Narcissism
266 West 37th Street
Money, strength, and power becomes the judge of one’s happiness and success. This is why New York is one of the toughest and loneliest cities to be in. The best way to survive in New York is to be in love with yourself and immerse in yourself. When you look at people in New York, they appear happy, but a lot of people that I have encountered are actually very lonely and unhappy. Time spent in here goes quickly. There is no time to think about others. At times, this is why it is hard to connect with someone else. Naturally, one has to rely on him or herself again to survive. The expressions on the pig head sculptures mimic the fake happiness of the smiles that I see. The pigs have their eyes closed while laughing, which is intended to reflect the disconnect between actual happiness and the laughs that you see.
The New Yorker engaged in narcissism is a theme to which I feel a special kinship. The reason I identity with the narcissitic New Yorker is simple; I, too, am a narcissistic New Yorker.
Artist Bio:
Seunghwui Koo creates her works by drawing inspiration from the daily happenings and intricate moments of her life in New York City. Her work is a commentary on the lives of New Yorkers as she has witnessed them. She was born in South Korea, where she first had the idea of combining the pig’s head and human body. The significance of the pig’s head lies in the different symbolic meanings from the Eastern and Western cultures. Good fortune (Eastern) and greed (Western), two very different connotations of the pig, are themes that are a part of her works. She has drawn upon her experiences from living in New York City as the source of her subject matter for seven years . She uses resin, acrylic, plaster, clay, and mixed media to create her works.
