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A.i.A. Guide
Chinese Artist Huang Yongyu Designs Controversial Year of the Rabbit Stamp
Sin and Symmetry: An Interview with Kyung-Me
By Mira Dayal
Mira Dayal
More Stories by Mira
Kyung-Me, The Marriage, 2022, pen and charcoal on paper, 32 by 47 ½ inches. Photo Dario Lasagni
A rigorous sense of order rules the drawings in New York–based artist Kyung-Me's first solo exhibition at Bureau, on the Lower East Side. Mirrors, columns, curtains, room dividers, spotlights, and frieze-like elements form geometrical divisions in the symmetrical compositions, each nearly three feet tall by four feet wide. The scenes are set in two spaces meant to evoke otherworldly beauty: the okiya, where geishas sit or lie in silence, and the convent, where nuns in elaborate robes orient themselves toward unseen presences. Despite the show's title, "Sister," the women centered in most of the images appear isolated, tied to their elaborate environs more than other human figures. Viewers can get lost in the details, all rendered in cross-hatched pen lines and charcoal gradients on paper. But examination comes with the sense that one might discover something darker lurking in the shadows, or in the additional rooms just visible at the edges of some drawings. The Fall, a small piece at the start of the show, depicts a woman on the threshold of a forest of twisted trees, foreshadowing the religious and psychological tensions pulsing underneath Kyung-Me's visions. Below, the artist discusses these tensions and the origins of an enigmatic body of work. —Mira Dayal
Gilded Labor
Degrees of Mystery: B. Wurtz on Exhibitions Around New York
A few years ago I became very invested in Carl Jung's theory about symbols. One fundamental idea is that every symbol holds the tension of opposites and that, through investigating our personal symbols, we can better understand the underlying tensions in our psyches. For "Sister," I wanted to examine how the symbols I've returned to in my work—the woman, the mirror, and the labyrinth—correlate to tensions in my psyche and in larger societal structures.
I was also inspired by some iconic imagery, namely the symmetry and asymmetry in the image of the Crucifixion of Christ, in which Christ is placed in the center between the penitent and impenitent thieves, and the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. Conceptually, I wanted to draw a line down the central vertical axis of this image and "fold" the image in half to compress the opposing archetypes (good thief, bad thief, virgin, whore). I wanted to create images imbued with the tension of these opposites that would feel open and enclosed, charged and vacuous, oppressive and liberated.
I created eight drawings featuring two labyrinthine houses and two archetypes. Four drawings are set in a convent, focusing on the figure of the nun, while the other four are set in an okiya, featuring the figure of a geisha. I was interested in the way these houses mirror each other and the way they protect and entrap their occupants. Both the nun and the geisha are often in a position of debt to their house, and they must atone through piety or service.
Kyung-Me, The Resurrection (detail), 2022, pen and charcoal on paper, 32 by 47 ½ inches. Courtesy Bureau
In the convent, the nun aspires toward the divine image of the Virgin Mary, who embodies the impossible contradiction of being both a virgin and a mother. She lives a cyclical life of serving, praying, confessing, and repenting. She is in the constant pursuit of purifying her soul so that she can achieve salvation in the next life. In the okiya, the geisha aspires toward a different type of immaculate image of beauty that is cultivated by the house. Her success within the house depends on her will to transform herself into a living piece of art. In her training, a geisha must learn to mimic the house's ideal of beauty and perfection in her movement, speech, and art. Even at night, she sleeps on a wooden pillow that preserves her updo. For her, there is no true rest. While the nun aspires toward an immaculate image to please God, the geisha's immaculate image is ultimately cultivated to entice men. If the geisha is successful enough in her art, she can buy her freedom.
The pursuit of embodying an immaculate image requires unrelenting discipline, constant self-surveillance, and a never-ending void of desire. These women are constantly thinking about their performance of the self, which is why the drawings are all composed as stages, with the figures lit by stage lighting. In the world of these drawings, the women's private and public lives have totally merged. Even in private moments, like in The Confession, the woman figure has several implied audiences: herself, her sisters, her God, and the viewer who is looking at her in the drawings. I wanted to convey a sense that she has no escape from a judgmental eye.
