Galerie Steph and AndrewShire Gallery are proud to give Korean artist Chu Mirim her first Singapore solo exhibition. <www. the world we live in> brings to life the bizarre graphic world of the Internet through silkscreen, ink, needlework and paint on paper and canvas. The artist will be transforming the space at Galerie Steph with a site-specific installation, which seamlessly ties over 20 works together.

Despite our constant usage of digital technology, many of us remain blissfully unaware of the system of signs and numbers that enable visual information to be realised as if it were real. It was as a visual designer in 2002 that Chu first became fascinated by pixels and how complicated images on electronic screens are in fact made up of a multitude of individually controlled dots. Continuing to use pixels as a visual element in her work, Chu recreates the whimsy, eccentricity and insanity of our lives in the online world.

And it is these dots that animate the virtual world we inhabit. We go online to seek delight, pleasure and humour, and to give vent to anger and sorrow. There was a period of time when Chu was so immersed in the virtual world she could not escape it. To alleviate the loneliness she felt while studying fine art at École des Beaux-Arts de Versailles in France from 2006 to 2008, she chose to communicate with people through the Internet, forging closer relationships online than in the flesh. So as soon as she turned the computer off, the real world she returned to felt isolated and strange. It is this constant oscillation between the abundant, whimsical, anything-goes world of the web and the empty, isolating, estranged world of reality that she aims to capture in her work.

Aside from exhibiting across various venues in Korea, Chu has also collaborated with GAP, K-Swiss, ABSOLUT Vodka, UNIQLO, Converse and belif – companies and brands which appeal to the younger generation attuned to the Internet.

-Galerie Steph

Image: © Chu Mirim