A Seoul-based Korean artist, Osang Gwon. With taking detailed pictures of a person and gluing a great number of photos together to make a life size sculpture as 3D, he challenges to deconstruct the traditional notion of sculptures.

He will unveil new structures in New York in September and publish a book for upcoming exhibition in Shanghai in November. I had an interview to him about his previous series and latest solo exhibition at Arario Gallery.

© Osang Gwon

Firstly, could you please introduce yourself?

I live in Seoul and mostly fabricate sculptures.

“River” 2015, 1,450 x 1,000 x 760 mm, C-print, Mixed media

About your a life size sculpture with glued pictures, when did you think up the special idea?

I first started to make a “Deodorant Type” (Photo-sculpture) in 1998 while I was in a collage. I would like to deconstruct the traditional notion of sculptures. I rather fabricate an easy sculpture that I can start right a way. I thought of a photographic paper as a medium.

“Aztec Pattern” 2013, 2,170 x 1,350 x 830 mm, C-print, Mixed media

What have you selected for your works as a motif? I think, as a whole, your motif seems contemporary.

Yes, it is contemporary objects. I was born and grew up in a city, so there is a sense of metropolitan. I recently find the objects from the classical sculptures in museums.

“Bologna” 2013, 3,040 x 1,110 x 980 mm, C-print, Mixed media, TEMENGGONG Artists in Residence, Singapore

Does it deodorant something as the name or work; “Deodorant Type”?

Deodorant slightly changes the smell of sweat or body odor. The medium of my works are originally photographs but it becomes a three dimensional sculptures. It is also a title of my first solo exhibition. I entitled it as a technology in the photography like Daguerreotype or Ambrotype.