Artist Nancy Lang’s latest performance
Published: 07 Apr. 2005, 21:57
Last year, when the 26-year-old Korean-born artist, who goes by her new name, Nancy Lang, organized one of her art projects, it was in the form of a dance party at a trendy bar in southern Seoul. In an attempt to reflect women’s power in Korean society, the artist, wearing only a chinchilla fur coat and a pair of stiletto heels, danced with a group of young male models. At the climax, she dropped two things to the floor ― the fur coat, which revealed a set of aqua underwear covering her petite body, and a black briefcase that scattered fake 10,000 won bills.
Ms. Lang is back to provoke the minds of the curious at a new Cheongdam-dong gallery this month.
The exhibition, “Nancy Lang: Taboo Yogini Series,” opens today to showcase 25 mixed-media paintings. According to the artist, they are like mythological spiritual messengers between gods and humans. The new variation on these semi-god-like bodies shown at Gallery Demain includes cutouts of various objects, ranging from animal parts to machines and Louis Vuitton bags.
A graduate of Hongik University and Graduate School, Ms. Lang first achieved minor international fame in 2003 when she invited herself to the Venice Biennale and played the violin wearing nothing but white kabuki makeup and red Victoria’s Secret lingerie.
More shockingly entertaining shows followed at the Seoul Arts Center, where she appeared in a bikini and sang along to a karaoke machine. It was her expression of art to raise questions about the validity of pop media today.
At 7 p.m. tonight at Gallery Demain’s opening party, Ms. Lang is not providing her guests with another spectacle, but rather it is a launching event for her own magazine, titled “Magazine Nancy Lang.”
“The project is another creative art work,” she said. “The magazine contains everything about Nancy Lang. It will be non-periodical, and to publish it I created a media group called ‘Nancy Lang & Taboo Yogini Media Group.’”
Only 550 copies of the magazine will be printed, and it will be sold at the gallery for 10,000 won ($10) a copy.
The magazine will feature a comprehensive catalogue of her “Taboo Yogini” works, her past performances and her interviews with various professionals in Korea.
Asked what she would do with the money she raised, she said, “It will pay for the production cost [of the magazine].”
by Ines Cho
The exhibit “Nancy Lang: Taboo Yogini Series” runs until May 4. Gallery Demain, near Cheongdam Sageori (junction) in southern Seoul, is open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily except Sundays. For information, visit www.demain.co.kr or call 02-543-8485.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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