In the world of art and design, beauty is in the eye of the beholder; what appeals to you may be drastically different than the preferences of your neighbors. USC Roski student and designer April Kwon wanted to challenge these set binaries, asking viewers what classifies a piece as “beautiful” in her new exhibition, “Pretty Ugly.”
Kwon has spent the last year challenging set perceptions and rules in design. Filled with design “no-nos,” this interactive exhbit broke all the rules of design, according to Kwon.
“‘Pretty Ugly’ is about expanding the vocabulary of contemporary design,” Kwon said. “There are a lot of labels that we like to put on good design and bad design, pretty or ugly, traditional or trendy, so I wanted to challenge these notions and see how we think of and examine design and culture in contemporary times.”
The exhibit stands as a 10-foot by 10-foot cube made up of 376 pieces of paper with an endless number of paperclips holding the project together, and emphasizes elements such as squares, QR codes and the Comic Sans font, which are all traditionally frowned upon in design school.
With bright white lights shining directly down onto the piece, shadows cast along the walls, and popping colors call for your attention, the exhibit has a commanding presence as a viewer first steps into the room.
Regardless of the exhibit’s bold appearance and important underlying message, Kwon had doubts about finishing the piece before it had even begun.
“I emailed [my professor] and went, ‘I’m not doing this… I don’t have time, and I’m so anxious,’” Kwon said. “He sat with me for like an hour or two, and he goes, ‘April, I think you need to do it.’”
Brian O’Connell, Associate Professor of Art and Design and the Chair of the Design Program, had confidence in Kwon’s talent from the get-go.
“I just encouraged her to think about it as an opportunity to do something that was a kind of culmination of her time as a design student that wouldn’t necessarily be available, let’s say, next year if she’s working in a firm,” O’Connell said. “I think that this experience will provide April and her peers an understanding that there’s always an inkling of like, ‘I could be doing something else, it could be more,’ and a kind of hunger to do that, which I think April certainly will pursue.”
On March 12, the exhibit’s opening night, Kwon embraced guests curious to see her finished piece for the first time, following a year of research and planning and three days of installation, all having been completed just the night before.
“I have seen multiple rounds of exhibitions, but I feel like oftentimes we don’t see something 3D in the entire space, or like a physical installation. Normally, it’s just like 2D pieces on the wall,” said Christine Zhang, a third-year design student at Roski. “So, I think walking in and seeing April’s piece — it was just mind-boggling, to be honest.”
The exhibit is open to the general public through April 7 at the Roski Studio Buildings off of Flower St. and W. 30th St.
Kwon hopes that in her pursuit to change modern binaries of design, that her larger-than-life exhibit will inspire not only art and design students but the general public. As she concludes her college career, looking toward the future, Kwon encourages everyone to take in the hard work of the artists and the beauty behind all of their works.