Jeong-A Bang 방정아 You Look Like Me and Feel Bad 신경 쓰이는 관계, 2025

You Look Like Me and Feel Bad is a witty work that articulates the peculiar intimacy and tension between two objects that resemble each other. The leopard-print pattern creates a similar rhythm across different materials and functions as a kind of signal enabling mutual recognition. The issue of the gaze observing the object is subtly subverted here. Still life painting binds the human gaze to everyday objects, often following the customary hierarchy of signs and symbols. Yet, in this painting, the depicted objects are not merely subject to unilateral observation; the relationship between them becomes an event occurring independently of the human gaze. Therefore, the relationship between the viewer and this painting must also be recalibrated. This painting is not simply an image reproducing two objects and their relationship; it becomes an entity standing indifferently before the viewer. Bang has translated this relationality into the language of painting, leading the viewer, as another entity, to dare entering into a new relationship with the still life painting.