Museumhead presents a two-person exhibition “Pluto” by Kim Juree and An Gyungsu, until January 25 next year. Kim Juree and An Gyungsu, who work in painting and sculpture respectively, have consistently focused on the themes of "death" and "vanishing life" as they manifest in various forms within the urban landscape. In this exhibition, the two artists confront the crumbling and erasing aspects of everyday objects through tangible "membranes" and "substances."

The exhibition “Pluto” evokes the contradiction of contemporary cities that exclude and turn away from death. It hypothesizes a scene within the exhibition that takes on the form of a "tomb." Through the use of membranes, blocks, substances, and volume, this scene proposes a reflection on the ordinariness of death and the finiteness of life.

Kim Juree (b. 1980), who has previously used the transformative qualities of soil as a metaphor to reveal the death and vitality of decomposing places over time, presents new works that involve firing, compacting, and molding the same material.

By solidifying previous traces of decay and disappearance, she materializes and redefines their forms, extracting a sense of permanence from impermanence. This process extends beyond mere sculptural completion, involving an intense interplay of body and consciousness. In her work, time, material, memory, and oblivion intersect within a sharper, more enduring framework.

On the other hand, An Gyungsu (b. 1975) "repaints" specific scenes or objects in this exhibition. Here, "repainting" is not merely an act of erasure or overwriting but a re-inscription of lingering records. Known for his ongoing documentation of the redevelopment areas in Bogwang-dong through painting, An brings a different space into the gallery—a "kindergarten and flower shop" from Bogwang-dong, carefully recreated on one side of the exhibition space.

Together, their works encourage a reevaluation of disappearance, inviting viewers to reflect on both internal and external entities and their eventual fading. In this exhibition, the "tomb" symbolizes not biological death but the paradox of a "living death" and a "dead life." It becomes a mediating space that counters the urban logic of rejecting and concealing death, instead embodying a place that transcends the deficiencies of today’s life.

“Pluto”
2024.11.21 – 2025.01.25
Tue-Sat 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Museumhead
84-3, Gyedong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.