21c AGP  The Fourth Activity

ArtMessenger - The experiences and the communications of art in cyberspaces

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Beginning of the story _ Visual music Jung Bong Won 

Society on a Sushi Conveyor Belt

 The conveyer belt in the movie Modern Times was often used as a symbol for the mechanized and standardized human life in industrialized society. The streets, junctions, escalators and elevators of modern cities were also codified with the same meaning as the conveyor belt. Artist Kuimi You delves into this symbolic meaning of the conveyor belt. She reads modern urban life and traits of human life embedded in the diversely colorful sushi dishes on a sushi conveyor belt. Her work revolves around ‘sushi;’ she personifies sushi to display various scenes. According to her, the sushi appearing on the screen – including among others egg sushi, salmon sushi, and tuna sushi - are incarnations of different characters, all with different traits. As sushi in a rotating sushi restaurant is priced according to the color of its dish, the value of the various types of sushi shown on screen is predetermined. Kuimi uses this concept of predetermined value as a medium for communicating the various scenes reflecting human society. However, she does not utilize sushi simply as a vehicle for criticizing society, but to express snapshots of modern society with humor and wit. For example, the work <Romance on the riverside drive> paints the busy scene of riverside drive using sushi on a conveyor belt. The myriad cars on the street are represented with different types of sushi, the bridge becomes chopsticks, the mountain is a side of fish, and Yeoui-island is depicted as a sushi dish. Kuimi changed the competitive race of modern urban life into a sumptuous landscape of sushi. invokes the sweetness of sushi to illuminate the moonlit cityscape as endearing and beautiful.

Kuimi also fills her paintings with Korean tradition. <The Day of peace>, , are the major examples. Inspired by the Joseon Dynasty-era 8-fold screen documentary painting 華城陵幸圖),1795> which depicts King Jeongjo visiting his father Prince Sadoseja’s grave, she tells varied stories of modern society. She expresses in sushi images from traditional documentary paintings, including <Nangnamhunbangbangdo(洛南軒放榜圖)> in which the passing candidates of the civil service exam are announced, and <Seojangdaesungjodo(西將臺城操圖)> which depicts training soldiers. The work <The Day of peace> is a satire of the scene of modern college entrance examinations, manifest in the form of civil service examinations from the Joseon Dynasty. There are hanging banners at the entrance of the examination hall with various dishes drawn on them. Mothers are praying. A late student laments that he is not permitted to enter. On either side, there are flags from top private academic institutes and prestigious high schools. Eel and mackerel sushi, which seem to be soldiers, are holding various tools for punishment. Soldiers in the front are holding bows and arrows to prevent cheating, and there is spicy soy sauce ready for interrogation purposes. Outside the palace, to the north, a landscape of teary-eyed fish heads is spread out, as if to communicate the tears shed in the vicious war for college acceptance. a depiction of 西將臺城操圖)>, portrays the process of military enlistment and training. The water clock, sundial, and hourglass in the work metaphorically show the mandatory 2-year period of military service in Korea. There are two eggs in the king’s palace; the work shows the slightly lonely yet charming scene of the eggs being left after the cuckoo has left the nest. <Safety first> depicts the more irrational side of modern society, including various crimes, political fights, absurdity, arson, and floods, that occur despite the safety institutions ostensibly in place. Kuimi also expresses through her kitchen series diverse social issues such as religion and education, beauty pageants and terror, and crime. She portrays through these works the images of people who subordinate themselves to social power, and those who control it.