Esthetics of 'Texture' and 'Piling-up'
-Paper, the overturn of the thought on familiar object-
Written by Kam, Yoonjo (Curator, Hangaram Art Museum)
Introduction
Traditionally, the way of looking objects has been a sustained interest for artists. Taking a broad view, the style of art has been changed according to the artist's view to look subjects.
Artists relatively tend to feel free to get themselves out of the frames which have already been fixed. Merely not being bound by a fixed formula could mean a creation of new works and a formation of new discourse. Sung O, Lee would be mentioned as such a good example who tried changing his view like this.
Though he chose a very ordinary object, paper, as main material for his work, what he wants to show us in this exhibition is the matter of viewpoint. Strictly speaking, it is the matter of direction to look at things. There will be a discussion in which standpoint he has established his own sight.
Paper, From Material to Art Works
Sung O, Lee's works have been consistent with the issue of beauties of nature. Since he doesn't want to get himself out of the own beauties of subjects, he seems to keep his interest continuously. For a while, he kept asking and answering to a traditional and basic problem - the reproduction (imitation) of subjects. Naturally, he has attached himself to the issue of 'drawing', and shown an earnest example of realistic description.
However, the matter of reproduction always requested him dynamic ways of approaches. As Gombrich(Ernst H. J. Gombrich) mentioned, for a continuous reproduction of paintings, it has become momentous to imagine a visual reality.
Finally, in the latter harf of 1999, he gave up a long-standing production method, the direct presentation of objects, and took a new change. The change would be a sort of self-recognition and it begins from the discovery of particular properties of ordinary paper.
The Texture and Piling-up of Paper
Even though paper can be easily varied according to external conditions, sometimes that becomes a merit. The artist who had studied on these characteristics found out the nature of paper can be totally changed in accordance with textures, colors, and processing methods and degree. After that, he studied various technical methods.
The process for producing a piece of work is not that simple. First of all, he begins on that work from collecting enormous quantity of paper even like a monomaniac, then has to be through several stages like sorting, soaking, drying, cutting, and special processing. Besides, as he handles various featured paper, more delicate operating system is followed inevitably. The paper which has been through all this process is more like building material. Next, a painful struggle with dried paper and machine tools begins. He cuts the paper and piles it up, or sometimes rolls it up and fixes it on a frame. By this reason, It is not quite reasonable to classify his work as a plane painting. It is because each of his work looks very different according to the degree of piling-up and forms the thickness which is enough to remind us of relief. Naturally, his work needs lots of paper.
Development of Paper Works
His work gives us huge perceptional difference between taking a near view and a far. In particular, if you glance at his colors, you may feel them as usual material like oil colors or acrylics. Even though it is an original color of printed paper, it looks like a sort of painted one. We are exposed to a kind of visual illusion. On this phenomenon he explains that he has colorized his paper. 〈Texture, 2003〉 brings us substantial illusion derived from the cooperation of colors and textures. This paper's section which shows visual and perceptional playing elements reminds us of Willem De Kooning, and his paper method has been developed to dynamic one from the rather simple color tone in his early days. For instance, the modulation skill of colors, textures, or thickness of paper and the quality of surface processing have been developed more elaborately. Also, the unlimited presentation of the touch of texture and volume as well as the variation of rhythm have been added to the canvas, so it has been leaded to be controlled by sort of vividness and liveliness. It seemed that formal elements are emphasized in a large part.
In Conclusion
To sum up, Sung O, Lee puts some figurative methods into an action in several points. First, one of them would be a flexible presentation of installational and plain painting using paper. And then, the illusion effect made by colors and lines as well as dynamic screen composition methods could be mentioned. Along with these, all-over painting property and working methods seeking for a simple taste using contingencies are applied together. Before everything else, it seems that the issue of identity of Korean art has been hiding in the core of his working method. It is reasonable to consider the intention of what he wants to gain through the piling-up is to imagine and discover a painting which fits well our feeling of eathetic.
At a glance, he seems to be through many stages, but it is not that difficult to find his consistency in beauties of nature from his works. In addition, his curiosity, analysis, and piling-up method would be the driving power backing up his works. Judging from what he has shown us so far, his cognition and way of looking may have flexibility. The visual flexibility watching things with renewed sight rejects the fixed way of looking and approaches the material, paper, as a real object in nature. His specific feature is there. He contributed to advance the paper from anonymity to an individual object with creating forms using the paper as a main material not as a subject of description, I reckon.
The paper's variegated traces he has been showing us indicate the change of his viewpoint related to the daily life of himself. What we should observe in this exhibition is the possibility that the traces, the piled layer of his paper, imply.
Lee, Sung O
Education
1999Chung-Ang University, Painting Department. M.F.A
1985Chung-Ang University, Painting Department. B.F.A.
c.p. 82 10-3221-4363
Solo Exhibitions
2011 Seoul Arts Center (Gallery 7)
2010 GongPyung art space
2006Gallery Mee
Jinsun gallery.
2004SAC 2004 Young Artist Exhibition (Hangram Art Museum)
2002Kwanhoon Gallery
2000Window Gallery (Gallery Hyundai)
Group Exhibitions
2009-2010 Mustache of Mona Lisa(GwangJu museum of art)
2009 The hand of alchemy (inter alia Gallery)
2008 International Art Festival (Seoul Museum of Art)
2007 ZKM-Exhibition of 10th anniversary (Germany)
2007 Exhibition of New Collections 2006 National Museum of contemporary art
2007 ‘Noah's Ark' (National Museum of contemporary art)
2006~2007 NY Christe's auction (successful bid of 3 paintings)
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