Almost everyone has an interest in his or her appearance. These days, magazines discuss about how men have started to care about themselves, some more than women. However, is this really a new and modern concept for men to be interested in their appearance? Historically, men have had many chances to come into contact with various types of fashionable decorations and products. The answer to this question may exist in the cosmetics museum at "Space*C".


"Space*C" is located in Sin-sa dong, Seoul. If you get off at Apgujeong Station and walk about 10 minutes, you can find it. The building has two stories below ground level and eight stories above the ground. Most people would not notice the building or know that it held a gallery or not. Inside is the Art and Culture Complex of "Coreana". This company opened Space*C to celebrate their 15th establishment anniversary day. It is composed of a cosmetics museum, culture complex, skin care system, and rest room.


The Culture Complex is composed of C Gallery, C Lab, and C Cube with two stories below. In C Gallery and C Lab, you can approach the essence of Art. When the Chung-Ang Herald (CAH) visited, the Gallery was holding an exhibition of some artists who are married to each other and from Japan. Like this, the Culture Complex has introduced trends in modern art.


The second floor is an open bar. The third and fourth floors are composed of a clinic for skincare, slimming, laser surgery and so on.


The cosmetics museum is located on the fifth and sixth floor. It displays many remains and ceramics of history. Ordinarily, we briefly see our ancestor's many artifacts and remains through textbooks. However, it does not focus on cosmetic parts; we can not know what they used, or how they made their cosmetics. It is necessary to have many stories about this part of our history. "Coreana" solved this wonder in Space*C.


The exhibit hall on the fifth floor displays a total of about 200 beauty aids, ornaments, rulers, scissors, needles, thimbles, irons, men and women's costumes, and others. The special thing is men's ornaments. Most people think that men did not decorate themselves in the past. However, it is our greatest mistaken assumption. More ancestors care about their appearance then we thought. Many ornaments have been discovered. The founder who established Space*C said that when he collected the remains of the cosmetics he felt surprised about the variety of different kinds of cosmetics and products.


In the middle of the exhibition, a very small and cute ceramic ware is displayed and has a written text that discribes how to use the product step-by-step. It showed characteristic of each period's technological developments and the beginnings of the archeological digs to discover the remains. The shapes seem adequate to use cosmetic materials. There is wisdom in our ancestor's developments. The cosmetics museum also shows the history of Korean cosmetics culture. It introduced a development process.


Korea's cosmetics culture saw its earliest substantial growth in the Three Kingdoms period. In this period, earthenware was mainly used for the cosmetic containers but due to the development of Buddhism and the Celadon Culture in the Goryeo era, more lavishly yet solidly made containers were widely utilized. In the Joseon period, the practice of sumptuously making the face look more attractive was sometimes banned by the norms and values of Confucianism. In the end of the 19th century, new styles of make-ups and new kinds of cosmetics were in vogue in accordance with the influx of Western culture. That caused profound transformations in Korea's cosmetics culture, helping establish the system of mass production and consumption and a firm foothold in the cosmetics industry and culture today as well.


With the displays, the museum provides a brief course that allows participants to experience the making methods of traditional cosmetic oils. However, when CAH visited, there was nobody there. CAH could only watch as cosmetics in the modern age were produced. It was a familiar process with us because it was introduce in a textbook located on the sixth floor. There were showcases of traditional cosmetic materials, manufacturing equipment, and cosmetic related artifacts of each age.


The museum's primary collections will be annually exhibited two times a year in its specially arranged room. From February 9 to December 23, it displays a rare and valuable Bronze mirror. It introduces a shape, design, and a manufacture process. 

 

When entering Space*C, you have to buy a ticket on the 1st floor. The fee is 3,000 won if you want to see only the gallery. If you want to see both (gallery and cosmetics museum), you have to pay 5,000 won. In the most common cases, the people start touring from the C Gallery.

 

▲ Psychic scope of Ito won and Aoki Ryoko
Displayed at Space*C is the Modern Art works of two artists, who are married to each other. Their names are Ito Zon and Aoki Ryoko. When patrons start to watch, the usher will provide an introduction about the entire display briefly. First, the usher explained that these artists are front-runners of Japanese Modern Art. They mainly work and display their Art in Kyoto and Osaka. These types of art works in this area are called "Kansai Art". They use drawing and sketching, it is a characteristic of "Kansai Art".


If you want to understand about these Art works well, you have to know the title of this Gallery. The title is "Psychic Scope". It means most works are included in fantastic and aerial mood. If you know the title before seeing the pieces of Art, you can feel easily the mood and understand the works.


▲ Psychic scope of Ito won and Aoki Ryoko
Ito Zon's work is embroidering on cloth and expresses the human body through animals, trees, and so on. In other words, he used a type fragmentary idea to create the images. Aoki Ryoko drew works that were very detailed. The Art almost did not seem to have a focus, she express the mood at her convenience. In one word, they seem odd.


Another special thing is that when the Japanese display their Art, they set up a wooden structure. It is one of the setting projects, "Kamoi Project". It seems to avoid a monotonous setting for the Art works.


There were media works as well. The two artists were proud of that, said the usher. It was made to an old-fashioned set in one part and as a rhythm of a drawing caricature in another. Its color sense and representation of the pieces of Art was splendid. Anyway, to make this media work they invested as much as two years in one song. Through this media, a unique music sounded as a whole. It made the entire mood of the display.


Space*C is cosmetics museum so when ticketing, they divided cosmetic samples, and Aoki Ryoko drew a guide brochure. The gallery of Ito Zon and Aoki Ryoko will be on display until the end of 2006. Like this, Space*C introduced a new trend of Modern Arts.


If you want a satisfying and through visual affect, this gallery can provide new aesthetic moments for you. When you prepare about gallery's information, you can enjoy well.

저작권자 © 중앙헤럴드 무단전재 및 재배포 금지