Through my artwork <PORTRAIT OF A ROCK, dimensions variable, pebble and mixed media on canvas, 2017>, I wanted to bring into the surface how beautiful small things are in nature by magnifying the natural beautiful abstract marks on small pebbles on paper. I want people to fully enjoy what is already around them.
To be specific, We live by seeing the nature and we naturally resemble them. Similarly, we learn the joy of imitation when we see and follow something and make a second one from the original. Imitation includes all aspects of visual imitation, auditory imitation, including the process of learning and acquiring something more complete than self. I travel in this original artistic nature and discover art. Then, imitate it to acquire it. Finally, it can be established in an important place in life.
In my life´s journey, I have experiences that should not be forget in a specific place, which is similar to the process in which stones in nature are artificially created in the place that are found. The stones in each different place are formed in a given environment until a specific pattern is made. When I am polished out of a certain place, like those stones, I pick up the stones that existed with me at that place and celebrate the events of my life.
This work can be seen as a combination of the personal diary of the artist and the diary of nature. The past is no longer the present, but it becomes, in the head, the remaining abstract that has passed. These memories are not in a visible form that remains in the eye, so a series of events that have become past will remain a unique and spiritual thing that will not be revealed on the surface unless they speak. Likewise, the stones remain vivid in an abstract form as they go through situations. In the process of figurative representation, which imitates the abstract of the stone picked up in a specific situation (the first diary), I create a second conceptual diary by giving a new abstraction that I experienced around it.
Finally, this original abstract stone and my artwork inspired by it are exhibited together. By displaying what I have learned and experienced in that time, I can preserve memories of the past and, furthermore, share this with other people.
The process what I am creating is so much like ancient one. Placing stones in a certain place was a common thing in old days. They remembered and commemorated their precious memories by setting up stones in a place when there was something to remember.
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Nature is where we exist. It is inevitable not to be influenced by nature as people, especially as an artist, because we have become who we are by abiding to the rules and laws of nature. As I looked at the small things in nature, I was able to discover that nature was very much like us. Through my artwork, <SNAIL’S GALLOP, dimensions variable, snails on paper, 2013>, I recorded a snails’ trail on paper to show how diligent and busy a snail’s day was. I wanted to break people’s preconception that a snail is slow and lazy, and by showing the movements of a snail on paper through a performance art, I was able to show how precious and procedural a snail was.
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Theological background of Work ”LIFE”
On a single theme of “LIFE” there are the disappearing Life 'BIOS’ and the Everlasting Life ‘ZOE’. I try to communicate with audiences by placing these two paradigms in one space. The process in which humans are born and live is called 'BIOS'. With the participation of the audiences, I run the process work which can be recognized and experienced using of a material attribute called sandpaper. Sandpaper is mainly used to grind something. This is like the property of a human finite life that is vanished by death. Looking at the sandpaper works where there are many after-images of death left. You can feel the ‘LIFE’ that has disappeared and will disappear.
'Complete life' is a transcendent life beyond the experience of death. I choose the perfect life icon that even if the visible form is divided, it will still embody life as a living being. I installed the torn photos of Jesus on the cross in a variety of ways on the art space and gathered the discarded styrofoam and washed them, rapped them up with gauze and planted Christ´s images on them. ‘ZOE’ works require participation of audiences like ‘BIOS’ works do, People can fill the cracks in the space with the torn pictures of Jesus on the cross and stick them on the tapes which are installed in that space.
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Artist statement
As Hegel put it, every era of history has gone through a fiercely opposing and divergent dialectic process. There have been many philosophers, historians, and scientists who have done the work of breaking down the walls so that our times do not remain in the conventional customs. In addition to this, in the art world, numerous artistic movements have emerged in this tension, and the appearance of liberal art in the present generation is revealed. Furthermore, in today's globalization era, where there is an exchange of culture and thought mixed with the world beyond the country, I always ask myself Kant's question: as an artist, "what should I do?".
Just as an orator who speaks in front of thousands of people has the power to lead other individuals, I think an artist can act like an orator. Even though everyone has the freedom to interpret what they see and hear, there is still one voice which penetrates the audience’s heart. I live in a pluralistic postmodern era, but I believe that there is an absolute truth that does not change in diversity. Because I think that this truth is the only key to seeing the common essence of mankind, I study people's thoughts and create my artwork so that others can recognize and enjoy it.
To be specific, as the dozens of beautiful branches stretching freely into the sky are rooted into one, the aim of the artist and the audiences is to feel the intrinsic experience of penetrating various themes into one essence without wandering from environment through my various works. I want to create a field of art that can harmonize various issues such as nature, self and others, society, culture, economy, and life and death in one world view.