Many artworks are showcased at the L7 GANGNAM lobby lounge on the 9th floor. Among them, Seo Yu-ra’s hyper realistic paintings that hang in the hall leading to the fitness center are particularly eye-catching.

The colorful work of Art Book on the left-hand side features various art books ranging from collections of artists like Kandinsky and Andy Warhol to National Gallery guides. The works seen among the stacks of books are imbued with renewed flair thanks to the artist’s vision.

Inspired by the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times, the work of Modern Times on the right-hand side expresses nostalgia for things forgotten in modern society, using old objects as its subject matter. The large hands of the clock, which appears in the first scene of the movie and forms the background of this artwork, seems to satirize the increasing mechanization of human beings and the artist’s own overreliance on machines in modern society.

Artist Seo Yu-ra presents the passage of time through photorealistic book paintings. She explores various themes centered around antique books that she came across while abroad and expresses the form of books that have retained their temporal character. She carries the banner for hyperrealism, rarely seen in Korea, and delicately illustrates the surface, thickness and even the age of books in her work.

In her book series, the artist expresses books of different form and content as a stack that has accumulated over the years, the layers of which represent the lives of people that are filled and expanded every day, as well as the progression of human history. Books stacked and arranged according to her perspective bear their own metaphors and symbols that speak to viewers in an offbeat manner.

Seo won special awards at the 2005 Daejeon Art Competition and Shin Saimdang Art Competition, as well as the 2006 Bomun Art Competition. Her works can be found at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art and Eland Cultural Foundation, in addition to various companies and hotels.