To mark its 10th anniversary, the Suwon Museum of Art is presenting the special exhibition 《For Everyone: Chocolate, Lemonade, and a Party》. While museum exhibitions may feel engaging and enjoyable to some, they can appear unfamiliar or difficult to others. This exhibition was conceived as an attempt to shed the solemnity and opacity often associated with museums.

Among the participating artists, Dahoon Nam draws attention to the economic attributes of artworks commonly regarded as masterpieces through ‘MoMA from TEMU ‘(2024). He reconstructs high-priced canonical works from art history using inexpensive mass-produced goods purchased from stores such as Daiso, Temu, Coupang, and IKEA, as well as discarded everyday materials.

In doing so, he exposes the gap between the intrinsic value of art and the economic value assigned to it by the market. By stripping away the myth of art as something “noble and sublime” or “the pinnacle of intellectual creation,” Nam asks what, exactly, determines the monetary value of an artwork.


 
Mark Rothko’s Color-Field Abstraction, Recreated with Sponge Scrubbers

Mark Rothko is a leading figure of Abstract Expressionism, and his works possess immense market value—one of his paintings was auctioned for 100.2 billion KRW. Nam playfully recreates Rothko’s Untitled using a three-pack of double-sided sponge scrubbers purchased from Daiso. By employing inexpensive everyday materials, this work highlights the disparity between the cost of materials and the price of art, twisting the illusion of value produced by the label “masterpiece.”

The Colors of the American Flag and Nurungji-Flavored Candy

Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s Untitled (USA Today) is an installation in which viewers are invited to take candies, gradually causing the work to disappear. The candies—red, blue, and silver—evoke the colors of the American flag, while the title references USA Today, a daily newspaper known for presenting news in an accessible format and, by extension, for symbolizing America itself.

Through these candies, Gonzalez-Torres raises questions about consumption, disappearance, and national identity. Nam reconstructs this work using Korean red ginseng candies and nurungji-flavored candies, preserving the emotional tenor of the original while introducing a distinctly Korean element that lends the work renewed freshness.

Donald Judd Completed with “As-Is” IKEA Shelves

Donald Judd, a key figure of Minimalism, broke away from traditional handcrafted painting and sculpture by realizing art through industrial production. He did not fabricate his works himself but had them manufactured in factories, approaching art as structure rather than emotion.

To reinterpret Judd’s Untitled, Nam repeatedly installs IKEA shelves in the exhibition space without even removing their packaging. This approach follows Judd’s pursuit of “objectivity” and “impersonality,” while simultaneously revealing a mechanized mode of artistic reproduction through the direct use of mass-produced brand products.

Brillo Logos Painted on Chungha and Bibim-myeon Boxes

Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box meticulously reproduces real detergent boxes using silkscreen techniques. By bringing everyday, mass-consumed products into the realm of art, Warhol dismantled the boundary between high art and popular culture. Nam responds by creating a Korean version of the Brillo box: he overlays the Brillo logo onto boxes labeled with Korean brands such as Chungha soju and Bibim-myeon noodles. In doing so, he extends Warhol’s enduring question—“What is art?”—into the context of contemporary Korean consumer culture.

Mirror-Like Desire, Reborn as a Styrofoam Rabbit

Beyond ‘MoMA from TEMU’, Nam’s works appear throughout the exhibition. Jeff Koons’s Rabbit, a silver rabbit sculpture made of stainless steel, symbolizes both modern innocence and desire. Its mirror-like surface reflects the viewer, revealing a constant desire for attention.

Nam recreates this work using Styrofoam and aluminum foil. Instead of a perfectly smooth surface, the uneven texture remains visible. This imperfection satirizes the exaggerated desire embodied by the original’s gleaming surface, while simultaneously dismantling the authority of the masterpiece through everyday materials.

‘MoMA from TEMU’ goes beyond simple parody to pose a challenge to the authority of art institutions and the structures of capital. “Why is art art?” “Does price equal value?” “Why is the work you are looking at important?” The project raises questions about the mythologization and commodification of art, offering approachable responses through familiar objects such as sponge scrubbers, red ginseng candy, Chungha boxes, and IKEA shelves.

This exhibition—where critical inquiry and play coexist—comes highly recommended for a visit.

References

• 《MoMA from TEMU》)