Although the works show encounters between Japanese culture and the Bible, which are from completely different backgrounds and opposite religious perspectives, I tried to deliver an ironic narrative that can be presented in a single scene of the canvas.
Kukwon Woo
Kukwon Woo
Breakfast on the Beach
Limited edition
Edition of 50Shipping estimated 10-17 December
Kukwon Woo presents a biblical story as an East Asian idyll.
‘Breakfast on the Beach’ is a ukiyo-e inspired landscape, trading the motif of the snow-capped mountain for a village on a hill by the sea. The picturesque scene is framed by text on two sides in two scripts. The vertical hanzi text replicates the traditional signatures on a woodblock print, where a bible reference lies.
John 21 opens with the ‘Breakfast on the beach’ that gives this edition its title. In the biblical story, the resurrected Jesus miraculously fills the nets of his tired disciples, and cooks them fish by the Sea of Galilee. In Woo’s rendition, Jesus sits under a striped parasol. He is joined at the table by the strawberry-blonde toddler and white dog that recur in Woo’s paintings. Across the top, a verse from the passage beckons you to the feast in Woo’s looping roman script.
This endearing image of togetherness is printed in 13 layers, faithfully recreating the texture of Woo’s painting.