Ordinary Paradise

'What we think of as a perfectly ordinary life may be paradise for other people'. Taking this statement as his starting point, Korean artist Yeondoo Jung constructs a photographic and video work centred on the notion of the 'everyday ideal'.
The Ordinary Paradise series is the deliberately off-beat chronicle of a world saturated with advertising images and messages. The artist juxtaposes 'dream landscapes' compiled from pictures published in the media or on the Internet, with portraits of real people he has photographed or filmed. Captured in the homes of ordinary people encountered in Seoul and Singapore, his portraits reveal their private interiors – the flip side of 'street' reality, images of ordinary paradises offering a wry vision of a society out of step with its dreams. Playful but socially perceptive, Jung's work reveals the symbolic aspect of ordinary people's desires and dreams.

Widely seen as one of the most important Korean artists of his generation, Yeondoo Jung has held solo exhibitions in Asia, Europe (the 51st Venice Diennale) and the US (MoMA).