Kho, Chung hwan (art critic)
Some artists concentrate on one form and others try to use various styles. The former stick to their own working style so they are likely to fall into mannerism, while the latter can show variety in approach but they are seldom original.
Concerning this fact, however, we should rather approach with a view of both more fundamental and individual trends; that is by a kind of structural discussion. With this view of a structuralist discussion, we can say that the history of Mr. Kwon's art is closer to the latter rather than the former. Mr. Kwon's paintings have symbolic logic for informing of a certain meaning as well as pure abstract logic that banishes meaning. His works have concrete and abstract elements at the same time, and also symbolic and expressive ones. Monochromatic, geometric, wave of sound, minimalism, abstract expressionism, action painting and neo-imagism exist all together, and they keep their own forms. Analytic, practical western mentality and contemplative eastern mentality lead each other, harmonize with and also have a conflict with each other.
His paintings are mainly plain paintings but sometimes photos and devices are added to them with the additional element of chance happening. All these stylistic trends lead to various experiments of form, and ideas of former work appear
in his latest work as well.. As mentioned above, Mr. Kwon's works have various designs and a certain form is not limited to a certain era. He typifies the everchanging dynamic artist.
1970's, Explorative Era
Since 1882 when Kwon Jungho visited America for painting at Pratt Institute in New York, we can divide his works into the prior abstract paintings and the later imagist art style. For the artists' own part we should say also that he is and has been much involved with artistic groups in korea, especially in Daegu, both directly and indirectly.
Regarding his work of this earlier era of his; we can see the features of a monochrome canvas which excludes color if possible, freely shaped stains and a canvas that reminds us of protoplasm of a sort of "enforme" in his works (such as 'Traces', 'Illusion' and 'Afterimage').
Considering paintings as just a phenomenon, he admits intervention of coincidence up to a certain point. This tendency, which focuses on a much more satisfactory and interior logic than the artist's personal reality and personality, is emphasized in the 'Point' series. Afterward, the series of 'Point', together with a series called 'From the Line', tells us that his works are related to a realization of modernity to a certain degree.
That is to say, it is related to modernism's characteristic reductionism that wants to change the status of paintings into point, line, surface And especially panting's basic element which is represented especailly by the plane. We can find out this fact if we see that the paintings of this period were temperate in their use of color, if possible. This tendancy of abstract painting is concerned with "enforme", abstract expressionism, minimalism, and the artist's participation in Sin캐 from the its' early days. Sinzo (artists group) was founded in 1972, and the artist has been attending it continuously since 1974.
1980-1990's. Neo-imagism
As I mentioned before, works of the artist came to encounter a turning point thanks to studying abroad in 1982. His pure abstract paintings changed into neo-imagism. Canvases of former times ,mainly consisting of an achromatic color, changed to bold, vivid coloring; and the former silent, mediative atmosphere changed into an expressive and active canvas.
He also found in painting with symbolic attributes an explaination and indication of things external to just painting. Interestingly these are not neccerssarily within the satisfactory structure and formal logic of the paintings themselves.
In short, the artist's recognition of personal reality got to be deeply involved in the existence of painting.
This is related to the appearance of post-modernism on one side. There a desire for existence of human beings (in art) seems to be more encouraged. While previous imagistic art aimed at an objective reproduction of the world's sensory
appearance (they thought of the world itself as subject, then analyzed and reproduced the subject scientifically), neo-imagism considers the condition of reality and following that shows the feeling of a crisis in existence as object and aim of painting. So, strong original colors with a comparitive effect are introduced as a shape creating device, but we can consider it ,above all, as an implication of a few messages about a realization of the artist's personal reality with that of society. This accords well with what he said; "I use basic colors for strong expression". Namely, the color that is shown in his painting is expressive. The series of 'Sound', 'Skeleton', 'Sky', and 'Spirits' were done with this view of the painting's background. These painting concepts are drawn individually at times yet also sometimes coexist all on one canvas.
Sound series
In the series of 'sound' noises are represented as dominating our daily lives and we see the artists' reation toward electronic sound. As we can see above, the artist's paintings in this series make sense in relation with music in that
his paintings are made by a similiar means. It is known that music itself is the most abstract form of all arts. So, while other genres are related to the actual point of living by means of description and reproduction; music ,which has an abstract structure, may well be relatively concerning the reproduction of life. As I mentioned above, music has as a strong interior trait. With this fact we can explain the reason Mr. Kwon's series of 'Sound' remarkably takes on pure modeling and abstract form. Moreover on the other side of the 'Sound' series there is a recognition of synesthesia that makes a visible image correlate with an audible sound. This recognition of synesthesia dates back to experimention of forms that the first abstract artists made at the beginning of 20th. century. To make these 'Sound' paintings the artist introduced the sound-speaker to the canvas. He drew it on the canvas or attached real speakers to canvas as objects. The orignal speaker's shape, that is like a geometrical figure plays a main role on the canvas. For example, it make a bunch of unfixed and organic lines come into inself and ,in contrast, go out. And these lines remind you of their own sounds individually. For example, a dotted line reminds the viewer of the cutting sound of machines.
