To commemorate the third anniversary of Suwon Museum of Art Space Gwanggyo, Suwon Museum of Art (Director Kim Jin-yeop) presents《OUR SET : OURLABOUR X OSANG GWON》, a collaborative exhibition between artist Gwon Osang and the creative group OUR LABOR, on view from February 25 to May 22.

《OUR SET : OURLABOUR X OSANG GWON》is the result of a collaboration between Gwon Osang and OURLABOUR. Consisting of nine distinct sets, the exhibition combines Gwon's experimental inversion of the concepts of photography and sculpture with OUR LABOR's spatial structures and theatrical staging, creating scenes that resemble a large-scale film or photography set.

SET 1 recreates the atmosphere of a motor show showcase, featuring The Sculpture 3 (2005–2015) and The Sculpture 4 (2005–2015), works modeled after the iconic supercars Ferrari Enzo and Bugatti Veyron. Although the surfaces of the sculptures retain the artist's hand-crafted irregularities, they are displayed on black carpeting rather than conventional pedestals, encouraging viewers to perceive them as contemporary luxury objects.

SET 2 presents key works from Gwon's renowned photographic sculpture series ‘Deodorant Type’, including Neptune (2013) and Ruby Nike Bape (2012). Combined with OURLABOUR's dramatic and unconventional lighting design, the installation evokes the atmosphere of a fashion runway.
 
SET 3 features Reclining Man Drinking (2016), another work from the ‘Deodorant Type’ series. Placed upon a pedestal made of pink insulation foam fabricated by OURLABOUR, the figure appears like a model posing for a camera shutter, simultaneously embodying photography's two-dimensional qualities and sculpture's three-dimensional presence.
 
SET 4 showcases Red Shirt and Whistle, Calder's Circus (2018), Gwon's homage to the mobiles of American sculptor Alexander Calder. Rejecting the traditional sculptural emphasis on volume and mass, the work consists of enlarged flat forms suspended from the ceiling and hovering near the floor, inviting close viewing while proposing a new way for sculpture to occupy space.

SET 5 revisits A Trip To Another Joyful Place (2020), originally installed in a department store display window during the winter of 2020 and reimagined in collaboration with OURLABOUR for this exhibition. Through lighting that accentuates both the work's dimensionality and flatness, along with scenic elements that evoke the excitement of travel, visitors encounter aspects of the work that were previously hidden from view behind the storefront glass.
 
SET 6 presents works from ‘The Flat’, a series rooted in Gwon's belief that “even a small piece of paper can be sculpture if it occupies space and can stand on its own.” Featuring works such as The Flat 16, 17, 18 (2006), the series appropriates images from fashion magazines, advertisements for jewelry and watches, design publications, and interior magazines, proposing new possibilities for sculptural expression through expanded subjects and materials.

SET 7 displays New Structure 17 (2017), a three-dimensional realization of a collage originally conceived as a flat composition. Installed against a vivid green backdrop reminiscent of a chroma key screen, the work emphasizes the fluid relationship between image and object.

SET 8 introduces ‘Small Structure’ (2017–2021), a series developed from Gwon's desire to create sculptures that can be held and appreciated by hand. Ninety-nine miniature cars are arranged within a tower-like structure, recalling the storage towers used by automobile manufacturers. The vehicles are scaled to approximately 1:43 and are modeled after cars that have appeared in the legendary “24 Hours of Le Mans”, one of the world's three most prestigious endurance races.

SET 9, the final section of the exhibition, presents works from the ‘Relief‘series. Constructed by stacking image-bearing wooden panels on birch supports, these works resemble collages in sculptural form. By layering unrelated images into unified compositions, the series creates distinctive visual atmospheres that are further enhanced through OURLABOUR's spatial intervention, resulting in installations that themselves resemble large-scale collages.
 
Kim Jin-yeop, Director of Suwon Museum of Art, remarked, “《OUR SET : OURLABOUR X OSANG GWON》serves as an opportunity to rethink the relationships between artist, museum, and audience. We hope visitors will experience contemporary art from multiple perspectives within this ‘shared set,’ conceived as a new space of connection and solidarity.”
 
Bringing together photography, sculpture, and space to create environments reminiscent of a film set, the exhibition expands conventional modes of exhibition viewing through the distinctive visual language of contemporary art. Admission is free, and the exhibition is on view at Suwon Museum of Art Space Gwanggyo from February 25 through May 22.

References

• 《OUR SET : OURLABOUR X OSANG GWON》