00:00Hi, we're Shower Gallery and we're from Seoul.
00:03And this is our director, Guan Su Xin, and Peter Lee, who is the gallery manager.
00:09And they are both gallerists and art handlers and technicians who form a very unique community
00:15in our city.
00:21Hi, my name is Katie.
00:23I'm booth girl at Shower.
00:25Shower is a gallery based in Seoul run by artists, technicians, and laborers who help
00:30produce boundary-pushing works for emerging artists.
00:34This year, it's our second year at Lista Art Fair, and we're presenting Ruofan Chen.
00:41She's an artist based in Shanghai.
00:43Her work is about working with various laborers and construction workers and the various ambient
00:51toxins and environments that they are exposed to.
00:55Her work is called Counterweight, which is an installation created and produced in collaboration
01:02with Shower Gallery.
01:05This huge installation of plywood is actually supported by a very thin stack of layers of
01:14wood veneers, and she's thinking about this precarious architecture and also the working conditions
01:21of laborers that participated in the art fair itself.
01:25And I can show you one of the most important parts of this work is actually very behind, in
01:35the corners of this installation, and below you can actually see really thin layers of wood veneers
01:42that are supporting the structure.
01:44And this is almost like a tangible element that you can see where she's taking these elements
01:52such as dust that accumulate in your body without knowing until it has irreversible harm.
01:57So, in fact, these layers show this type of accumulation, the little things that build up in your body to
02:07have a force that it supports this entire structure as such.
02:12And actually, one of the most amazing things about Ruofan's work is that it's architectural
02:17and the large scale is a looming presence in the room, but also there are very delicate moments
02:24that she's trying to convey through her work.
02:27So, these paintings, they in fact mimic scratches of discarded plywood, and it's an oil painting on one side,
02:44and there's very delicate moments of patchwork inside the painting itself.
02:51So, she's thinking about these paintings almost as skin.
02:55Something that looks solid at first discarded, an industrial material, but it feels like a permeable surface, almost like the
03:05body, just as we assume the toxins and various dust and environment things within the fabrication environment.
03:36So, even though these little windows seem like solid plywood, they're in fact permeable surfaces, and it's a very important
03:42element.
03:42And it's made of very delicate silk organza, and they're paintings that mimic the surface of scratched plywood that you
03:51can find lying around in factories.
03:53So, it's important for the artist to make sure we look at the things that we have overlooked, and that
04:01the little things could actually have various effects of systemic harm.
04:16The work serves both as an installation, but also these pieces are acquirable individually, and in fact they're paintings that
04:25we have created a special frame where you can see both sides of the painting fixed on the wall as
04:31well.
04:31And then...
04:34And then...
04:34And then...
04:58And then...
05:01And then...
05:04...
05:29I would like to add the discussion around here...
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