Many organic sounds are close to human sounds. These sounds stay on the canvas and sometimes go out for open air. From another point of view, the 'Sky' series seems to have its own development from the background canvas of an active expression of dynamic lines that express sound. 'Sky', 'Spirits', and 'Sound' come into harmony, so we can say the relationship to one another is complementary and inclusive. This seems to be not from a logical plan but rather as a natural result. On the other hand, the shape of spreading sound has a similar meaning to the emission of spirits, and it can be seen as a kind of energy. The meaning of 'Sound' and 'Spirits' makes of a canvas an energetic ground full of activeness and tension.
Skeleton series
The most eminent subject material of Mr. Kwon's works is the skeleton. While the 'Sound' series shows the reaction of artist toward modern people's daily lives, the 'Skeleton' series is related to a question about and reflection on the existence of human beings. We can feel the energy of the artist's individual will, pathos and an apocalyptic gloomy emotion more than a merely religious message in the 'Skeleton' painting series. This is shown in 'Suffering', 'the Holy Cross', 'a Sacrificial Offering', and in 'Death'. Sometimes we can feel an influence of neo-imagism which finds in these paintings a justification of personal myth and archetypal awareness. The artist draws skeletons into his paintings in the way of the expressionists and sometimes paints on newspaper initially glued to the canvas but later obscured fully.
Especially, the concept the skeleton on the newspaper tells us that the skeletons shown in his paintings are related to the spirit of the times and social issues more than being merely a material and interesting form for use. He sometimes paints a skeleton with gesso over a naturally darker source of paper. This use of a skeleton shaped by light from the dark empty background reminds us of the famous baroque allegory, that is, 'the vanity of life'. Like this, the artist reproduces a plain painting from a skeleton and sets up copied skeletons to fill up the space.
And he changes his painting by putting skeletons on his canvas. At the course of this renewal, we can find a tinge of happening and when we look at such a strategy, we can find the chance reportage of conceptual art. So to speak, he directs a sort of intended realism when he sets up skeletons as installation. For instance, he introduces a partially excavated site the way he incidentally found skeletons out on a natural farm or from a pile of stones and dug them out.
He deposits skeletons in a window display just like at a museum and exhibits photos that recorded this course of working. He also sets up excavated skeletons by piling up a lot of them which reminds us of a catastrophe. On the other side of
all these activities, there is understanding of the way of recent study where he searched for a chance meeting of archeology and anthropology with art.
By the way, we can find double or multiple layers in his paintings. For example, a shape of skeleton is paralleled with a compensating image; geometric, organic layer, achromatic colors or the original background color, a picture of the sky, or other skeletons, or the shape of a flame. Of those, there are connections semantically and connections having nothing to do with each other. It seems that none of those with no appearant connection means that he wants us to find out a third meaning of his work which is not shown in his paintings. We can say that such a desire is similar with surrealism which pulls out unconsciousness up to the layer of consciousness. On the other side of that, there is his intention that wants dichotomized things to be integrated into one thing by pulling those into the concept of minus and plus.
2000's From the Line
Actually, Mr. Kwon's latest works began with a former series of 'From the Line' (he made them especially in the 1990's). In other words, he didn't name his works with the specific title of 'Line' but we can see his 'Line' concept with other paintings that are concerned with formal experiment in all eras of his paintings. We can find a randomizing and eastern mind which is reflected in his calligraphic mark making which has one meaning, and this meaning includes a possibility of a single shape. Line, drawn on the plane, can have one meaning as well as an accidental and random shape. And we can extend it to calligraphy and abstract expressionism or action painting's use of drawing. Meanwhile, he has paintings that are full of lines, all by piling one line onto another. It reminds us of the traditional cutting skill of handcrafted ceramics. In another way of looking, the line implicates eastern handwriting which emphasizes the random and incidental trace with the aspects of western drawing. This sensitive concept shown with these 'Line's are applied to the
deconstructive line-paintings of his later new works. Especially, drawing ,together with color, is the most important aspect of these and the basis of drawing is simply, line. Considering this fact (which is important to decisions forming elements of his other works) it seems that a new possibility for drawing was born.
Deconstruction
The feature of his latest works is that they have layers where abstract and cutting lines meet a specific form. On these paintings. he goes here and there more than just drawing and erasing, revealing and concealing; where visible and invisible things are taken apart and then integrated. With only lines, he continues to draw and erase a specific form and puts one line on another and finally completes a canvas that is filled with lines taken apart and cut. So, we can just barely recognize a shape that we can see with minimum traces. In other words the shape; that is cut and taken apart on the canvas, harmonizes without any border. He put his world view (connected to single a thought), that all difference ,division and borders come from one theory into practice. This is connected to the meaning of the title, 'Melt and Become One' (2001) or 'Everything is One'. Like this, the main shapes on his paintings are still recognizable as paintings; such as a table and vessel, skeleton and sky, human and dog and so on, but they themselves are not the purpose or subject. On the contrary, those shapes are just a gauge and pretext. In other words, rather than shape, the main objects on his paintings are the amusements of lines, organic relationships of lines one to another and the connection of introduced shapes and lines taking these shapes apart. This fact says that his latest work basically puts deconstruction into practice (he realizes the theory of reproduction), at the same time, he wants to come back to the reductionism of modernism. It seems that this was not done by rather by the trend of his unconscieous to present his view of modernism.
