[𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧] NANAN'S LONG LONG TIME FLOWER Public Sculpture ARCHIVES EXHIBITION

Graffiti is known as street art. When I first encountered Nanan's work, I thought of graffiti.

It wasn't just his technique, but his background that made him so. This means he was taking a different path from so-called studio art. The nature of his work and the naturalism of artifacts are reminiscent of this context.

Aesthetics and art are different. Nanan's path seems to be moving towards something, a return and cycle from the aesthetic to the artistic. This requires consideration of the close relationship with the contemporary situation.

Nanan's work is a flower. But flowers of nature and flowers of art are different.

The aesthetics of nature and the aesthetics of art. Indeed, this distinction is only possible if it presupposes another conceptual distinction: the distinction between nature and art.

However, our thesis is that this conceptual distinction is not necessary to explain the typical features of aesthetic experience.

These are laws that must be understood as being completely inherent in the creation of the effects or products we call nature. Therefore, within the conceptual context of nature, actions that represent the dynamics of the process can be translated as having an effect.

If so, the appropriate context for nature is one of efficiency. In the aesthetics that connects nature, artificiality, and art, Nanan breathes this rhetoric with the public.

Flowers are beautiful. They are symbols of beauty. Flowers are a key element in Nana's communication with the public. However, in contemporary aesthetics, beauty has faded from its direct object. This means that its aesthetic status has been weakened.

At this time, Nanan's flower shows a new path.

"We can no longer establish a universal 'order' in the world. Many people feel we have too much freedom. So they long for a powerful figure who can authoritatively tell them what's wrong.

"If we examine the concept of beauty fundamentally, it lies in the vibrant tension between freedom and communication. From this emerges a vibrant order, which, on the one hand, stems from the emotions of those involved, but on the other, aims for an ideal. This ideal, however, is not the abstract content of positive law or the law, but develops within the valuable relationships of people." (Carl Brunner) When beauty is presented as a symbol representing authority, the loss of that authority signifies the loss of beauty. Therefore, aesthetic allegory, rather than the symbol of beauty, has become the mood of our time. Simply put, the artistic characteristics of individuality, rather than truth, goodness, and beauty, hold more influence.

At this point, Nanan's position is unique. In our geopolitical aesthetics, the symbol of flowers intuitively evokes "comfort." It can be considered a kind of purification, a catharsis, offered by aesthetic experience. While it may seem bland because it doesn't presuppose any climax or catastrophe, the exclusion of such provocative elements maintains a sense of tranquility. The truth, existence, and sensibility of aesthetics have now shifted to camp, kitsch, and pop. And gender is at the core of this.

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*Excerpt from critic Kim Byeong-su (President of the Korean Art Critics Association)'s "Flowers: Rebellion of the Masses or Aesthetics"

Location, Opening Date: APOproject ( 25 Seobinggo-ro 71-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul) / 30.NOV - 28.DEC.2024