How are our lives shaped by a rapidly changing urban environment? Korean artist Min Joonhong‘s multimedia works seek to answer this question.
His assemblages, which have been shown in London, Seoul, and Milan, are often large enough to fill entire galleries. With such size, it comes as something of a surprise that his central London studio, housed in a nondescript office building, is so small. “Here I work on scaled-down versions of my concepts, so I can familiarize myself with how they’ll be pieced together,” he explains. “This helps me work quickly once I’m in the actual space.” Each sculpture is created on location and customized according to the amount of space available.
日新月异的城市环境，究竟是如何塑造我们的生活的？对此，韩国艺术家 Min Joonhong 通过自己的作品以进行探讨，目前已经在伦敦、首尔和米兰展出。
组合艺术作品往往有着非常可观的体积，常常会占满整个画廊。但 Joonhong 的工作室却位于伦敦市中心里一栋普通办公楼里的小房间，实在让人意外。Joonhong 说，“我会先在这里将概念做成缩小版本的作品，熟悉一下各部分是如何拼凑在一起的。这有助于我到了实际场地时能更快完成作品。”每件作品都是他在展出场地上完成的，依据可用空间大小进行定制创作。
Efficiency and discipline are fundamental to Min’s creative process. He sticks to a rigid work schedule he sets for himself every day. Even outside his working hours, he says he spends much of his free time thinking about how to improve his art.
This incessant self-reflection carries over to the thematics of his works. Min looks to “uncomfortable memories” for inspiration and says that the best way to harness the anxiety and alienation of modern urban life is to channel them toward art. By reimagining the city environment, Min explores what’s left out in contemporary urban society.
Joonhong 创作的基础，源于效率和自律。他严格遵循自己订下的工作日程，在工作时间之外，也用很多时间以琢磨改进自己的艺术创作。
这种不断的自我反省，同样反映在他的作品主题上。Joonhong 说自己会从那些“不愉快的记忆”里寻找灵感，在他看来，驾驭现代城市生活中的焦虑和孤立感，最好的方式就是在艺术中寻找出口。从城市的角度来看，他正在建构一个如今城市化社会其遗漏部分的叙述作品。
Min’s vertical sculptures are designed to resemble a futuristic skyline. Yet his interest in the urban environment is also visible in his choice of materials. From broken furniture to discarded packaging, he scavenges random objects from London’s streets, reassembling them to create model high rises and skyscrapers.
Finding new uses for these left-behind items is his way of engaging with the past, just as building elaborate cityscapes is his way of embracing the future. As cities around the world continue to reinvent themselves, Min’s work invites us to consider how yesterday’s discarded junk can help us imagine the world of tomorrow.
Joonhong 对城市环境的兴趣，也体现在他所选择的材料中。他从破碎的家具到被丢弃的包装，他将自己从伦敦的街道上搜罗到的物品，重新组装成高楼和摩天大楼的模型，这样的垂直雕塑模拟着城市的天际线。
如果说，为这些被人们所遗弃的物品寻找新的用途是他与过去打交道的方式，那么，组装精致的城市建筑模型则是他拥抱未来的方式。随着城市向着“明日世界”这个目标不断建设，Joonhong 的作品恰恰是在邀请观众思考：属于昨日的物品究竟是如何被不断丢弃和回收的呢？
