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[Embassy Row] Arario Tycoon Spotlights UK’s Young Artists
By Reuben Staines
Contributing Writer
A collection of shocking, controversial and, in some cases, downright revolting art from the
United Kingdom is on display at Arario Gallery in Chonan, South Chungchong Province.
``British Contemporary’’ showcases works done mainly by members of conceptual art collective
the Young British Artists. The collection was purchased and assembled by Kim Chang-il,
chief executive of Arario business group.
Supported by the British Council, the collected works include plenty of the sort of gruesome
biological stuff you might expect from a group made famous by cross-sectioned cows exhibited
in tanks of formaldehyde.
Marc Quinn’s ``Self’’ is a cast of the artist's head filled with his own blood and
preserved in a coagulated state by a refrigerated glass case.
``Bad Miracle,’’ a hideously realistic wax study of obesity by John Isaacs, comes complete
with sores, warts and varicose veins.
Goh Yoo-mie, assistant director of communications and culture at the British Council, said she
hopes ``British Contemporary’’ will be the catalyst for further exhibitions introducing U.K.
art to the South Korean public.
She said Kim is a great friend of British contemporary art and has invested a large sum of
money building up an impressive collection.
``He is one of the biggest collectors of British contemporary art, and in the U.K. he is
considered the equivalent of Charles Saatchi overseas,’’ Goh explained, referring to the
advertising mogul who helped put the ``Britpack’’ in the media spotlight.
The Arario chief spent $2 million alone on the exhibition's centerpiece, a 3-meter-tall
painted bronze anatomical model by Damien Hirst called ``Hymn’’.
Also responsible for the abovementioned cattle dissection, Hirst is considered the leader of
the shock-art collective and was responsible for the organization of its first exhibition,
``Freeze,’’ in 1997.
Kim is an artist himself and held a solo exhibition at the Arario Gallery earlier this year.
Bankrolled by his transport and department store businesses, the tycoon has been a regular
at major international art fairs for the past 25 years.
The exhibit also includes Tracy Emin’s ``Remembering 1963,’’ an autobiographical
exploration in the form of a quilt, and ``Passion Cycle I-XXV,’’ a set of transparencies
based on Japanese erotica by Sam Taylor-Wood.
Gavin Turk, Antony Gormley, Gary Hume, Gilbert & George, and Jake and Dinos Chapman are also
represented.
The Arario Gallery was opened in 2002 as part of Kim’s department store complex, Yawoori.
For more information on the exhibition,
call the gallery on(041) 551-5100 or visit www.arariogallery.com.
reubenstaines@hotmail.com
Marc Quinn’s ‘Self’ is a cast of the artist’s head filled with his own blood and
preserved in a coagulated state by a refrigerated glass case.
‘Hymn,’ a 3-meter-tall painted bronze anatomical model by Damien Hirst, is the centerpiece
of an exhibition of British contemporary art on display at Arario Gallery in Chonan,
South Chungchong Province.
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