Revelation - Jungki Beak

DOOSAN Gallery New York is pleased to announce Jungki Beak’s solo exhibition “Revelation.” Beak is one of the artists participating in DOOSAN Residency program from the latter part of 2015. Referring to a secret being revealed, “Revelation” stands for both exposure, as well as the revelation of a god. 

This exhibition will comprise of a total of nine works including Vaseline Helmet and Armour (2007), a series of photographs using Vaseline as its subject matter; Pray for Rain: Mhamid (2008), a video work, and Pray for Rain (2015), an installation piece, both based on rain rituals; and Untitled: Egg Incubator and Candle (2015). 

Vaseline Helmet and Armour (2007) series takes its content from the psychological as well as physical pain caused by burn injuries from the artist’s childhood fire accident. People in the photographs are wearing helmets and armour made of Vaseline. It symbolizes the life giving and healing properties of water, as the artist used Vaseline to moisturize and treat his wounds.

Pray for Rain: Mhamid (2008) captures the artist performing a rain ceremony in the Sahara Desert, using a salamander made with Vaseline.

According to Asian folk religion, if the people of a nation did not follow their god’s will and angered him, he withdrew rain. To overcome this, ancient people used a dragon or a salamander, which symbolizes water, to perform a rain ceremony, or had a shaman to perform a rite of revelation. Pray for Rain: Mhamid (2008) expands on the artist’s personal experience and refers to the suffering caused by lack of water in our contemporary society.  

In the installation Pray for Rain (2015), soil is applied on the wall then the artist applies Vaseline to smooth out the gaps. It represents a desire to go back to a time of wholeness, before cracks and fissure. This work emphasizes the Asian outlook in nature of the circular quality of creation, as well as the belief in water as a spiritual force

The magnum opus of this exhibition Untitled: Egg Incubator and Candle (2015) involves hatching an egg using candles and electricity through the duration of the show. This piece reveals that Eastern thought and science, which is the root of modern Western thinking, is not inherently different in its goals, and by joining them, we may get closer to reaching a universal truth.