Revisiting art history through assumed personas.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Iris Moon A bearded Jesus, a delicately swathed concubine, and a small child are just some of the personas that artist Kwon Yeo-hyun has assumed in the collaborative paintings featured in his current solo exhibition at Savina Museum. Yet none of these alter egos are apparent when the quite ordinary Kwon speaks on the philosophical implications behind his strange works, which show a parallel world to the art history that most people are familiar with. "I made this realization one day that Descartes' notion of 'I think therefore I am' was wrong. It's your relationship and interaction with others and society that determines your persona, and that too continues to shift depending on who you are interacting with," said Kwon in an interview at Savina. This process of socialization is reflected in the methods he uses to create his paintings. Working with art students at Kookmin University, where Kwon is a professor, the team chose masterpieces from Asian and Western art history, such as Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and Da Vinci's "The Last Supper." After researching the poses of each individual in the paintings, the students would be ...