Cho,Hye kyung

“I can see You”

Lee Jae-eun (art critic)

Those going up and down the hexagonal columns of diverse heights are reminiscent of a solemn sound played by a pipe organist with her brilliant steps on the pedal. (Painting 1). Since the sound generated by their movements has no tone, it has neither a keynote nor a harmony; it is similar to Arnold Schoenberg's atonal music. Like Shoenberg's concerto composed with 12 equal notes within an octave with no dominant note, Jo Hye-kyoung's mood is unfolded with the hexagonal columns of diverse relative heights.

Jo Hye-kyoung lays out such columnar joints in a row as Giants' Causeway in Northern Island, those in Jeju Island and Gyeongju. (Painting 2). At a glance, the images seem to be different from each other, but the three scenes are the spaces constructed with the hexagonal columns of relatively varied heights. Although the hexagonal columns are repeated within an image at different places, the landscapes look different due to the different heights and directions. At this exhibition, the artist attempts again to read by means of the columnar joints the repetition and differences discovered from the hexagonal columns.

Jo Hye-kyoung seems to thoroughly 'repeat' 'the repetition' or another entity behind Minimalist artists' entities. However, her world of art is created by the changes caused by the repetition. In other words, the repetition of the hexagonal columns she observed in the columnar joints is a chaos caused by the differences rather than "the order of continuity" of Minimalism championed by Michael Fried. If the prototype of the repetition in Minimalism was the industrial system, that of hers is the natural scenes like the joints, and therefore, her 'repetition' causes 'gaps.'

Such repetition of the differences in Jo Hye-kyoung's works has been expanded and sophisticated since her visit to the columnar joint in Cheolwon, Kangwon-do. At Exhibition in 2010, the artist installed straight, oblique and horizontal lines on a round mirror. (Painting 3). Those lines were conceived from the columnar joint in Cholwon. In short, the artist expressed, by means of the geometric abstraction, the repetition and differences discovered from the varied heights and directions of the hexagonal columns. On the other hand, at this exhibition, she represented the landscape of the columnar joints or the hexagonal columns created by the lava cooled down at Giants' Causeway and in Cholwon. At both exhibitions, the artist repeated the same objects, while creating the differences with the binomial confrontational language of forms or 'abstraction' and 'representation.' Thus, it can be said that the two exhibitions correspond to each other.

At this exhibition which can be a descriptive representation of "Monad Exhibition," the artist showcased the columnar joint of Cheolwon which lines Hantan River. (Painting 4). The scene of the columnar joint created by the repetition of the different hexagonal columns is mirrored on the surface of water, while its sound is expanding into a phantomlike space. Quite interestingly, the image drawn on the surface of water repeats the scene of the columnar joint unfolded on the ground, while varying over time. It is like a different scene of the columnar joint created by the hexagonal columns of varying heights.

When looking at Jo Hye-kyoung's works with such perception, we would see that the order 'repetition of differences' is established behind the sound resonating in the vast nature which cannot be comprehended with the language of the reason. Artist's exploration of 'the invisible order of the nature' is visible in the real landscape rather than through the geometric principle of the hexagon at this exhibition. She was tenacious enough to discover the order 'the repetition of differences' by hard-working on the geometric principle of the hexagon column, and thus, expanded the order on the scene of the nature before us. In 2011, Jo Hye-kyoung steered her long journey toward Fingal's Cave on the uninhabited isle Staffa in the northwester coast of Scotland where she had met the hexagonal basalt columns for the first time. (Painting 5). There, her whispering sound seems to resonate even here. “I can see You."

Cho,Hye kyung e_ space4s@hotmail.com
www.hyekyungcho.com



EDUCATION
Completed doctoral course work in the dept. of Western Painting,
Sungshin Women's University (Seoul, Korea)
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art,
Drawing and Painting Department , M.F.A.
Sungshin Women's University, College of Art, Western Painting Department, M.F.A.
Sungshin Women's University, College of Art, Western Painting Department, B.F.A.


AWARDS
2006 　The Helen A. Rose Bequest Prize(Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, U. K.)
2005 　RSA Stuart prize (Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, U. K.)
1998 　ANA 27 National Juried Competition ( Holter Museum of Art, Helena, M. T. U. S. A.)
1988 　The 8th Exhibition of Contemporary Prints Public Subscription(Art Center, Seoul, Korea)

SOLO EXHIBITION
2011 Implicate Order (Gallery So, Seoul, Korea)
2010 The Monad (Art Space With Artist, Heyri Art Vallery, Kyungki-do, Korea)
Responsive Rhythm (Gallery CHA, Seoul, Korea)
2009 “hidden rhythm”(Insa Art Center, Seoul, Korea)
2003 “description of dream”(Gamo Gallery, Seoul, Korea)
2002 　 "stream of time" (Gana Art Space, Seoul, Korea))
1999　　"act without words 1999" (Josunghee Gallery, Seoul, Korea)
1998　　"rest of mind " (Gana Art Space, Seoul, Korea)
1991 　1st solo Exhibition (Samjung Art Center, Seoul, Korea)

GROUP EXHIBITION
2011 A Leap from the Deep-Sea (Exhibition Place, Woonjeong Green Campus,
Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, Korea)
Newspaper (Alternative Space CHUNG JEONG GAK, Seoul, Korea)
2010 Linguistic Morpholigy (Sungkok Art Museum, Korea)
2009 OVER THE RAINBOW Hong Kong Art Show(Hong Kong Visual Arts Center, Hong Kong, China)
2007 Over River (Cologne,　Germany)