Briefly Gorgeous
Collecting across eras and disciplines, Briefly Gorgeous created a striking visual dialogue in Seoul’s Songwon Art Center by pairing international luminaries like David Hockney, Alexander Calder, Scott Kahn, and Yayoi Kusama with dynamic works by emerging talents including Se Oh, Yoora Lee, Hilde Lynn Helphenstein, and Susan Chen . The exhibition felt like a curated meditation on beauty’s fleeting nature—where bold abstraction, surreal landscapes, and figurative innovation coexisted in elegant tension.
What resonated most was the exhibition’s commitment to transience: cinematic oil paintings glowed beside reflective mobiles and porcelain forms that evoked fragility and identity. Works such as Se Oh’s fluid porcelain sculptures and Yoora Lee’s pastel-hued glitch-inspired paintings created emotional counterpoints to the historical anchor pieces—invoking nostalgia, impermanence, and reinvention. Their presence alongside Hockney’s flower series and Calder’s airy mobiles made every placement feel intentional and charged.
Ultimately, Briefly Gorgeous succeeded in guiding viewers through a thematic arc that honored both legacy and youthful vision. By showcasing art that wrestles with identity, temporality, and cultural echo, the exhibition offered a powerful reflection: beauty is momentary, and our appreciation of it is shaped by revelation, memory, and personal awareness. It was a quietly influential experience—timely, thought‑provoking, and beautifully balanced.
