《Desire and Anesthesia》, a solo exhibition of Kyungah Ham was initiated from the artist’s response to the incongruity between the place and the collections and stink of hypocrisy behind the superficial elegance she felt when she visited world-renowned museums. The exhibition unfolds to disclose the duplicity of the museum where the human history of desire for power and materials is disguised in the name of art. It pinpoints the irony that looting and violence committed by the political mega-power of the past is connived.

Museum Display and Switched Stolen Objects make mention of the museum. The showcase on the second floor is the museum itself and reproduces exactly how the museum displays their work. We can find odd sets of cups, saucers and teaspoons and ornaments, nothing but trivial everyday objects. In fact, these objects are the collections from the artist’s theft, over a long period of time, from the cafés and hotel rooms where she traveled around the world.

In the same context, Switched Stolen Objects consists of texts and photos that describes experiences of her stealing and switching objects. Her texts are set in parallel with those of world-famous museums, representing how the museums have acquired some specific artworks. Relocated objects out of their original place become new and unfamiliar in a new context. This work questions the transfer of ownership and context.

Meanwhile, following the classic Dutch still life painting, Steal Life Series is a series of photographs various meticulously-arranged objects on a table. During the 17th century, through the Reformation and a series of wars, the Dutch faced a downfall of the previous ruling class and a rise of the middle-class and successful mercantile. Moreover, the aggressive overseas expansion led to colonization and vigorous international trading consequently, the Dutch reached the golden age of culture and economy.

Confidence backed up by the prosperity of the time and the pursuit of material abundance was well expressed in the still life paintings that featured rare foreign goods imported from overseas or the spoils of colonization. Kyungah Ham noticed the backdrop of the times and captured her own straightforward approach to stolen works. The works imply not a still life but a thing stolen and switched by human desire.

References

• 《욕망과 마취 (Desire and Anesthesia)》