23/24 In the midst of life
20/22 Breath of the city
17/20 Police Place Presence
11/16 Land & Landscape

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Just as various textures manifest in painting through the accumulation of paint and medium, I believe that 'space' also exhibits its unique 'texture' or 'essence' based on the accumulation of numerous elements inherent in human life.

In Korea, the relationship between space and human is an organic one, where neither holds dominance, and this relational characteristic naturally blends with the emotional essence of Korean life accumulated in history, creating a distinct essence. This essence, I believe, permeates every aspect of the process of Seoul's formation as a city and the life within it.

Based on these thoughts, 'Breath of the City' is a socially subjective landscape painting series that seeks to discover the 'emotional essence of Korean life' and the 'organic relationship between space and human' that permeates Seoul and embody it through the texture of painting. This work involves applying layers of paint to the canvas slowly and deliberately over time. It's a method devised to artistically manifest intangible elements into physical space through the concept of 'permeation.'

The thinly layered paint seeps into the previous layer, forming a solid stratum while ensuring that all textures are evenly distributed and uniformly absorbed. Through this process, the space within the canvas frame and the human become a single organism, breathing gently, and the holistic breath one feels when viewing the landscape is reinterpreted into the painterly texture and encapsulated on the canvas.

14–11–2023

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“The police officers in fluorescent uniforms are always in the square. Sometimes scattered, sometimes densely packed, they shimmer above the gray city. They patrol, encircle, and create space in the square. The fluorescent dots constantly alter the shape, texture, and feel of the space, as well as the sensation of the air. Depending on their mode of existence, the atmosphere in the square can become tense, loose, thick, or light. They are both subjects exercising power and objects subject to the dominance of power. They serve as observers and, at the same time, are observed subjects. They are human yet also part of the landscape.” from the artist's note

The area around Gwanghwamun Square is not only an important place that preserves the historical pulse of South Korea but also an intriguing space that gives the impression of having no specific owner. After gazing at the space for a long time, the police officers, who stay there the longest, emerged as significant subjects of observation on the screen.

The fluorescent uniforms of the police shine even more vividly in the grayish Seoul, and their distinct visibility, paradoxically, provides a fresh visual perspective that can freely transform the nature of the space. Depending on the intentions of the police, as well as the nuances with which they control and configure the space, the character of the space unfolds as a stage with countless possibilities for change.

Despite the vivid visual presence implying law enforcement authority, the police are lightweight and replaceable anonymous figures when viewed as individuals. Their existential attitude, dominating the space for a long time but not actively engaging in everyday life, is a characteristic unique to the figure of the police in urban space. Therefore, the color of the police uniforms in my paintings manifests with a level of intensity that blends into the space, absorbing and expressing a subtler atmosphere, allowing for a more profound function.

In my paintings, the fluorescent color of the police is subdued and absorbed, taking on a hue that permeates the space and transforms into a more nuanced function, acting as a mediator that brings poetic, metaphorical, and sometimes external situations into my artwork.

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A square is a place that cannot exist independently. It draws people in by its emptiness and, through its void, holds the potential for endless connections and new possibilities. In a city, a square, depending on its location, size, and shape, as well as the actions of those who engage with it, can freely transform its inherent nature. Observing the spaces around the square that I encountered daily on my way to school led me to contemplate the essential qualities of a square, and I began visualizing it through my paintings.

A square gains its worth when it allows both the pre-existing 'Land,' which is there to attract something, and the ever-flowing 'Landscape' to coexist harmoniously without one dominating the other. If Land represents the historical layers of accumulated weight, then Landscape is the present lightness that temporarily drifts over the heavy Land. In my paintings, the heaviness symbolized by Land and the lightness represented by Landscape maintain a delicate balance, coexisting evenly with the same force. A square is a place where the ongoing historical weight striving to become heavier and the transient forces of people passing lightly over it coexist harmoniously, with none of them holding dominance.

On the canvas, all the elements that encompass Land and Landscape pile up with the same force, ultimately coexisting tightly as one solid entity. As the same breath evenly spreads the same force across the entire frame, a new place is constructed on the canvas.