Jeon Joonho, “Hyper Realism”

Jeon Joonho, The White House

Photo courtesy of Perry Rubenstein Gallery

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, and for his U.S. debut, Korean artist Jeon Joonho opts to get our attention by filling all three of Rubenstein’s spaces. The video works and one sculpture on view amply demonstrate his desolate outlook on America’s global influence—in particular, its historic relationship with South Korea.

In the computer-animated projection White House (2005–06), a tiny handyman with a ladder and paint roller enters the picture on the back of a $20 bill and proceeds, over the course of a half hour, to whitewash all the windows of the iconic presidential residence. It’s about as exciting as watching paint dry, but fortunately you don’t have to view the whole thing to get Joonho’s facile but effective metaphor for U.S. imperialism and this administration’s particular opacity.

Hyper Realism (2007), a suite of five animations, offers an interesting and cacophonous blend of styles and sounds. Most memorable are the anime-noir vignette of a woman in bloodcurdling mid-scream, and a short of General MacArthur uttering his famous parting shot, “I shall return”—which, of course, he later did; not only as the liberator of the Philippines in World War II, but also as leader of U.N. forces in the Korean War.

Joonho, however, doesn’t do nuance, as the show’s single sculpture makes clear. Player Number 13 features a hulky American football player whose brute power is emphasized with the addition of a functioning internal engine. Tackling formidable subjects, Joonho makes some memorable plays, but doesn’t always score.