Lot 1030: KIM DONG YOO

KIM DONG YOO
(B. 1965)
Marilyn Monroe vs. Marilyn Monroe
signed 'KDY' in English; dated '08' (side of canvas)
oil on canvas
227 x 180.5 cm. (89 3/8 x 71 in.)
Painted in 2008

Seoul, Korea, Leehwaik Gallery, Kim Dong Yoo, 21 May-10 June 2009.

Leehwaik Gallery, Kim Dong Yoo , Seoul, Korea, 2009 (illustrated, unpaged).

Inspired by semiotic theory, Kim Dong Yoo appropriates widely recognized images of celebrity and historical figures in his paintings, coyly manipulating them through a tightly formulated method to challenge viewers' stereotyped perceptions of these personae. In Marilyn Monroe vs. Marilyn Monroe (Lot 1030), Kim skillfully makes use of numerous different head shots of Monroe, groups and systematically repeats them throughout the painting to create a monumental portrait of the celebrity. Executed in monotonic patches of grey-black, the canvas resembles that of a pixelated image, in which every miniature portrait functions as a distinct modular unit, its finite details only visible upon close inspection, but indispensable to the construction of the overarching image. With impeccable brushwork, Kim carefully controls the brightness of each micro-portrait based on its relative position to build the final conglomerate, creating a shimmering and painterly effect that vividly creates stereoscopic depth and expressively conveys a moving sensation, as if light illuminates within each brushstroke, bestowing an impression of a swift succession of images reminiscent of motion pictures. The colossal image of Monroe appears, disappears, and then reappears as the viewing distance shifts, inviting viewers to a game of hide and seek while providing a new metamorphic aesthetic vocabulary to the mundane image.

Kim's mathematically precise assemblage and painstakingly laborious technique parody the mystification of celebrity figures by the media. In this painting, Monroe is rendered in her trademark expression, her eyes half closed, lips parted, her head provocatively arched. These idiosyncratic traits are signifiers that have been associated with the sexual allure and seduction to unequivocally construct Monroe as an archetypical sex symbol. The underpinning ideology of this correlation between Monroe and sexual suggestiveness is the mythical paradigm promoted by mass media, dictating how celebrities are produced, how their images are consumed, flagrantly packaging them into sellable products, and strategically endowing them with characteristics capable of evoking public attention and idolization. In return, their images are consumed through tactfully constructed products, embracing the standards they embody, ironically supporting the media of its manipulation.

By rendering Monroe with an orderly repeated assemblage akin to her mass media image, Kim poignantly launches a critique of the mutually dependent relationship between media and society. In Kim's portrayal, Monroe is no longer an object exploited by the media, nor a sexual symbol heavily consumed by society, but a device solely for the purpose of artistic creation. The artist delivers through his deliberate mimicry of cliche images, a double negative that challenges the heavily invested iconography of Monroe, and by doing so, empties the character of her imposed connotations, presenting her with a fresh new perspective that welcomes different extrapolations. For example, one can view the arrangement of microscopic images as artist's intentional avoidance of direct expression, just as another can interpret the same mechanism as author's creative choice of vehicle free of any formally conceived theory. The impact of his painting is therefore not only visual, but also cognitive and psychological, as it presents an unacquainted rendition of a once familiar icon, demanding a subverted re-examination and novel interpretation of the familiar image.