HWANG HYUN SOOK

                               HWANG, HYUN SOOK

 

Reminiscences of Mother through an Aspect of Daily Life

Jin Seop Yoon (Art critic / Professor of Honam University)

Hyun Sook Hwang’s artworks painted with fabric dye on calico are like diaries that project the inner side of people originated from the daily life’s motif. This is why her artworks make the viewers be filled with sympathy. Her artworks truly make me wonder what it means to express one’s world depending on the analogue method in today’s visual environment in which the intensity of light, from so-called new media, grasps our attention through videos. However, it is true that when I think carefully, the more her artworks, which portray the warmhearted living world, rely on the analogue method, the more they comfort our hearts in return. This is because her artworks are like hometowns that bring the forgotten nostalgia back into our lives whenever we look at her drawings. What is more important is that the theme of Hwang’s upcoming exhibition is filled with one’s affection towards mother as if her drawings are dedicated to mothers. Hwang recalls the image of the mother, who had freshly drawn water in front of her and prayed for the family’s happiness, and expresses this through subject matters, such as hanbok, norigae, folding fan, and beoseon.

If we look for the origin of Hwang’s paintings in our tradition, Shinsaimdang’s paintings can be the model. Shinsaimdang’s paintings, which illustrate the graceful and dignified world of boudoir on a piece of paper through tranquil but elaborate touch, depict the internal world of noble household women whom took the painting as the means of spiritual growth. In this context, Hwang expresses an aspect of the modern family into a drawing. The subject matters that she likes to use are things that we often see at home, such as flowers, stationery supplies, furniture, books, wooden containers, etc. All of these things are well-thumbed by the housewives at home. Hwang chooses ordinary objects that we come across every day in daily life in her paintings. Her artworks drawn with slender strokes by using multi-colored dye are not bombastic or coercive but delicate, bright, warm, gentle, and at the same time, they look familiar to us. This aspect of friendly living world that brings in Hwang’s feelings and emotions conveys the message that modern homes are maintained by the housewives’ fine sense of care. This reminds us of the modern society’s problems, such as instant food culture represented by fast food, negligence of housework due to women’s participation in society, and break down of traditional values due to family nuclearization. Hwang’s drawings do not directly mention these social issues, but we are able to make conjectures of these facts from her drawings. The image of mother, the main motif that appears in Hwang’s drawings this time, represents the traditional figure of Korean mothers. The traditional figure of Korean mothers is the image of them devoting themselves for peace and happiness of the family. The subject matters that Hwang introduces in her drawings, such as freshly drawn water, jogakbo, beoseon, norigae, hanbok, etc.,symbolize the traditional figure of Korean mothers. Especially jogakbo draws attention because it uses the constituting principle that forms the foundation of a masterpiece.

Jogakbo is originally a household item crafted by recycling leftover fabrics from fabricating other clothing. It is an outstanding demonstration of our ancestors’ wisdom, and there is no better example of it. In a sense that jogakbo is a collection of fabrics from various origins put into one, jogakbo represents ‘hybrid’ that is discussed repeatedly nowadays. Hwang was inspired by jogakbo. She divided the display of her artwork into quadrilaterals of various sizes and positioned variety of flowers, beoseon, norigae, and millstones inside. Although objects of different sizes are arranged in a two-dimensional arrangement, emphasis is not specifically put in one object than others; the work is expressed in a sense of balance by taking an even view of the objects. Inside this time-consumed, elaborative work of art, referencing from classical fundamentals of art, she has attempted to demonstrate ‘Unity in Variety’. Looking at her masterpiece, one can sense a balance and regularity despite the variety of sizes and materials used: a very unique and mysterious artistic experience. Even though it is extremely difficult to have individual objects stand out yet still maintain viewer’s attention on overall work evenly, she achieved this through extremely meticulous and elaborate portrayal. Portraying through horizontal stroking technique that decorates the background of her artworks especially requires tremendous effort. From that, we can surmise the passion the artist has integrated into this work of art.

The series of iris flower paintings remarkably exhibit Hwang’s skills in realistic portrayal. The artwork’s detailed portrayal of flower petals based on constituting principles of vertical arrangement is truly remarkable. This series attempts to exhibit internal orderliness through the realistic portrayal shown in the work. Like this work, Hwang’s paintings depict the reality shown by the object, but also integrate the artist’s desire for new order through independent display and arrangement. The paintings are reality yet not truly real and dreams that are not dreams but reality. The work that best reflects her desires is the masterpiece painting of freshly drawn water placed in the center along with the scenery of days and months passing by. A pocket watch is placed in the left corner, which indicates that the motif of this artwork is time.

This artwork shows a new born baby growing to a girl, a girl to a middle-aged woman, and finally a middle-aged woman to an old woman in progress of time. In the core of it, there are reminiscences of her mother. Portraying this circle of life, the brevity of aging, and heartwarming atmosphere between the mother and daughter through uses of multitude of props is the world that Hwang’s recent works are presenting.