HIDDEN SPACE – OUTER AND INNER CIRCLES

Hidden Space Gallery and Café is indeed hidden. In Samcheong-dong, its entrance is down a laneway and around the back of a small wooden building. It’s modeled on, or perhaps is, a traditional Korean house with an open space in the centre. In that space is a small stand of bamboo with a tiny fish pond (merely a bowl) in front of it. On a branch of bamboo hangs a tiny (wooden?) trapeze with two birds perched on it—a work by the gallery owner, artist Jae Young, Kim, who is clearly fond of birds. (Look and listen at www.jaeyoungkim.com). On one side of the space is the gallery, a lovely and well-lighted room; across from it there’s a small café, entered from the smaller shop at one end.

To see some lovely pictures of the Gallery go to: http://blog.naver.com/ahnsk730/140106638543

We visited Hidden Space last Wednesday evening, transported there in a coach laid on by the International Office at Sookmyung. The occasion was the opening of Outer Circles Inner Circles, an exhibition of work by Stephen Bottomley, also teaching here this summer. Stephen is Head of the Department of Jewellery & Silversmithing at the Edinburgh College of Art, and the owner of that camera we envy.

One of Stephen's pieces displayed at Hidden Space Gallery (my photo)

Stephen's work is complex and beautiful, modeled on patterns taken from the textiles of Venetian, Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949). I love the way the patterns in his pieces shift, catching and distributing light. In his catalogue Tech-tile Stephen mentions the connections among jewellery, fashion, and the body. Looking at the pieces, particularly his “Star Necklace” and its shadows, I found myself imagining the shimmer and movement of fabric and necklace reflecting and enhancing the walking body, and imagining too the pleasure of wearing such fabrics and jewellery.

Stephen's "Star Necklace" displayed at Hidden Space (my photos)