The Alcove Gallery is located in the Bay Village neighborhood of Boston on the corner of Arlington and Melrose Street. The gallery features contemporary work by emerging and local artists in and around the Boston area. On occasion, there will be exhibitions with work from national and international artists. The Alcove is an accessible and intimate space where artists can connect their work with the greater community. Our exhibitions change monthly and will open with a reception on the first Saturday of each month. The Alcove Gallery also offers evening classes for some creative and casual art making.
Upcoming Exhibition
Fact & Fiction
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 5th from 6:00-9:00pm
May 5-26, 2012
“Fact is concealed within fiction.
Fiction is but a shadow of fact”
I am pleased to exhibit ‘Mannequin Series in Germany’. This is my second series that will be held just a year after my thesis show with ‘Mannequin Series in Italy’. I tried to describe the reality of humans in modern society through fictitious lives of mannequins found commonly in show windows. I depicted human beings through the inanimate mannequins, helplessly stuck in their own solitary world.
All of the ideas in my paintings are from my experience as a foreigner in the States, in Europe, and even in Korea. I realized that my own existence was like that of a mannequin. I stood by myself, staring out into the world. Perhaps my existence resembled the person staring into lines and lines of mannequins as well. Though I am alive and animate, the people that I saw seemed inanimate, stuck in their solitary worlds, just like the mannequins stuck within glass cubes. The mannequins depicted in these paintings are my own visage, as well as yours. I live in the same physical world as the rest of you, and yet the world I live in differs significantly from that of yours. I am faced with solitude, just as you are. Solitude is different from loneliness. Through solitude, we are able to face our own inner souls and its needs. Are we experiencing solitude or are we simply alone? These, to me, are the important questions that define whether we belong in the "factual" world or in the "fictional" world.
My paintings are frequently depicted as 'Hopper-esque paintings'. Hopper may have been the most influential artist on my work, however, I do not look to simulate his use of color or his brush technique. What I like about his work is the effective use of light and shadow, theme, and story-telling, as well as his use of geometric design in a painting. Like Hopper, my paintings resonate with the emotional themes of solitude, loneliness, regret, boredom and resignation. However, while Hopper looks at interaction among humans, I illustrate this through the use of mannequins in my work.
-Youngsheen A. Jhe