Lee exhibits ramen noodles

Sang-Wook Lee’s exhibit, “Ramen Noodles,” is on display at Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery until Friday, Feb. 13. There was an opening reception on Thursday, Jan. 8, complete with a gallery talk by Lee.
Lee, an art professor at Georgia College & State University, received a bachelor of arts degree in fabric design from Dong-A University in Korea. He has also earned fine arts degrees in fiber arts from both Dong-A University and the University of Georgia.
All of the works in his “Ramen Noodles” exhibit were made mainly out of cotton and glue; however, in some of the displays, he uses wire inside hidden frames. Some of his works took less than a month to complete, while some took him almost a whole semester.
He was inspired to do this exhibit by his love for ramen noodles.
“I used to eat them a lot,” Lee said.
“Ramen Noodles” portrays the act of bringing different cultures to America. “I am bringing my South Korean culture here,” Lee said. Among Lee’s central concerns are the “exploration of the unique qualities of materials and the developing of the forms that best utilize these qualities.”
Many South Koreans believe that if one eats numerous noodles, one will achieve longevity. To illustrate this belief, Lee composed a work that has extremely long “ramen noodles” hanging to the ground. The long noodles represent a desire for a longer life.
“Ramen Wall” is the largest of his works displayed, made with cotton string and white glue. The front of it depicts packaged ramen noodles before they are cooked and are still compact. The other side shows what the noodles look like after they are cooked, complete with looser strings.
Lee’s eight-year-old son inspired him to do one of his works. “My son is picky about food colors,” Lee said. “Why should color make a difference?”
Numerous small framed works resembling ramen noodles of different colors and yarn weights reference the intertwining of cultures representative of a multicultural discourse. By making these “ramen noodles” varied, Lee presents different colors, symbolizing different countries, to America. The white noodles are very fine and more compact, representing Japanese culture. The red noodles represent American culture and reminds Lee of America’s love for spaghetti. The yellow noodles represent Indian culture, while a looser, beige display of noodles represents Korean culture.
Another one of Lee’s installations consists of noodles overflowing a red wheelbarrow. Once, when Lee was eating ramen noodles, the noodles spilled out of the bowl, which gave him the idea for this work. The wheelbarrow is reminiscent of the wheelbarrows he once used.
Professor Lee’s exhibit is “visually seductive and humorous,” Richard Lou, chair of GC&SU’s art department said. “His exhibit was a great way to wind down the first week of school.”
“I will never look at ramen the same,” Kirsi Norris, one of Lee’s students, said. ” I always thought ramen was just an easy thing to cook away from home, but now ramen has a new meaning to me.”
Lee encourages students, faculty, staff and community members to attend the exhibit. Lee said there is no particular age group he had in mind when working on this exhibit. He wants everyone to benefit from it.
The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Blackbridge Gallery will be open to display “Ramen Noodles” 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the GC&SU Art Department and Arts Unlimited. For more information, call 478-445-4572.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 16 2004. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry