My first encounter with art and the journey after began with a sense of vagueness.
1.
My fascination with art began with an expectation that it would be a combination of the eagerness of the spirit, passion, and sense of duty, with the sense of loss that could be found in the monochrome existentialist literature.
Melancholy had its unique charm, and a 17-year-old boy talented in painting used it as an expression from a corner of a city in the middle of winter.
At the age when planning a future, of having a clear-cut and ambitious dream was considered a virtue as a student and youth, I started dabbling in art with a vague conviction that my dream would be somewhere, perhaps behind a floating cloud.
While I could not see past the floating cloud and could not ask anyone or get an answer to my questions, this conviction enabled me to live with expectations and excitement.
It was the 1970s in Seoul, Korea, where art provided that much information to a 17-year old boy, and the boy was happy with just that.
My fascination with art began with an expectation that it would be a combination of the eagerness of the spirit, passion, and sense of duty, with the sense of loss that could be found in the monochrome existentialist literature.
Melancholy had its unique charm, and a 17-year-old boy talented in painting used it as an expression from a corner of a city in the middle of winter.
At the age when planning a future, of having a clear-cut and ambitious dream was considered a virtue as a student and youth, I started dabbling in art with a vague conviction that my dream would be somewhere, perhaps behind a floating cloud.
While I could not see past the floating cloud and could not ask anyone or get an answer to my questions, this conviction enabled me to live with expectations and excitement.
It was the 1970s in Seoul, Korea, where art provided that much information to a 17-year old boy, and the boy was happy with just that.
The happiness of being admitted to a university, the huge joy at realizing that I arrived at my desired destination were fleeting… and was followed by inexplicable disappointment. It was a result of the indefinite expectation of the vagueness the boy blindly believed in.
The expectation that if you go to college… you will have kind and generous people who know the secrets behind the floating clouds just like a fairy tale and that you will be breathing art was both a huge misunderstanding.
College life, full of military-like order and command and discipline, quickly led me to the conclusion that “This isn’t right.”
My wandering (?) lasted for two years, but it was by no means a short period. After wasting time for about three years…
It was rather a relief to enter the military service. I was able to press pause in my life and finally had time to think things over.
When I returned from my military service to school, I had work to do. I reexamined my hasty decision of completely ruling out the university experience as unsatisfactory. I pulled myself together and looked around to find great artists who walked this path before me and became my role models. The fact that they, too, went through this path that was far from ideal made me realize that I had much to work on.
I enjoyed the experience.
Since I was late in returning to school, I was happy that I could avoid seeing the foolish people who tried to rule over me.
The expectation that if you go to college… you will have kind and generous people who know the secrets behind the floating clouds just like a fairy tale and that you will be breathing art was both a huge misunderstanding.
College life, full of military-like order and command and discipline, quickly led me to the conclusion that “This isn’t right.”
My wandering (?) lasted for two years, but it was by no means a short period. After wasting time for about three years…
It was rather a relief to enter the military service. I was able to press pause in my life and finally had time to think things over.
When I returned from my military service to school, I had work to do. I reexamined my hasty decision of completely ruling out the university experience as unsatisfactory. I pulled myself together and looked around to find great artists who walked this path before me and became my role models. The fact that they, too, went through this path that was far from ideal made me realize that I had much to work on.
I enjoyed the experience.
Since I was late in returning to school, I was happy that I could avoid seeing the foolish people who tried to rule over me.
It would have been more efficient if I had been able to acquire information as easily as in the present, but I enjoyed the journey of going to bookstores and libraries on foot to find the things I wanted. Some of the classes I had foolishly disregarded, under the impression that they do not have the answers to my questions, in fact, gave me so many “lessons,” which held me together whenever the thought of quitting art or sculpting crept up.
Alcohol was a prerequisite to open up with fellow art students. We would be serious, obstinate, and argue until our voices became hoarse about something that we would hardly remember the next day… Obstinacy perhaps is a personality trait or virtue as an artist, but, at least for me, it was exhausting.
It never came up in my mind then, but to think of it carefully, did even our professors know the answers to our questions?
I never planned to live my life as a “sculptor” for more than thirty years after graduating college. Art was too vague as a concept to plan your life around, and while I envied those who succeeded in doing just that with self-composure, I was never aware of the future they were planning, which field in the art they were immersed in, nor what they talked about.
2.
I had deft fingers and was rather talented in imitating what I saw, which was an innate talent and was then generally considered as “being good at art.” According to my professors, such a skill has little influence on the actual value of art and is sometimes unnecessary. Nevertheless, I had opportunities to appreciate the works from foreign artists (mainly concerning the modern art movement that took place in New York), which became more accessible in the 1980s and provided the means and answers to many of the questions posed by artists that time. I also had the chance to meet young Korean artists and share each other’s artworks in various forms. Holding and planning exhibitions led to lively discussions and sharing of knowledge, which allowed me to learn more about areas in the art that I worked on and new areas that I have not tried.
I recall that I was a diligent young man then.
I had deft fingers and was rather talented in imitating what I saw, which was an innate talent and was then generally considered as “being good at art.” According to my professors, such a skill has little influence on the actual value of art and is sometimes unnecessary. Nevertheless, I had opportunities to appreciate the works from foreign artists (mainly concerning the modern art movement that took place in New York), which became more accessible in the 1980s and provided the means and answers to many of the questions posed by artists that time. I also had the chance to meet young Korean artists and share each other’s artworks in various forms. Holding and planning exhibitions led to lively discussions and sharing of knowledge, which allowed me to learn more about areas in the art that I worked on and new areas that I have not tried.
I recall that I was a diligent young man then.
Skilled craftsmanship was also a curse. Regardless of what material I was given, I would work it with my hands and produce a cliché. I do not mean to disregard artworks that have been completed with skilled hands and a touch of emotion. The delicate works of Giacomo Manzu, the rough yet energy-filled works of Antoine Bourdelle, and Alberto Giacometti, whose works I greatly admire, are sculptors that I have loved since I was a young child. Artists like them have already presented fascinating and moving results. At times they were brisk, and at times severe and grave…
I confess that I have no talent for delivering profound messages in my works. To be frank, I am not really a serious person, and I have never attempted to do so since expressing my serious side through my works felt like writing an embarrassing entry in my diary.
It was natural to be fascinated by materials.
My instinctive habit of depicting details was tiring but motivated me to become fascinated with conceptual abstraction, which delivers messages through the expressions and propensity inherent in the material itself.
It was coincidental that it was just when I returned to school, after my abrupt break off from college life, for the second semester of my third year in the mid-1980s, when I found happiness in conducting sounds from the materials itself. Stories burst out whenever I threw clay. When I bent, cut, or broke ten-centimeter thick iron plates, the materials roared at me.
My life centered on this project for about a decade.
I confess that I have no talent for delivering profound messages in my works. To be frank, I am not really a serious person, and I have never attempted to do so since expressing my serious side through my works felt like writing an embarrassing entry in my diary.
It was natural to be fascinated by materials.
My instinctive habit of depicting details was tiring but motivated me to become fascinated with conceptual abstraction, which delivers messages through the expressions and propensity inherent in the material itself.
It was coincidental that it was just when I returned to school, after my abrupt break off from college life, for the second semester of my third year in the mid-1980s, when I found happiness in conducting sounds from the materials itself. Stories burst out whenever I threw clay. When I bent, cut, or broke ten-centimeter thick iron plates, the materials roared at me.
My life centered on this project for about a decade.
Then I faced the difficulty of being unable to overcome the limitations of communication and empathy. It was expected from the start, but the project itself was so fun, and it brought me such joy to share this feeling with a handful of people who understood this form of expression. However, the ongoing frustration led me to a turning point.
The depth of expression was less a narrative (which was the norm at that time) than an essay, and even more, it was illegible due to the modification of the materials. The emptiness of being unable to share this expression and the personal issues I experienced at the end of this era…
3.
Discovering the Gemstone
Discovering the Gemstone
“Starting from the 2000s, I keep returning to how precious artworks are. I find myself focusing on the meaning of valuable and cherished objects. An object may have a monetary value or can have a phenomenal or social significance. Art can communicate with the public through its publicness. And public art can be interpreted with a wide range.
I began working on the Gemstone Series in 2009.
First, I chose the “commonsensical and easy approach” and thought of the significance and forms of gems or gemstones. Then, I weld boards together and polished them to create the “gemstones,” which are solid minerals. The colors and polish of the surface are hollow on the inside but look solid, which is a trick of artistic expression similar to illusion, commonly found in paintings.
Decorative and visual, the Gemstone Series had the advantage of being more approachable than the abstract forms of my past works, which were distant and challenging for viewers. The Gemstone Series were permanently installed in a few public spaces as “artistic ornaments” for the general public. Among a series of works, including the Gemstone Garden, Gemstone Towers, and Growing Gemstones, my most recent series, Gem Icicles, is contextually in line with the Gemstone Seeds. If a number of “gemstones” formed a landscape or were piled up or assembled in an irregular pattern to express preciousness in my previous works, my most recent Icicles series portrays the will to penetrate the essence of the preciousness.
- Excerpt from my explanation on the Gemstone series written for an exhibition in 2020
I began working on the Gemstone Series in 2009.
First, I chose the “commonsensical and easy approach” and thought of the significance and forms of gems or gemstones. Then, I weld boards together and polished them to create the “gemstones,” which are solid minerals. The colors and polish of the surface are hollow on the inside but look solid, which is a trick of artistic expression similar to illusion, commonly found in paintings.
Decorative and visual, the Gemstone Series had the advantage of being more approachable than the abstract forms of my past works, which were distant and challenging for viewers. The Gemstone Series were permanently installed in a few public spaces as “artistic ornaments” for the general public. Among a series of works, including the Gemstone Garden, Gemstone Towers, and Growing Gemstones, my most recent series, Gem Icicles, is contextually in line with the Gemstone Seeds. If a number of “gemstones” formed a landscape or were piled up or assembled in an irregular pattern to express preciousness in my previous works, my most recent Icicles series portrays the will to penetrate the essence of the preciousness.
- Excerpt from my explanation on the Gemstone series written for an exhibition in 2020
I do not remember which reason came first.
In any case, I began with the theme. I searched for a theme that can be straightforward in delivering the meaning of preciousness and value (a theme that would be an antithesis to the indirect, shy expressions from the past).
I believed that it should be easily understood (I was tired of artworks that required lessons for interpretation) as I wanted to communicate with many people through my works.
Since the impression that the scale of artwork can provide should not be disregarded, I also considered the sheer expansiveness of the production scale.
I wanted to share my works with the viewers as public art. I wanted to free myself from my youthful misconceptions and return to the most essential function of art by providing the people who do not speak the sculptor’s language with easy yet imaginative artistic service filled with hidden stories in its depth. There are far too many genuinely revolting and soulless sculptures in the streets and public spaces, and I yearned to make changes to them, little by little. As an introvert, I decided to speak through my works rather than speaking up.
It was less difficult to think and design the work as an artist than to execute and realize my designs. The creation process was exhausting, and at times, I had moments when I questioned my own decisions. Many parts of the project would not have been possible without help from other professionals. Another decade passed this way.
In any case, I began with the theme. I searched for a theme that can be straightforward in delivering the meaning of preciousness and value (a theme that would be an antithesis to the indirect, shy expressions from the past).
I believed that it should be easily understood (I was tired of artworks that required lessons for interpretation) as I wanted to communicate with many people through my works.
Since the impression that the scale of artwork can provide should not be disregarded, I also considered the sheer expansiveness of the production scale.
I wanted to share my works with the viewers as public art. I wanted to free myself from my youthful misconceptions and return to the most essential function of art by providing the people who do not speak the sculptor’s language with easy yet imaginative artistic service filled with hidden stories in its depth. There are far too many genuinely revolting and soulless sculptures in the streets and public spaces, and I yearned to make changes to them, little by little. As an introvert, I decided to speak through my works rather than speaking up.
It was less difficult to think and design the work as an artist than to execute and realize my designs. The creation process was exhausting, and at times, I had moments when I questioned my own decisions. Many parts of the project would not have been possible without help from other professionals. Another decade passed this way.
4.
On New Projects
In terms of my attitude or creation style, I think I may have returned to the period when I used to express myself with materials.
The time when I stimulated the materials directly for their reactions.
The gemstones were created for communication and were satisfactory in many aspects, but I was thirsty for more. Just as I worked on my previous works while working on the gemstones, I do not intend to put the gemstone series behind me.
I had stopped working on my previous projects to think and discover (or more specifically compile) the gemstones for about two years. I confess that I may have been too considerate of the viewer’s perspective toward my works. I did it because I had to and also because I wanted to. Now, I plan to put a slight end to the Gemstone Series that engulfed me with ambivalence for more than a decade.
I want to make time for my own work. My mind is already full of ideas that I thought of for a year or two before I arrived at this decision.
On New Projects
In terms of my attitude or creation style, I think I may have returned to the period when I used to express myself with materials.
The time when I stimulated the materials directly for their reactions.
The gemstones were created for communication and were satisfactory in many aspects, but I was thirsty for more. Just as I worked on my previous works while working on the gemstones, I do not intend to put the gemstone series behind me.
I had stopped working on my previous projects to think and discover (or more specifically compile) the gemstones for about two years. I confess that I may have been too considerate of the viewer’s perspective toward my works. I did it because I had to and also because I wanted to. Now, I plan to put a slight end to the Gemstone Series that engulfed me with ambivalence for more than a decade.
I want to make time for my own work. My mind is already full of ideas that I thought of for a year or two before I arrived at this decision.
I turned sixty this year. A big laugh comes rather than a smile.
I never had a detailed roadmap of my life. I simply had the vague notion that I will live with “art.” But now, I can confidently say that I consider myself a sculptor.
“Literature” and “all things related with literature” were a fascination and even a dream of mine, but my art had to be and was just so. Looking back, I tried many different things, but perhaps I knew that I would arrive here in the end.
I never had a detailed roadmap of my life. I simply had the vague notion that I will live with “art.” But now, I can confidently say that I consider myself a sculptor.
“Literature” and “all things related with literature” were a fascination and even a dream of mine, but my art had to be and was just so. Looking back, I tried many different things, but perhaps I knew that I would arrive here in the end.
I lived for sixty years, studied art for forty, and lived as a so-called sculptor for thirty years.
I want to do good.
February, 2021, Sculptor Park, Tae Dong