"Korean Booty Rendevous"

Models @darklypink and @lenx.zxc re-enact Shin Yun-bok’s (in)famous painting of “Lovers Under the Moonlight” in a back alley of Jongno 5-ga.

After crewing up and meeting in the wonderful space of the O-je-do coffee shop, we got right down to business enacting the key points of Shin Yun-bok’s legendary painting of two Joseon-era lovers meeting to do what they need to do under the cover of night: secretive, “moonlit” (in our case, using a flash that simulates the moon), and the subtle suggestion of imminent sex.

월하정인(月下情人) / “Lovers Under the Moon” by late-joseon era painter Shin yun-bok.

Even from this scouting iPhone shot, it was easy to tell it would be all about the “dog soup” sign, which screams Old Korea and old school flavor.

Gittin’ it.

Prideful partners.

The conceptual logic here was to not do a slavish, point-by-point re-enactment of the painting, which is actually impossible, given the fanciful way the moon is drawn into the frame itself, which is unrealistic and nigh-impossible to do with two human subjects on the ground and a tiny, bright moon high in the sky. Also, the hanbok is no longer an everyday object in Korean life, so the equivalent formal-and-stylish point of the “man” is the suit, which is worn well by this model, whom I met at Seoul Fashion Week in this very outfit, and who channels the main points of an affected manliness better than an actual man, who would change the vibe of the shot into something feeling more mundane and expected. Rather, this piece of constructed gender performance gives us just what we need from the man/woman gender roles that are being inevitably interrogated here.