Wearable Foods: The Art of Yeonju Sung Part II

{fig. 1 & 2} Earthly Paradise: Displaced Realities at Art-Merge LAB in the Pacific Design Center {fig. 4} fox print dress by Deyrolle Pour Opening Ceremony, necklace & bracelet by Elena Estaun {fig. 5} the artist herself on the left- Yeonju Sung with a gallery-goer {fig. 6} seaweed dress {fig. 7 & 8} Sarah's umbrella brooch and scarf combo, Sarah poses in a Victorian inspired ensemble

Things you hear in an art gallery? Go! "After you finished creating this did you make soup out of it?" You know it isn't a typical gallery show when the question burning on people's minds is "did you make soup?" Remember that post I made earlier raving about the art of Korean artiste extraordinaire Yeonju Sung and her decadent Wearable Foods? As luck would have it her exhibit has conveniently just opened in Los Angeles! I attended the opening reception of her newest exhibit entitled "Earthly Paradise: Displaced Realities" and met the lovely artist herself, who was in town all the way from Korea!

My sidekick for the evening was my fabulous friend Sarah, who wore an amazing Victorian-inspired ensemble. Love the scarf and umbrella brooch! Seeing the large prints of Sung's Wearable Foods in person left us both completely awe-struck. Sung has said of her work, “photography has a power to make us believe. Still, my work is an illusion.” The illusion, the draping and feminine curves she manages to create with burdock roots, seaweed, and cabbage, of all things is absolutely phenomenal and couture worthy. I left the gallery wanting a little dress made of chives, and envisioning a displaced reality of the purely organic. Just think, a world where everyone lives off the land, grows their own food, makes their own clothing from food, and at the end of the day nothing is wasted and nothing is permanent. The perfect metaphor for the Buddhist concept of the transience of life. Inner peace, Nirvana, is only achieved through acceptance of that transience and letting go of the material.

Check out Yeonju Sung's Earthly Paradise: Displaced Realities running until July 13th at Art- Merge LAB at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. For more info, see here.