Jukhee Kwon

The World of Extraordinary Objects has just opened at the October Gallery.

www.octobergallery.co.uk

http://theworldofextraordinaryobjects.eventbrite.co.uk

I went to the private view and then again to the artists' talk.

Jukhee Kwon's 'Red Presence' book sculpture caught my attention. It was created by cutting up the printed pages of an abandoned book and spraying the strands of paper red and arranging it in a conical form like a ballgown. The red dress refers back to her childhood.........

 images supplied by October Gallery

Kwon explained during her talk how she moved from working in 2D to 3D when
she started experimenting with found objects like tree branches, sand and glue. She then went on to study MA Book Art at Camberwell College of Art where she used the book as material. Very old books attract her because she sees them as personal objects which have been owned by other people. She collects such books from second hand shops and sets about making them into new art objects.

By breaking the linear order of the text inside the book she creates disorder and a new story. She cuts the text out of the book line by line to make the most wonderful sculptures where the paper looked like cobwebs or lace.  It was brilliant to see photographs of her altered books displayed in libraries where the text was suspended in an aisle between two book shelves, or in another shot it was cascading down a staircase or coming out of the ceiling.

The lines of text in the cut up books can still be read and so the viewer can create their own story. When asked about whether it is right to cut up books  Kwon replied that she destroys to create and in so creating she transforms.
In each of her book sculptures she tries to go beyond the contents and the title and makes a work that interacts with its surrounding space.