to: whoever 🥺💕
location: wednesday april 1st, contemporary art exhibit
art, a subject for fools drowning in their wealth and idealistic image of elegance. contemporary art was the pinnacle, crowding together flocks of phone intellectuals seeking the novel pieces to cling to their living room walls. they were the victims that equated the grandeur of the piece to the zeros attached to the price tag, and pieces of art were nothing more than a mere accessory adding to their growing collection of rare crocodile birkins and lavish cow-hide boy bags. it was the propaganda for the modern day rich customers, a flea market for them to oust one another to see who could scrape their way to the peak of the mountain as korea’s next top gangnam mom.
the whole exhibit is a ploy for gold star to constitute a more positive image on minjung after a heeding, destructive wave of criticism followed the first few instagram posts of her art - a manipulation to pivot her persona into the brooding artist, like a modern day basquiat trapped in confines of a van gogh society. she’s at the mercy of her company, bound by the strings of her contract like pinocchio except her stagnant nose provides no insight to her silent protests and reservations. the champagne flute intertwined in her slender fingers embody her chirpy cricket sidekick, the taste of the cheap champagne and sweet raspberries lingers in the back of her tongue, a reminder that everything bitter must have a sweet companion - the thought that fixes the glazed smile on her lips.
there’s a shadow of another person next to her, like a meager bystander, settling down, observing the passerbys as she takes another sip of the golden liquid. no eyes directed to this area, and a yawn escapes her lips, her heavy eyes and tight lipped mouth disregarding any hint of feigned interest for the entirety of the exhibit. “all this art is so ‘je ne sais quoi’ says the lifeless bodies in the room. people have such refined taste, dipping their frenchie fries in a sauce of horse shit, but what do you think captain?” her lips curve into an inviting smile, finding her own blue fairy for the night.
haeun couldn’t quite put a finger on how exactly she had landed at the opening of a contemporary art exhibition, clothed in a prim and proper dress. contemporary art was not her usual milieu, in fact she really didn't know anything about it. (and really, why would she have to? after all she was an idol not an art critic) she felt out of place, antsy in this room full of people that were richer than her even if she were an idol til the rest of her days. she had to force herself to stop gawking at the price tags of each painting, calculating the amount of times that could pay off her entire trainee debt. she was on her second champagne glass of the evening, spending her time nipping at the bubbly liquid and bobbing her head in feigned interest at other peoples’ remarks. anything to stop her from checking the clock every few minutes.
she was bored by now, having walked around the exhibition twice now, inspected all the art pieces thoroughly and blanched at each price tag she came across. she had even tried her hand at meaningful interpretation, yet the hidden meaning of most of the paintings with their broad brush strokes and cryptic titles escaped her. she finally came to a halt in front of one of the paintings, her manicured fingernails clacking against her champagne glass as she gave the artwork a once-over, when minjung spoke. haeun was stunned for a moment by minjung’s bluntness, her eyes looking around the room, expecting an angry expression from one of these exact people minjung was talking about. when she saw nothing of the sort, she relaxed. "hmm, what do i think?” haeun repeated as she cocked her head and squinted, “well - i have no clue what any of this is supposed to mean and what i am supposed to feel looking at these..works of art, it’s like i missed the memo this lot got” she took a swig of champagne,”the drink is good though, i’ll give them that.”
titsay
romaincrisis
vaporwave
stormborns