Kyung-Me, The Vessel, 2022, pen and charcoal on paper, 32 by 47 ½ inches. Courtesy Bureau
Aesthetically, this project merges a lot of Japanese and Christian imagery. After Korea was liberated from Japanese forces, the Christian narrative of salvation offered a new hope for a spiritually disenfranchised people. In The Resurrection, I merge the composition and form of the crucifixion scene with kimonos hanging from frames. In The Vessel, the central woman has collapsed into a stringed instrument, a koto, that resembles a figure with its back arched, pelvis up to God, as in the "arch of hysteria" once illustrated in medical journals. The visuals also consider parallels between the two architectures in the drawings. The space of a church makes you feel very small, and if you're moved by its beauty, then you'll submit to its order. It's designed with the intention to indoctrinate and consume. Relatedly, the geisha house is built to serve the most wealthy and powerful men, so it must reflect that in the architecture and every single object in the house. It's quite sinister and seductive. I like that tension.
One overarching theme of my work is entrapment. What is the smaller thing you entrap inside of yourself and what is the larger thing that entraps you? All of these scenes depict an interior space, but screens within these spaces depict the outside world, or windows allude to it. Yes, these women are trapped in a house and in an image and in this void, but they are also trapped by something outside of all this that is only alluded to—familial, societal, and political structures. For these women, their prison is also their shelter.
Kyung-Me, The Organ (detail), 2022, pen and charcoal on paper, 32 by 47 ½ inches. Courtesy Bureau
A related theme in this work is the mise en abyme structure. A lot of the screens within these drawings reference The Tale of Genji, considered the first known novel, written by a woman in 11th century Japan named Murasaki Shikibu. A roaming young prince, essentially a playboy, goes from woman to woman and creates deep connections with them, but he's always moving on because he's on a greater journey that doesn't always involve them. The story is about how this man moves through the world, but it's also about how the women must cope afterward. One starts spiraling and becomes mad because she feels she can't live without him. Another becomes a poet and a creator of her own world. It's such a long novel, with so many little stories within it. I love this theme of stories within stories and women dealing with situations in different ways; I think the book is essentially about how a woman can become a victim or forge her own path. I learned how to draw by copying scenes from The Tale of Genji, and its themes are now reflected in the drawings too.
Early in my practice, I felt like I was at the entrance of a labyrinth. I'm always trying to weave my way through it, but I'm somehow spat back out at the entrance. The process is spiraling and repetitious and there's a minotaur that I'm seeking, but as I get closer to it, I don't know if I want to approach it or return to where I began.
Kyung-Me
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


©1965 Graham Greene (P)1993 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
"We mustn't complain too much of being comedians—it's an honourable profession. If only we could be good ones the world might gain at least a sense of style. We have failed—that's all. We are bad comedians, we aren't bad men."
I started out thinking I was going to just listen to a 'minor' Greene, and finished the novel once again shocked by my ability to completely underestimate Greene once again. The Comedians is a dark tragedy set in a Haitian Hell ruled by Papa Doc and his Tonton Macoute. Into this tortured hell floats Brown, the Smiths and Jones. This sad troupe each struggles with overcoming fear, death, love and apathy while dancing on the edge of the abyss. It reminded me a little of Under the Volcano, but instead of one man's struggle with mescal, it is humanity's struggle with apathy and fear.
It is a wonderful, disturbing story. I would not recommend this version because the reader preforms his task so poorly. I have listened to dozens of recorded books. This was the worst performance I have heard.
What other book might you compare The Comedians to and why?
The End of the Affair, of course.
I was astounded at how badly the book was read. The reader's attempts at accents were...I don't know what to say...a little like a stew made by a drunken house-painter. Beyond that, the reader betrayed no understanding of timing, inflection, or the intent of the author. He almost manages to ruin the story itself...but not quite.
A Good Passtime...but not great.
I went to Haiti in 1986, two days after Baby Doc left. I was immersed in the foreknowledge of VooDoo thanks to an excellent book (later a horrible movie) titled "Serpent & The Rainbow". I was able to see a whole different layer of complexity thanks to the author's experience recorded in the book.
So I read "The Comedians" with vested interest. I wanted historical facts as much as anything. And I got that.
