Yang, Kaye sook
SOAF 2011
May 4 ~ May 8, 2011
COEX. 1F, Hall B1,2
At the Boundaries Between Lyricism and Fantasy
Written by Kim, Chong-Geun (art critic. adjunct professor of Sookmyung University)
Van Gogh's saying, 'I use colors not to paint exactly what is in front of my eyes but to express myself more intensely', is a significant and precious remark for painters. Painting is an art of colors that reveal oneself. It is the reason why Fauvists, who aimed to bring out the pure colors more, did not try to reproduce the external sceneries and orders directly on canvas but rather considered the canvas as a place for self-liberation and tried to create the autonomous world of colors and forms, which is why it is called the first artistic revolution in 20th century.
Looking at Yang Gye-sook's work, it is as if seeing once again the nature's direct and joyful embrace of impressionism, and it is also fierce like Fauvists, arousing the feeling of desire and autonomous eruption of colors. Overall, the boundaries of Yang's work that extends from naturalism to expressionism might have some reasons, which can be divided into two dispositions. One of the two patterns is the fauvism colors seen in a piece like <To Embrace> and the other is the lyrical impressionism seen in <Story>.
This is not enough to fully explain Yang's work, but other than that, a little poetic and lyrical world of work also takes up a huge part. An obvious fact is that some of Yang's styles make the paintings' directions difficult. However, Yang clearly has the basic sight and intention to treasure the nature. Yang confessed about wanting to gain the essence of all things through nature, and to indulge in nature that the world presents in front of the actual field of nature.
In this aspect the art critic Alfred Bard called all realism artists as discoverers of nature, and Yang is also included in the group of artists who covet the magnificent sceneries that nature presents. Thus, the artist finds the stories of surroundings in various expressions and methods. In terms of carefully observing nature and accepting it into the canvas, Yang's range of emotions is extremely broad. The declaration at the starting point of work, "Nature is my teacher," and the fundamental purpose of picking up the actual field of vivid nature are not so much different. Yang perfectly contains an artist's feeling and internal sensitivity in the whole canvas. The reason why the working style varies is because such aspect is strong.
Examining more closely, the artist's sceneries do not express one specific region that one knows. The background is either a beach or some unspecified place. The scenes of nature, almost sorrowfully quiet, sometimes show noble and fantastic colors along with different emotions, and the art of leaping into surreal scene and composition symmetrically is the feature for Yang's paintings. The scenes of the sea and birds, which were expressed briefly, speak for the fact that the artist is devoting himself to containing visual images from impressionism to lyricism, rather than seeking the world of artwork.
On the other hand, the composition of painting formed by a few simple colors, almost too flat, and the transformed canvas deliver the freshness like being drawn with a lens. Such internal stories of the artist are interpreted as the will to show more expressionistic emotions through colors, and especially in Yang's works that draws attraction, <Story> and <To Run>, the extremely literary and still space seen in those works is interesting. Though it is a form of simple images, the scene of lovers embracing each other around the tree reminds one of Klimt's <Lovers>.
The series of <Creation> that shows direct combination of men and women in a unique composition is also an example that reveals how this artist's range of changeability in expression can be broad. The flat technique in which the contrast of colors, free composition, and space expression are presented as an oval is seem as the artist's own artistic style to express diversity of painting, and perhaps the reason why the paintings are vivid and familiar like impressionist paintings and can approach that world is because of this factor. Anyone who sees the paintings can share the artist's thoughts without pondering too much, and that is the power of the paintings and our hope. As the motif, created by the artist with serene and lyrical scene like poetry, continuously appears, the artist's unique world will no doubt be born as poetic paintings that other artists do not possess, and it will be the power of the paintings.
Why is a painting different from a photograph? Is it not because a painting reveals the internal world of your more fundamental heart which does not exist visibly? I anticipate such unique world of the artist.
Yang, Kaye sook
Solo Exhibitions
2011 Minjia Artgallery in Qingdao
2009 Picasso Gallery in Busan
2009 GeumPung Gallery in Seoul, Picasso Gallery in Busan
2005 Korea, Russia Art Fair Seo-Jong Gallery in Seoul
2001 Gongpyung Art Center in Seoul
2000 Malin Gallery in Busan
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