Meltdown wine glasses reminiscent of Dali’s paintings

Artist Kim Ji-won, 53, who has displayed meltdown wine glasses and bottles for the past years, will exhibit her artwork at Kim Chong Yung Museum in downtown Seoul until April 22. This year, she has been selected as “Today’s Artist,” which has been annually awarded by the museum since 2004.

She piled wine glasses and bottles in a frame in a kiln and added the heat of 650 to 700 degrees Celsius and melt them down. The structural art of a wine glass being poured by another wine glass, which appears to be hardened after being melt, is reminiscent of Salvador Dali’s paintings.

“The artist frankly expressed her realistic impression on materials, bucking against the trend where artworks and exhibitions wrapped with ostentatious concepts overflow,” said Park Chun-ho, curator of Kim Chong Yung Museum.

Samiru, a cafe in the museum, does not sell wine but offers wine with the corkage fee of 15,000 won (13.62 U.S. dollars) per bottle. I recommend enjoying wine after looking around the exhibition with a light heart, without being too serious about art and daily lives. Not looking serious does not mean not being intense.

sohn@donga.com