interview with Hueppi

Powerful Women in Hueppi's Works

“Handy” by Johannes Hueppi / Courtesy of Gallery Godo
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

When German artist Johannes Hueppi first visited Korea last July, one of the most interesting things for him was how people, especially women, would talk about anything on their cell phones anywhere at anytime.

``I was so surprised and interested in the way people talk or not talk to each other in the streets. I saw how women would talk on their cell phones while on the subway, and they would talk about personal things. In Switzerland, you won't find that. People don't make phone calls in public,'' Hueppi told The Korea Times.

Hueppi, who is now based in Basel, Switzerland, took the image of a Korean woman talking on a cell phone in the middle of a crowded area, and painted it on a canvas. He made two paintings of ``Handy (Cell Phone),'' which features a Korean woman holding a cell phone to her ear while surrounded by people. His works are currently shown at Gallery Godo, Susong-dong, Jongno, downtown Seoul.



For Hueppi, the cell phone is a symbol of modern society. ``For women, it is a sign of emancipation and pride. … I noticed businesswomen walking down the street talking on their cell phones. It's a sign that something changed a lot in a country. I mean, it was not so long ago that Korea was still under dictatorship and there's been massive change and progress within the last few decades,'' he said.

This was not the first time Hueppi was fascinated by how women use the cell phone in public. It was while he was living in Rome that he first noticed how girls, some as young as 15, would talk on their phones about very suggestive and sexual things in public. ``For me, it seemed very fake, very theater-like. It was something they did to attract men,'' he said.

Women are central to Hueppi's small, intimate paintings, some just a little larger than a postcard. He is very open about his admiration for women, and it shows in his work.

He elevates women on a pedestal, always portraying them as powerful and beautiful, most obviously in the ``Woman in Water'' painting, where a naked woman rises from the water, looking like a goddess surrounded by clouds.

``Most of my paintings are about the pride of women. I wanted to describe it and show it,'' Hueppi said.

There are several paintings of nude women lying beside objects like plates and cups, which he titled ``Still Life.'' He admitted it seems politically incorrect to objectify women in that way, but it was not his point.

``How can a painting with a woman on it be called a still life? To treat a woman as a thing, you can't do that, it's very incorrect and I liked it. … But calling this a still life is almost a conceptual work because it tells you how free I am, as a painter, to do whatever I want on the canvas,'' he said.

When asked why he paints nude women, Hueppi simply replied, ``because it's nicer.''

It was only his second time in Seoul, but Hueppi said he liked the city very much, although it seemed very American.

``I really loved it here. There were certain things that I was surprised. How much it was like the United States in certain ways, but only on the surface like architecture and modern conveniences, the visual things and surface were like the U.S. But anything beyond the surface, like the character, social rules, food, language, it is their own … I don't know why the surface has to be American, to show you've become modern,'' he said.

The exhibit runs through Dec. 30. To get there, get off at Anguk Station Line 3, Exit 6. Visit www.gallerygodo.com or call (02) 720-2223.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr