韩国：MJ肖像展（组图）

MkGenie · 发表于 2009-1-11 14:18:18

Donghyun Son’s King: Michael Jackson Portraits

展览名：王（KING）
画家： Donghyun Son

前段时间，一个并为“王”（King）的展览在韩国首尔举办，其中的画作都是韩国画家孙东贤绘制的“流行之王”迈克尔·杰克逊（Michael Jackson）肖像。

孙东贤说，1989年是迈克尔·杰克逊事业的转折点，那时伊丽莎白·泰勒（Elizabeth Taylor）把他称作“流行、摇滚和灵歌之王”。杰克逊就这样成为了王，由娱乐世界的女王加冕。孙东贤这次是把杰克逊看作1960年-2000年半个世纪大众文化的代表，杰克逊自己也是一面反映时代的和鲜活历史的镜子。除了在这个系列的肖像上下工夫外，孙东贤也在杰克逊的每张座椅上下了功夫。

“我们现在回顾迈克尔·杰克逊的原因不是因为他打破记录或制造丑闻，而是因为他的音乐展现了流行音乐如何与时尚、录影、态度和甚至科学相融合。如今，杰克逊被看作一个悲剧的明星，曾经光耀世界，但很快沉沦。但很大一群年轻人，依然在追随着迈克尔·杰克逊在大众文化中的登基之路。就如历史一样，迈克尔·杰克逊的历史也会在大众文化的历史中一而再再而三地重复。”

走进画廊，参观者可以看到迈克尔·杰克逊的孩提时代，直到他成为大众文化的国王或偶像。从这些图象中，这个被看做是流行文化的伟大国王却又被大众抛弃的人，孙东贤说他想让参观者们有机会反思我们在这个时代里所遭遇的各种问题和情感。

（迈克尔·杰克逊中文网 by Keen 2009年1月11日）

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While this show at Gallery2 in Seoul, Korea has already closed, Donghyun Son’s work deserves a look.

“The show, titled KING, is filled with portrayals of Michael Jackson, done in portraiture. The artist says a turning point in Michael Jackson’s career was the year 1989, when Elizabeth Taylor called him the ‘king of pop, rock and soul’ at the award ceremony for Artist of the Decade. It was then Jackson became a king, coronated by a queen of the entertainment world; this is poignant, considering that in 1989 kings of social rank no longer existed.”

A couple favorites and more explanation after the jump

Even when toddling, Michael Jackson was loved for his beautiful voice. Since then, he has ceaselessly changed himself, longing for more love from the public, and has changed his attitude toward music and the world. As such, his appearance has transformed also. He got lost in these excessive changes and eventually misled himself. On second thought, considering that he has pursued the public’s desire only, his transformed appearance is simply a mirror reflecting their twisted desire.”

Unlike his previous work addressing each character, these recent works unfold a longer narrative with only portraits of Michael Jackson. Son seems to consider Michael Jackson a sole figure who represents a half-century history of mass culture from 1960 to 2000. Jackson himself is a mirror reflecting an age and a living history, inspiring a new era. In KING series, the artist attempts a new change in many ways, employing new themes and subject matter. While in his previous work Son alluded to an irony in which the signifier clashes with the signified, in this series he highlights portraiture itself. Another eye-catching object in his work is the chair Jackson is seated on. Michael Jackson in his work sits on a chair in costumes and poses we probably saw on his music albums or in videos. Classified into two styles, the chairs stand for a turning point in which Jackson referred to himself as a king.

Since then, his stage action and costumes gradually became more authoritative, as if to show the dignity of a king. In Son’s portraits Michael Jackson before 1989 was seated on a chair with a tiger-skin cushion while his appearance after 1989 was seated on a red royal chair. Upon closer examination, Michael Jackson whose skin is still dark sits on a chair with stripes in a slanted position. He seems to sing a song over the microphone or sits in a dignified mien with his arms folded. After he became a king, Jackson whose skin completely changed into that of a white man sits on a king’s chair with golden details on a red background in a supremely confident attitude.

“The reason why we look back on Michael Jackson now is not because he is either a record breaker or a scandal maker but because his music shows how popular music has met fashion, video, attitude, and even science. Nowadays, Michael Jackson is regarded as a tragic star who shined the world for a while but soon falls down. A large number of youngsters, however, strive to take the ‘trail of becoming a king in mass culture’ Michael Jackson carved. As all history did, the history of Michael Jackson will repeat again and again in the history of mass culture.”

Entering the gallery, viewers may experience a time travel going back to Michael Jackson’s childhood days when he debuted as a black kid from his heyday as a king or an icon of mass culture. Through the images of Michael Jackson who was considered a great king of mass culture and discarded by the public, Donghyun Son provides viewers with an opportunity to think over once again a wide variety of issues and feelings we face in our times.