Alpha Contemporary is proud to present Japanese and Korean Contemporary“Next”vol3. - Get Drunk -: Kanako Ohya and Ryung-jae Jung.

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This show is the 4th exhibition of Alpha Contemporary's opening commemorative series Korean Contemporary“Now”and“Next”.

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Korean Contemporary “Now” showcases the current Korean art scene by mid-careered Korean artists who are active in  both Korean and international arenas, while Korean Contemporary “Next” showcases works by Japanese and Korean artists of the same generation born in the late 1970s and 1980s as the next generation art scene.

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The French poet Charles Baudelaire (b. 1821, Charles Baudelaire) wrote in his famous prose poem "Get Drunk"  as follows: In order not to feel Time's horrid fardel bruise your shoulders, grinding you into the earth, get drunk and stay that way.

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This exhibition is inspired by Baudelaire's "Get Drunk".

 

Kanako Ohya is depicting girls immersed in daydreams and fantasies that seem to be happening in reality.  Her red and orange space not only functions as a dividing line between the viewer and the space within the painting, but also represents the space of the painting where reality and virtuality, fantasy and reality intertwine. Furthermore, this red and orange space represents a highly expressive space that evokes a sense of danger and anxiety in the daily life of intoxication, while also hinting at a strong desire for what is intoxicating. Daily stuff that is a mixture of reality and fiction reminds us of our private daydreams.

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Ryung-jae Jung's work features a direct relationship between jewelry and the human body through 3D printing and traditional metal crafting techniques, and the subject of movement. Thousands of chains are printed through digital replication in the form of indeterministic bundles. This is to provide the chance of ‘coincident luck’ that represents the perfection of the limitless possibility of choice, transformation, and adjustment; and to emphasize that a wearer shall only determine the form. After that, the bundle of elastic polyamide chain is worn by a person to complete the firm by sensitively reacting to the consistent movement of the body and the fluctuation of the gravity. The work shall be completed by the wearer, invoking a spiritual reaction of the audience to expand its meaning.

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His vibrant accessories that sway in response to even the smallest movements of body will give us the excitement of attending a special party.

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When we spend a fleeting moment in our very ordinary rooms, immersed in the trivial things of daily life and ourselves that make up those trivial things, and daydreaming about our desires, we are freed from the terrible burden of "time" that weighs on us. It's a happy time. We want you to ask yourselves, "Are you drunk by something right now?"

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Kanako Ohya graduated from Tokyo Zokei University, majoring in painting in 2006, and completed master's program at Tokyo University of the Arts, majoring in painting in 2006. In 2008, she won the Gunma Youth Biennale Grand Prize, and in 2009, she won the 28th Sompo Japan Art Foundation Selection Encouragement Exhibition Excellence Award. Her works are in the collections of major domestic institutions and organizations, including the Gunma Museum of Modern Art. ​

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Ryung-jae Jung is based in South Korea. He graduated from the Department of Metal Crafts at Korea National University (2016) and has participated in solo and group exhibitions and art fairs in Korea, Europe, America, China, Japan, Taiwan, etc. ​ He has won awards in the craft and jewelry categories from the United States, South Korea, Spain, and Italy, and his works are in the collections of major domestic and international institutions and organizations, including the Seoul Crafts Museum in South Korea and the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin.

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Get Drunk

Written by Charles Baudelaire

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Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
Get drunk and stay that way.
On what?
On  wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.
But get drunk.
And if you sometimes happen to wake up
on the porches of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the dismal loneliness of your own room,
your drunkenness gone or disappearing,
ask the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock,
ask everything that flees,
everything that groans
or rolls
or sings,
everything that speaks,
ask what time it is;
and the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock
will answer you:
"Time to get drunk!
Don't be martyred slaves of Time,
Get drunk!
Stay drunk!
On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"