 |
 |
 |
 |
The Memory of Cutout Sugar Candy
Kho, Chung-Hwan (Art Critic)
Around a corner of Insa-dong, there is a man selling cutout sugar candy. It is just like the old times: the background of a tiny stand and a briquet fire, and melting sugar on a ladle and putting soda in to raise it, then flattening to carve patterns with iron cutters. It is quite amazing and unexpected to see such a folklike scene in a so-called traditional street in the middle of Seoul, when in fact it is not that traditional nor folklike. It is not an attraction (though it might have been specialized by the civil authority, nor is it an amusement park that attracts children's interest or curiosity. In fact, there are more adults than children around the candy stand, such as lovers and occasionally foreigners. One must bend over to watch as the stand is too low, and to participate, he or she must bear the uncomfortable position of crouching down on the ground.
It was an odd scene, as if the clock is turning back. It caused an illusion of an old TV program or the old TV set itself. It was like a crack in reality from which the past seeps out. The scene was not for children but for adults. It was bringing the adults' childhood back to the present. It was magical. Every unrealistic and non-daily thing that rose above the everyday life from the crack of reality is magic. The adults today call such magic Proust phenomenon. It is a phenomenon in which a certain experience that stimulates the five senses bring back reminiscence or memories from the past. As it is known, Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past" is the first modernism novel, based on the situation of the protagonist reflecting on the past childhood through the scent of a madeleine dipped in tea.
Likewise, cutout sugar candy is a medium that connects the past and the present, and it plays the role of a magical experience that pushes the present into the past or bringing back the past to the present. This is the reason why Lee focuses on cutout sugar candy and what she wants to deliver. The adults today had been children in the past. Those children had dreams. But growing up perhaps is a process of facing reality principle and giving up and growing far from those dreams. The things lost, forgotten, dimmed and blurred, and things that cannot be returned remain as poignant yearnings; and adults personify the traces of the yearnings with body, memory, and sometimes unconscious. The artist wants to return the adults back to the time when their dreams were not yet given up nor lost. She wants them to face their innocent dreams, and console their dull present and perhaps comfort the scarred present. She wants to do magic that brings back the lost and forgotten things to reality; even her own dream given up to become an adult.
Then how does the artist bring back the past to the present? It is through the cutout sugar candy. It is just like the scent of a madeleine in Proust. The most typical tool here, a symbol that identifies the cutout sugar candy, is the iron cutters of various shapes. The artist draws these cutters, and stick the sliced and bended cutters to go with the sketch. As a result, stylization, pattern formation, and complanation tend to look strong. The tendency itself is due to the artist's pictorial sensitivity, but it is also somewhat based on the shapes and feature of the iron cutter itself. The tendency of stylization, pattern formation, and complanation is also a morphological feature of the iron cutter itself. Thus the material of iron cutter coincides with the artist's pictorial sensitivity to strategically deliver the message easily and clearly (along with a certain emotional aura that reminds one of the childhood memories).
There are various shapes of cutout sugar candy: crescent moon, star, airplane, rocket, car, sword, fish, heart, Christmas tree, palm, and man with arms spread. These symbolize the dreams of adults as children (desire, in the adults' terminology). They are icons of children's dreams and desire. For instance, children want to travel to the moon on an airplane, and explore the unknown world by launching a rocket. They believed that someone lived on the moon, and that there is a whole new world outside the Earth. And they thought that the world is sparkling and beautiful like a colorful Christmas tree. But at some point, all these beliefs became questionable. This is by facing reality principle. According to Lacan's logic, the imaginary faced the symbolic, then it is suppressed and hidden. And those frustrated dreams and suppressed desire form the real. So the real aims for the overturn and extortion of the symbolic, bringing anxiety to reality. The artist expresses the shattered dream hit by reality principle in a painting. And the painting seems to say, in an adult's voice, "The Little Prince no longer lives on the stars, so stop dreaming!" A child's dream is desire in an adult's terminology. As such, the painting shows how a dream is spoiled, frustrated and suppressed to desire.
On the outside, the artist's paintings show the icons of children's dreams. In a strict sense, they show the icons of adults' dreams in their childhood. Through a child's dream, they actually show the adults' desire. So the icons in the paintings overlap with the icons of the adults' desire: a slot machine and a pattern of logos of luxury brands that symbolize the desire of modern people. The icons of the adults' desire are inside the painting in the form of certain material or pattern, and also are implied by various characters such as lotto, money, lottery, and dream. There is a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, which complicates the discussion a little. It can be seen as a pretext and opportunity to connect the prospect of subject and critical mind to the contemporary, or as a plan to expand the cause of suppressed desire to a social connection beyond an individual's horizon. In fact, there are many cases in which adults suppress their desire due to reality principle and society.
Moreover, the artist makes a huge cutout sugar candy model, and places small models inside. So there are models inside models, showing the potential of a double painting or a framed picture, opening the possibility to expand the horizon to space installation. And shadows based on attaching solid iron cutters made by bending iron plates, and the method of changing the canvas by implementing shiny films are worth notice, as they expand the range and area of molding.
The artist paints beautiful childhood. But paradoxically, the painted childhood is no longer beautiful. It is because the childhood is not of children but of adults. Nonetheless one can believe it is beautiful. Lost in such delusion, one can be free from the reality principle for just a moment. Perhaps the artist is painting such delusion. Delusions can be beautiful sometimes. Without delusion, without yearning, without magic, how can we break through such a strong barrier of the reality principle? The artist wants the paintings to be a small comfort for those who faced the reality principle.
이윤정 Lee, yun-jung
1995 B.F.A Chungang Univ
2004 M.F.A Chungang Univ
Solo Exhibition
2012 Insa art center gallery-Games of cutout suger candy
2012 ART NEWYORK 2012 (BSC gallery)
2009 Incheon Women Artists' Biennale
2006 Galleru Zein Xeno
2005 The 3st Solo Exhibition (Coex Ocean Hall)
2004 The 2st Solo Exhibition (Seoul Art )
2003 The 1st Solo Exhibition (Gallery moro )
Aeress H) 201ho, 23-792,peacefulhouse Bangbae-Dong, Seo Cho-Gu, Seoul Korea
O) 30-1069, nam hyun-Dong, Gwan ak-gu, Seoul Koera
E-mail paint91@korea.com
No comments:
Post a Comment