VIDEO ART ANALYSIS

Red Cabinet is a video installation created by Han Kyung Woo, a Korean artist.He graduated from Seoul National University with a BFA in sculpture and earned an MFA in Film, Video and New Media in Chicago. He was a multidisciplinary artist, active in combing sculpture, installation and multi-channel video. Like lots of modern art pieces which create a relationship with audiences, Han Kyung Woo also questions our reliability on perceptions and subconsciousness. Hence, his works always are meant for confusing audiences and dealing with illusions.

This work Red Cabinet was exhibited in solo in 2011. Its physical installation involves different colored-objects, varied in sizes, placed in different spots as well as a live-camera and a showing screen. The objects seem to be randomly displaced in the space. Nevertheless, when viewed on the screen, these objects form a two-dimensional image, similar to the old TV screen. When viewers walk between the physical installation, their bodies will also appear on the screen and become part of the video. As human figures appear on the screen, the dimensionality of the spaces between different colored-objects is also revealed. The two-dimensional image is deconstructed into separated pieces and its three-dimensional nature is shown.

In the Red Cabinet, the mismatch between the real physical subject and the display on the screen questions the authenticity of videos and images that humans see. The involvement of audiences makes this work to be changing continuously. Therefore, it is a work that is seemingly alive and corresponding to real times. Also, it is a very entertaining experience for audiences to be part of art themselves.

Also, audiences of Han Kyung Woo’s work are given the crucial role of revealing the installation themselves. When they stepped into the physical installation and saw the projection on the screen, they are forced to question their own eyes as a reliable source of absorbing information. It raised the doubt that can be applied to our everyday life. For example, the photos and videos we see might be deceptive. It can also be thought further as the doubt in the news and journals that we receive as facts. His work raised the awareness of the importance of questioning in everyday life.

The play with perceptions was always used by artists throughout the history of art. However, unlike the unconventional works by Han Kyung Woo which change the real world into a two-dimensional, seemingly fake space, lots of painters in the past actually try to use the painting to imitate the real object and space. The well-known technique of this kind is called Trompe L’oiel. It is a style in which artists depict the object and scenery with three-dimensionality and photographic realistic details on a flat surface. It also has the intention of tricking viewers. However, the value between real and unreal is reserved between these works in the past and work by Han Kyung Woo.