really feel like one whole sculpture.

These two sculptures also interested me because of their location in the gallery. I found it to be very intriguing that they were placed on these ledges of various heights and that they only become noticeable as one walks up the steps to the next level of the gallery. The lighting from above was successful too and added to their uniqueness because the green walls were turned to different shades depending on where the light hit them. 

I found these two pieces to be particularly interesting because of how both three dimensional, common objects, and painting on the wall were used. Although the objects in this series had little to do with one another, they were brought together by their positioning in the middle of the colorful plaid pattern, and their stark white color. I think another thing that brought most of the objects together was that they were delicate items that seem almost childish and desired but not always had by many people. 

This is a view of the parking lot from the gallery. I thought that it was really nice that the river is visible from the gallery. It is hard to see from this picture but the window actually lets in a lot of light and opens up the space in a great, and much needed way.