period : 1988~1995

Even though Taedong Park’s work have been shown in many group and public subscription exhibitions since the graduation of the university in 1988 and several times been awarded prizes, for the first time in his life, he would have his own private exhibition. The works which will be shown in this exhibition are those in clay-some are cast in bronze-he has been experimenting recently and his way of approach emphasized clay itself accomplish its own, ‘form’ during the clay making process, not the conventional modeling technique and its result, deliberate form and effect of expression. The autogenous ‘forms’ which separated from the lump of the clay or thrown by the lump have their own vitality and existence, at this time, the artist’s deliberate technique, in other words, the intervention of hand work become the smallest. On the contrary, the artist as a body meet the clay as a substance, that is, as an existence versus an existence or as a vital thing versus a vital thing, and he make the meeting and separating process as an artistic work. The forms which produced in this way approaches us as an entity which has various expressions according to size, shape and density of the clay. As a contrast element, metal board, smooth luster-bronze or long and arbitrary lines which is associated with the arbitrary and moving lines in the expressionist school are combined with the lump-forms, or dancing around them. In short, Taedong Park’s recent works show new interests in clay’s primary material nature and the acquirement of meaning as an aesthetic existence, which is most familiar with man and nearest with the nature at this time, the using of the contrast forms are additional moulding element for emphasizing the expressions of the lumps. 

The opening of the interest about the primary material nature of the material is originated from attempting the escape to the ‘abstract’ way which show the relations of the object and the material nature of its elements, as I had been sick of the traditional way of production. As the first step, I gave a shock or a stimulus, that is, welding, cutting on the metal sand irons as the material, but I could begin full-scale research about the material nature from rediscovering clay as more supple and primary material. The clay have been cherished by sculptors from the primitive times to modern times, but this artist’s new gives emphasis on the process which material itself make its own form, equals to 70’s Arte Pobera artist’s. But on the other hand resultant forms reveal the boundary as another experiment of forms with the intervention of contrasting element, not searching the process which the material itself is made as this artist’s intention they produce moving and gesturing expressionistic form and various spaces, so they may show the existential periodic what-should-be, self-realization. In other words, his works were impressed as the three dimensional expression of action-painting-the clay is dyes, the initiativeness is accidental touch.