What was missing was story. Though full of color, it was thin in meaning. I didn't care about the people. Ever.
And the reader's voice didn't help.
What disappointed you about The Comedians?
I somehow missed that Joseph Porter was the narrator. He is a truly awful voice talent. I couldn't get past chapter 2. I don't know if it is a good story - I just can't get past his narration.
Would you listen to The Comedians again? Why?
I would, if only to get a sense of Haiti during the Duvalier regime.
The details Greene poured into this world. You got a strong sense he had seen at least some of the events that occurred in this world.
Did Joseph Porter do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
I had a hard time differentiating between some of his voices, especially for Brown and Jones. His attempts at an American accent for Mr. and Mrs. Smith came off as attempts rather than authentic.
I don't think he necessarily meant it that way, but his delivery came off snide and condescending instead of ironic and empathic. I don't think Haitians sound as he made them sound, and his American accents were lame caricatures.
I picked up The Comedians when it was on sale at Audible because it was by Graham Greene and I really liked The End of the Affair. I started reading it because Shusaku Endo was frequently compared to Graham Greene (and Greene's endorsement of Silence is one of the more famous endorsement lines–"Endo, to my mind, is one of the finest living novelists").
It was really my desire to understand Endo, more than my enjoyment of the book that kept me listening to the audiobook. The reader was intentionally dry. That matched the content, but did not enhance the listening. The book started and ended well, but there was some meandering in the middle that makes sense in the larger context of the books but I got a bored for a good 100 pages.
It really was not until about 1/3 of the way through the book that Greene references the reason for the title. In a public conversation with a woman that Brown (the main character) is having an affair with, he suggests that they are all really comedians. He is using an older meaning of comedian, the idea that Greek actors held different masks. But also (not mentioned, but I think understood) that Greek Comedies were usually poking fun at the powerful of the age. It is not really satire. But there is some hint of that idea.
The book opens with Brown, Smith and Jones all on a boat headed toward Haiti. Brown owns a hotel in Haiti during the oppressive government of Papa Doc Duvalier. Jones is an unknown, but suspected from fairly early on of being a con man. Smith (and his wife) are from the United States. He was a very minor presidential candidate that is a proponent of vegetarianism as a way of life and a method toward world wide peace.
Brown, aware of the political difficulty, knows how ridiculous it is for Smith to be attempting to create a vegetarian propaganda center in the midst of a repressive dictatorship and severe economic recession. Smith seems to be a stand-in for the US as a whole. Naive but well meaning and in the end unable to actually do anything about the larger situation, but still attempting to help in his own way.
Jones is a minor character in the first half of the book when Brown is primarily concerned with Smith. But eventually Smith leaves and the Jones storyline becomes the main one. I am not going to spoil the book, but what is most interesting about the book is the exploration of how important mixed motives are to any story. Brown, Smith, Jones and the other characters are far from perfect. But there is often good intentions mixed up with less honorable intentions.
I can see why so many compare Endo to Greene, even if there was not a known admiration between the two.
The narrator's nasal and snotty English accent is sleep inducing. Almost indecipherable. Tried to focus on the story twice. Gave up. Skip this one!
Greene is a master story teller and always an intense observer of the world in which he places his story. I'm always intrigued as he questions faith and the good and evil which concern the human condition.
Joseph Porter gives a good rendering of this excellent novel. It would have been more satisfying if he had added more energy to the task. However there is a lovely range of nuances that he uses for the various colourful characters. Greene's brilliant prose underscores the entire experience. I look forward to reading the novel soon.


Fixed income government securities, such as UK 'gilts' form part of the DIY Income Investor strategy (as part of Level 5 of the Income Pyramid - for more sophisticated DIY investors). However investing in gilts (within a UK ISA) may seem confusing for many new investors.
Monevator has recently published an informative introductory guide to gilts, which explains how they work.
If you buy an undated gilt, there is no way to know how much you will be able to sell it for eventually (although you will know what coupon you will get each year) - so you have no guarantee that you will get back what you paid for it.
I've described in a previous post how you can find information on yield on Bondscape.
You can do more DIY research at the government's Debt Management Office.