SEOUL, KOREA – The year of the black snake has returned after sixty years. The snake has been deeply entrenched in human culture, frequently being mentioned in myths, legends, and folktales. Having fierce eyes, gross body, and being poisonous, snakes have naturally brought humans fear and unpleasant feelings along with negative views. At the same time, snakes have been recognized as a symbol of guardian gods in history, and have built up positive images with regularity and glamour of their epidermal pattern. As such, snakes have developed an ambivalence of worship and exclusion. They crouch under the ground as still as death throughout the winter, adapting to nature, and them boldly transform themselves by shedding their skin to continue to grow. Arts under such themes are being exhibited by “Pink Buddha”, a project artist group comprised of six Korean members, with the topic of “A snake sheds its skin in spring” at the Galleryhanok (galleryhanok.blog.me) located in the Hanok village (Gahoe-dong) from January 11 to 20.
The exhibition aims at interpreting one topic from the Buddhist perspective, and attempting to regain a sense of true Buddhist meaning and not perfunctory shedding of the religious arts. The art of ‘Ecdysis’ created by Myung-ah Lee, shows that we, human, have a tendency of shedding everything to evolve, and that Buddha is the image of ourselves who are newly born in spring. Lee is currently working for Balenciaga in Paris, France and majored in Art history at Paris IV. Sorbonne. Lee also worked at the Foundation Pierre Bergé et Yves Saint Laurent in Paris.
