Keep Calm and Give a Shit introduces the paintings and animations of four artists, Hun Kyu Kim, SOON.EASY, Tala Madani, and Wong Ping, are gaining attention in the domestic and international art scene with their cuteness and familiarity. The common point among these four artists is their ability to capture the audience's attention through cute characters, comic elements, and techniques and that they tell stories about various social issues through imaginative, fairytale-like images and satirical wordplay.
The canvases and screens, which depict characters and events from refined comics or animations, seem to remind us of the LCD frames of media that we gaze at all day. The subjects and images in each work are also filled with familiar imagery that feels like something we've seen somewhere before, whether through various repetitive feeds on our mobile devices or well-known memes. However, these familiar images and characters do not simply remain cute. They embody the sharp sense of humor and insightful interpretation of the four artists regarding the acute issues that surround us here and now - including the Ukrainian war, political problems in Hong Kong, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and media, surveillance symbolized by panopticon, and ideologies. As such, they demand active engagement from the audience in their interpretation. The narratives that traverse excessive narratives and broad topics in the paintings of Hun Kyu Kim and SOON.EASY and the stories depicted in Wong Ping's animations that resemble his own diary are similar to stories about the absurdities of our daily life and the world around us. These stories concocted by the artists feel as if they are our own experiences because the artists delve into universal themes to such an extent. Moreover, as we lead similar lives in an information-driven city, rather than experiencing the world firsthand, we perceive the world through symbols and images that have been edited and reconstructed beyond the glass screens, as evident in the artists’ works. Tala Madani sharply exposes in "Fan" how we rely entirely on the constant feed of unreliable information. Madani states, "We need art that triggers shifts in consciousness and new ideas, rather than art like morphine that weakens reality with beauty or alleviates pain.
At this juncture, the art we need should be cute and familiar, presented smoothly without any aversion, yet above all, it should be art capable of revitalizing our paralyzed perception, like our sense of smell during the pandemic. Through this exhibition, the hope is for the viewers to contemplate whether, like the artists, they construct their daily lives with a sensitive perspective that reflects their own thoughts and emotions or if they are inundated with indiscriminate assaults of superficial images and information. The hope is to become more sensitive and connected to the present "here and now" of life.