Yeonsoo Chee likes small spaces — they focus the mind, make it harder to be distracted, she says. Good thing, because for the last four years, Chee has been working with a space about the size of a cramped two-bedroom condo. It might be easy for a visitor to the Art institute of Chicago to overlook.
Yeonsoo Chee hopes you won’t. It’s the museum’s first gallery dedicated solely to Korean arts — works from the permanent collection (as well as some on loan), dating from from the 5th century to the present. Chee and the museum couldn’t have picked a better time — with Seoul now a global center for contemporary art, not to mention the West’s increased fascination with Korean TV shows, music and more.
“I hope that people will actually come and see not just the contemporary, glitzy K-pop culture, but before that, (understand that) there is such a beautiful long history of Korean art and culture that they can discover,” Chee said. You won’t want to rush through the space. A number of the objects in the gallery don’t so much dazzle, as intrigue — tempting the visitor to peer closer, perhaps at an intricately fashioned bronze case intended to carry miniature Buddhist scriptures.
Look closely, and you’ll see a tiny lock fashioned into the shape of a turtle. There are, given Korea’s proximity to China and Japan, lots of ceramic pieces, with familiar dragon and floral motifs. And while visitors will likely recognize the pale jade glaze of the Celadon pottery,.
