| Sóu-Lí, the Korean word for “sound,” is the theme for an exhibition presented by the School of Visual Arts and the SVA Korean Alumni Association, which includes works by 48 alumni from South Korea. Our aim in “Sóu-Lí/Sound” is to challenge viewers’ preconceptions and inspire them to explore their inner worlds with a renewed sense of wonder. “Sóu-Lí/Sound” also provided an opportunity for the participating artists to expand their horizons, and I am honored to have served both as their guide and messenger in my role as a curator. I am also proud that I could show my own work alongside theirs. |  |
Sóu-Lí/Sound – Curator Jong Yuen Ahn
Sóu-Lí, the Korean word for “sound,” is the theme for an exhibition presented by the School of Visual Arts and the SVA Korean Alumni Association, which includes works by 48 alumni from South Korea. Our aim in “Sóu-Lí/Sound” is to challenge viewers’ preconceptions and inspire them to explore their inner worlds with a renewed sense of wonder. “Sóu-Lí/Sound” also provided an opportunity for the participating artists to expand their horizons, and I am honored to have served both as their guide and messenger in my role as a curator. I am also proud that I could show my own work alongside theirs.
All things in the world have their own Sóu-Lí. Higher frequency sound emanates from the heavens, human range frequency is produced within the realm of human activity and lower frequency sound—sound produced by nature—comes from the earth. Sóu-Lí can also be understood subjectively. With this understanding, the participating artists have brought sound into the visual arena with their individual expressions of it.
Sóu-Lí was chosen as a theme for the SVA exhibition as a means of linking together the different media to be represented: fine arts, photography, illustration, design and computer art. There are abstract and figurative works in two and three dimensions. In addition, the exhibition embraces a diversity of attitudes held by a unique community of artists, each of whom has experienced eastern and western cultures.
A major source of Sóu-Lí that connects us, the artists, is our multilingual background; we speak our mother tongue, Korean. We are familiar with Chinese because of historical influences and cultural connections and we have used English as part of our education in the U.S. The Sóu-Lí of language represents rhythm, emphasis, tone and more. These elements are essential to communication and we look back on the past through sound in language and the sound in nature. As a result, the artworks on view reflect both cultural and cross-cultural relationships and draw out the complexities of life in the 21st Century.
The exhibition at SVA is housed in three contiguous gallery spaces. One room is dedicated to Sóu-Lí of a higher-than-human frequency, the adjoining room contains the frequency in the human range and the lower-than-human frequency occupies the third room. Some of the works offer recognizable scenes of life in Korea; there are images of historic landmarks as well as urban streets. Other works depict landscapes or natural phenomena that might be found anywhere. Together, the works in the exhibition make up a conceptual exploration of sound as understood by a unique bi-cultural community of artists.
Objects in space can communicate spiritual being, life in society and cultural identity. As I have written elsewhere, “In this time of anguish/Through a small window/Finding a landscape/Deep inside of me/The meaning of my life may awaken.”
Born in Mil-Yang, South Korea, and based in Kyunggi-do, outside Seoul, Jong Yuen Ahn is a sculptor and alumnus (MFA 1992 Fine Arts) of New York’s School of Visual Arts. For the last 15 years she has experimented with wood, crystal, aluminum and most recently, stainless steel mirrors, to create three-dimensional installations. The pervading themes of most of this work have been water and light in various forms. Ahn has participated in solo and group exhibitions in New York, Paris and Tokyo as well as in her native Korea. Her website is www.ahnjongyuen.com.
