Lady Dior as Seen by in Seoul

The art gallery in the House of Dior boutique in Seoul is playing host to the opening of the exhibition Lady Dior As Seen By, which has given contemporary artists carte blanche to deliver their own vision of the emblematic House bag. This edition welcomes four new works, by Korean artists Ran Hwang, Choi Jeong Hwa, Wan Lee and Soo Sunny Park.

The fourth floor of the majestic House of Dior boutique, designed by the French architect Christian de Portzamparc, is home to the art gallery currently welcoming the traveling exhibition Lady Dior As Seen By. The pure space with its white walls and blond parquet floor is showcasing works by some of the biggest international names in contemporary art, with each revisiting the Lady Dior in his or her own way.

Olympia Scarry has produced a bag emerging from a block of marble, Jean-Baptiste Mondino passes it through an x-ray machine, Peter Lindbergh is represented by a photographic work, joining works by many other names already present in the exhibition’s previous incarnations.  For this new edition, Korean artists enjoy a special focus, with three sculptures and a photograph. Inspired by the timeless character of the Lady Dior, and by its capacity for endless reinvention, Ran Hwang employed her own special technique, using buttons, beads and pins to evoke landscapes and flowering trees.

Choi Jeong Hwa, in turn, revisited the cannage motif that covers the bag: using metal with accentuated relief work, he creates unexpected optical effects. This emblematic criss-cross pattern is also the focus of Soo Sunny Park’s piece. The artist has reinvented it according to constructivist logic, the fragmented cannage being infinitely reflected in a mirrored and plexiglass box. Lastly, a photograph by Wan Lee places the Lady Dior in a vision of contemporary Korean womanhood.