FUMIO YAMAZAKI

Photography is often mistakenly considered a medium destined to capture the reality as it is. Koo Seoung-Youn's photography diverges from this expectation; she deals with artificial reality with her meticulous craftsmanship and inventive technique. Koo presents series of still lifes, arranging collections of minute objects to form recognizable likeness of new objects. d 01 & d 02 (Lot 2521) and c 03 (Lot 2522) belong to the most recent candies series that the artist began in 2009. In these works, Koo carefully sculpts colourful, artificially-made candies into the exquisite likeness of blossoming peonies. Deceptively simple, these seductive and colourful compositions serve as a metaphor for our times, an investigation into the place of traditional Korean values in the contemporary era. In Korean culture, the peony flower is highly symbolic. It represents the gentle, graceful ideal of Korean women and the general hope for materialistic prosperity. By dressing the peony in artificially-colored candies, symbolizing the ever-changing fashions and materialistic desires that characterize capitalist society, Koo seems to be reflecting on the fragility of hopes and traditions, perpetually threatened by new, modern trends. Her works reflect her educational background of Indian philosophy and photography, while displaying a visual charm of photos, embed an underlying theme that calls for deep contemplation.