‘in dialogue’

Bac Ho Un & Ellie Geary
21.05-04.06.2016

Space One presents Bac Ho Un (South Korea) and Ellie Geary (UK) ‘in dialogue’. Each of the artists is given a space and a fifteen-day duration to freely interact and create a dialogue within the surrounding space. With the action of 'cutting' as the common medium to communicate, Geary and Bac examine social and cultural issues affecting contemporary society. Using the interplay of visual and text elements via mixed media installation, they frame particular issues as a metaphor to project wider, universal concerns. The exhibition project further experiments with the exhibition making process itself: Geary begins with an empty space gradually filling it to completion as Bac begins in a full space gradually emptying to completion.

Bac Ho Un uses visual quotations of the spoken language from his home country, South Korea. His work deals with public issues and brings to light society’s contradictions and constraints. Bac is interested in the present; he appropriates images and texts from mass media, protest picket and Internet bulletin boards to create artworks that are in part reality and in part fiction.

“The pen is mightier than the sword.” This expression is often used to emphasize the importance or power of writing or speech. More often than not, however, this is not the case. Often the right words are suppressed by power, while the wrong words are fulfilled by the support of power. So this expression carries a certain meaning, because it is not reality but an ideal. Pen doesn't symbolize righteousness. It is simply a tool for those who have no sword. In addition, the sword doesn't symbolize violence either. The pen cheats. It writes, “The pen is mightier than the sword." over and over again. The pen and the sword are intertwined. If one unravels, the other tangles. This is the story of the infinite conflict.” (Bac Ho Un)

Ellie Geary uses a visual language expressed through imagery sourced from her surroundings. Geary’s work has a nostalgic quality; she creates day-to-day encounters with multiple meanings and possibilities using disparate pieces of paper. Her works mostly deal with issues of social culture, habit and gesture.

“Seeking inspiration from the city of Seoul and details from the local environment of Space One, I intend to capture an essence of the city which increases in intensity over the course of the exhibition project. I will be juxtaposing British print material brought from home with that sourced in Seoul, with a focus on the presence of nature in the built environment and how we exist within these spaces. I start with four collections in labeled envelopes: Nature; Body; Built environment; Colours” (Ellie Geary)  

Both Geary and Bac open up and address the dialogue to the public. Geary directly interacts with the viewers throughout the exhibition and Bac indirectly addresses the public contained in his installation and text. The viewers experience both the process and interaction of two artists from two diverse backgrounds progressing in complementary and contradictory approaches to Space One’s unique fifty-year-old spatial elements.

Artist Intro:

Bac Ho Un received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. in painting at Seoul National University in 2005 and 2014. He is living and working in Seoul. The artist has participated in several solo and group exhibitions including solo show 2015 Linguistic Crack, CEAAC, Strasbourg, France; 2012 Malicious Comments, woosuk hall, Seoul, Korea; group show 2016 Now Watching, CEAAC, Strasbourg, France; 2015 Intro, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art(MMCA), Seoul, Korea; 2012 Art Factory Project, Rice Granary, Janghang-eup, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea and also worked as a coplanner for the exhibition 《Black Out》 in 2012 which was held in abandoned swimming pool. He has completed his Goyang residency run by MMCA and CEAAC recently.

Ellie Geary (U.K. b.1988) is a visual artist from the East Midlands, currently based in London. She attended Nottingham Trent University, graduating with a BA (1st class Hons) in Fine Art in 2010. Her work has been shown in exhibitions: Why Don’t You Paint Flowers? (Harts Lane Studios, 2015); Art on a Postcard (Soho Revue, 2015); The Scars are Not Just Skin Deep (The Cob Gallery, 2014); Against Oblivion (London Metropolitan University, 2013). In 2013 Ellie Geary co-founded and directed the collaborative Splitpin Projects with artist-photographer Jessy Boon Cowler. Projects include South London Goes to the Seaside (The Viking Gallery, Margate 2014); Art in the Crypt (Camberwell Crypt, London 2013-14); and a promotional video for fashion company Terrible Movement (2013) Geary has recently created work for charities Acid Survivors Trust International and The Hepatitis C Trust. Her work is housed in private collections across the United Kingdom, Europe and the USA.