Michael Weinstein

In a postmodern tour de force, South Korean photo-sculptor Myungkeun Koh takes photo-transparencies of Greek and Roman statues and places them on the inner sides of acrylic boxes in a successful attempt to transform stone into the illusion of living flesh. The result is luscious cubist erotica, in which we see hints of the buffed bodies that inspired artists two millennia ago. Koh's trick is to use his several media to make classical art romantic, dissolving chiseled forms and solid surfaces into sensuous lines and soft textures that stimulate our desire to touch his subjects rather than simply contemplate them with aesthetic disinterest. By putting multiple prints—sometimes of the same image—into a single box, Koh multiplies the effects on our senses of perfectly formed buttocks and breasts. Never have the ancient masters appeared in such a hedonistic light.

Myungkeun Koh shows at Andrew Bae Gallery, 300 West Superior, (312)335-8601. Through August 11. (2007-07-24)

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