Viewing Koo Jeong A [ YONG DONG ]

For the ninth exhibition at Pilar Corrias’ Savile Row space, the contemporary art gallery is turning the lens on Korean artist Koo Jeong A. Building on their interest in questioning the boundaries of fact and fiction, reality and the imagine, Koo’s latest work is focused on a red, three-headed eagle, a play on a familiar South Korean amulet that is worn to ward off evil spirits (the exhibition title means ‘face of the east’ in Korean).

Koo found themselves drawn to the motif during the lockdowns, inspired by the concept of a migratory bird who lives unrestricted. A symbol of freedom, lightness and strength, the bird represents all that we craved for in the height of the pandemic. In Koo’s compositions, however, the bird is almost monstrous — in fact, it’s depicted perched on a rocky landscape inspired by Hakdong Park and Dosan Daero in Seoul, which are known for being an area where golden eagles feast on carcasses. With the bold yellow and red colour palette, the viewer is left to draw their own conclusions on the symbolism that the three-headed eagle represents.

Other highlights of the exhibition include new works from the Seven Stars series, dynamic, geometric hand-drawn depictions of red stars converging and colliding on the page — an exploration of the connectivity between the earthly and metaphysical or spiritual worlds.