Therefore, we can divide his work trend into an explorative period, neo-imagism of 1980's & 1990's, the series of 'From the Line' in the 2000's and a deconstructionist period. Additionally; in his works of monochrome style ,based on ungessoed canvas, he practices the role of a modernist who searches for the reason the painting exists. Afterward in the series of 'Sound', and 'Skeleton' influenced by neo-imagism, he searched for the reason the painting exists in the spirit of the times and causes of thinking about human existence. And he posits a modernism of reductionism and deconstruction with his series 'From the Line'. On the other side of the pilgrimage of his works, there is a logic of painting that asks about the existence of painting itself with both crashing tension and harmony of logic.
* Date of birth: April 28, 1944 ( Born in Daegu )
1986.2.1 M.F.A., PRATT INSTITUTE, New York: Painting Major ․ 1983-1986
Solo Exhibitions
1985.10.03-08 Pratt Higgins Hall, New York
1985.11.15-29 Gallery Korea, New York
1986.02.03-08 Gallery Muramazu, "Skeletons & sound", Tokyo
1987.04.25-05.03 Gallery Doo Son , Seoul
1987.06.12-18 Gallery Mack Hyang, Daegu
1991.04.26-05.04 Gallery Mack Hyang, Daegu
1998.12.01-15 Gallery Sigong, Daegu
2000.11.08-19 Gallery Eagle, Murray, Kentucky
2003.5.10-5.16 Daegu Exhibition Convention Center,Daegu
2003.6.25-6.29 KIAF Seoul COEX K-61.Seoul
2003.10.28-11.2 SIAF Shanghai Mart B-128, Shanghai
2005.09.05-15 Shanghai Art Museum 3F no.12 Exhibition hall , Shanghai
2006.12.05-10 Reductionismof Modernism, Art &culture Center,no.1.2 ,Daegu
2007.10.24-30 The pain, Anguish and Hope of Basin INS-art center, Seoul
2009.06.09-28 DEAD-BEYOND IMAGE ,Soosung Artphia, Gallery Hoban ,Media Holl,Daegu
Group Exhibition
1986.7.13-25 Korean Contemporary Art Exhibition (the great Moden Art Center)
1987.8.20-26 The 13th Seoul Contemporary Art Festival Contemporary Art Festival "Skeleton"(Culture & Art museum of ChungAn)
1987.10,27-11.1 International IMPACT art festival
(Kyung do Metropolitan City Museum)
1991.7.7-8.1 The 7th Korean Taiwanese Exchange Exhibition
(Daejung City Culture and Arts Center, Taiwan )
1993.3.26-4.13 14 contemporary artists“Skeletions" (Ci Gong Gallery, Daegu)
1993.8.6-13 Nine Artists Painting Exhibition, "sky" (Gallery Kukje, Korea)
1993.10.6-23 Daegu art1, 'Meeting and the new expression' exhibition
‘the untitled“ (Daebaek culture center, Daegu)
1994.05.09-22 The 10th anniversary of the opening of Moodun Grand Art Exhibition
(Kwangju Metropolitan City Museum)
1995.03.29-04.09'light, clarity and wind' exhibition (Dan Gong Gallery, Daegu)
1996.10.25-11.03 Salon'd Automne korean Exhibition
(Association de salon dautomne)
1997.08.04-09 Shanghai & Daegu - Art and Photography Exhibition "1997-10"
(Shanghai Museum,Daegu)
1999.07.17-23 An Aspect of Korean Contemporary Art Untiled
(Gallery Arium,America)
1999.11.10-30 Confluence of Cultures "Sound". (Gallery Korea, N.Y.)
2000.03.29-06.07 2000 Kwangju Biennale Special Exhibition (Kwangju)
2001.06.28-07.03 An Aspect of Korean Contemporary Art (KoreaTimesGallery.Toronto,Canada)
2002.09.10 Shanghai in the Eyes of world Artists 23
artists invited from 23 countries,(Shanghai city hall)
2004.04.22-26 Chinese International Art fair
(Beijing International, the Center is Past)“Chair”
2004.12.09-11 2004 Shanghai Daegu International art exchange exhibition
2004.12.12-15 2004 The Exchange Exhibiton of Architecture and Photography of art Invited by China, simyang (SimYang Culture center)
2004.12.16-20 2004 GUANGZHOU INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR
art gallery mountin (booth:399/400) jinhan exhibtion center
2005.10.04-09 Daegu-Sanghai Exchanging art Exhibition. ( Daegu Culture & Arts Center, Daegu)
2005.10.29-11.03 Art Singapore 2005 (Suntec Singapore Level 4. Hal 402)
2008.06.19-29 Yeongcheon Art Studio Opening Exhibition . Yeongcheon Art Studio
2009.02.27-03.03 Daegu Art Fair 2009 (EXCO. B-29) Joongang Gallery
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