The Beloved Leader Shares the Struggle of the Heroic Engineers, 2022
601Artspace, NYC
The Beloved Leader Shares the Struggle of the Heroic Engineers, 2022
601Artspace, NYC
Merry Christmas! Love, Kim Jong Un, 2022
A North Korean living room. Dominating the center is a lighted Christmas tree, with ball ornaments, each of which is a head of Kim Jong Un. The top ornament is a soaring North Korean missile. Around the base of the tree is a model of Kim Jong Un’s personal armored train. Next to it is a nutcracker in the form of a goose-stepping North Korean soldier. On the wall are portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. In a pot on the floor is a large begonia, representing “Kimjongilia”, named after Kim Jong Il and bred to bloom on his birthday. A North Korean TV set shows video of Kim’s black Mercedes 600 limousine hurtling through outer space. On the front fenders are North Korean flags. Kim stands waving in a spacesuit.
Kim Jong Un becomes a roly-poly pop figure, simultaneously cheerful and menacing, powerful and ingratiating. Spirits of religion and consumerism, neither of which are allowed to exist in North Korea, float in the air.
