Gwangju International Center

Brian Hunter's GIC Talk review about "Artist Talk" -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Written by_Seungbum Kim

Editted by_Carleigh Loster

For the third week of November the GIC had Brian Hunter come talk about his personal exhibition, “Carpe Nightem”. While he is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, he frequently moved from town to town as a child because his father was in the air-force. Hunter studied Fine Arts at Concordia University in Quebec. He has shown his work extensively in Europe and Canada and 2010 marked the first time he showed his work in Asia. His lecture was divided into two parts; 20 minutes of background and history of his previous works, and 40 minutes at the Kunsthalle, where he gave a tour of his exhibition. He wanted to create a fun exhibition that celebrated creation and experimentation, and therefore chose the made-up title “Carpe Nightem” because he felt it embodied what he was trying to express in his work. It’s a take on the overly used Latin saying “Carpe Diem”, or seize the day. He wanted to create a show about seizing the night. He views the night as much more fun and mysterious, and believes that at night people become more vulnerable and open themselves up to new things and experiences. He also wanted to create a body of work that was outside of his comfort zone, so he tried to break a lot of his rules that he had previously set and let himself follow his inspiration. He wanted viewers to experience these feelings of vulnerability and exploration when they visited his exhibition. He has felt very inspired since he started making this new body of work in Korea. Accessing different kinds of materials has been difficult in Korea, and he has had to completely change his way of working as many things he previous relied on are unavailable. Since he tries to use a variety of materials in each piece, this has motivated him to try many new things and to take advantage of exploring different materials unique to Korea. There are many works that instantly attract our attention, especially on the main floor, where large, creative and unique works using interesting materials were on display. First is the large placard, on which he has wildly written across his show’s phrase, “Carpe Nightem”. For this piece, Hunter involves the viewer by giving us a glimpse of how he creates his pieces. We see that he has used a rabbit costume as a paintbrush for this piece which he then leaves lying on the floor, portraying a possibly violent aspect. Second is a pink igloo that is made of many inflatable pink mattresses. The title of this piece is “You Know Best”. The igloo has a small entrance, and only Hunter and one other visitor are allowed to experience this piece at a time. Within the igloo, the viewer sits inside a tee-pee and watches a short video. Viewers become part of the piece when they see themselves speaking in the video, even though they are only passively watching. This kind of personal interaction really engages the viewer. Lastly on the first floor are two large robotic animals, suspended in the air above single mattresses. This piece may evoke feelings of a mother and child relationship, where by the animal (mother) looks after the visitor (child) as they lie beneath. The work breaks the general notion of people playing with pets to pets playing with people. Even more was to be seen on the second floor, where Hunter exhibited three more interactive pieces and numerous 3-d paintings. The piece “Slow Push/Pushed” allowed the public to interact and influence the movements of past images of themselves, and proved to be very popular. The use of many different materials in the paintings created a sense of intrigue and curiosity in the viewer, as the materials created something almost sculptural. Overall this lecture was very enjoyable. Specifically, the greatest reward of this talk was the chance to experience many great works of art. Brian Hunter’s exhibition helped me to better understand the concept of art; that art is not always difficult, and that we can appreciate it like many other things in life if we open ourselves to it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GIC Talk volunteers write a review of the lecture in English. GIC hope this review would be useful for the people who missed the prior GIC Talk or who are interested in the lecture or getting new knowledge. Also, if you are iterested in being a volunteer or giving a lecture, please do no hesitate to contact us. Thank you so much.