A glimpse into ideas through the eyes of artists
Yeonjin Jeong (Independent Curator, Art Studies)
We easily divide any object or value into two: life and death, truth and lies, light and darkness, inner and outer, man and woman, black and white, gain and loss, real and virtual, etc. The origins of most of these dichotomous thoughts are based on Western philosophy. They have always divided the world into ‘this side’ and ‘that side’, and have longed for the ‘other side’ rather than ‘this side’ and tried to pursue it.
Plato (Plato B.C. 427-347), a representative philosopher of ancient Greece who can be said to have started this philosophy, divided the world into the real world and the world of ideas. He believed that the real world is imperfect and changeable, but the world of ideas is perfect and unchanging. Therefore, according to his theory, 'true' does not exist where we live, and there is an 'idea' that can be called 'true', that is, 'reality', somewhere out there beyond our eyes. ' exists. For example, this booklet you are currently looking at is not real, it is just an image resembling this, and the true booklet is in the Idea on the other side. At the same time, Plato compared humans who cannot see the real thing to prisoners locked in a cave. The humans in the cave do not know about the bright light of the sun outside the cave. They simply think of the cave wall in front of them as the whole world, look at the shadows reflected in the small rays of light that seep into the cave, and mistake the illusion for reality.
So, from his perspective, is art real or illusion? Reality is an image of Idea that imitates Idea, and art imitates reality that imitates Idea. For Plato, art is nothing more than creating an image of an image. To him, art is closer to images, and images are closer to shadows than reality. This was also the reason why Plato, who pursued the Idea, tried to expel artists. In fact, looking at past art, we cannot dismiss his words as completely wrong. The purpose of art in the past was the art of representation. Therefore, we distinguished good art from bad art based on how much it resembles the object and how identically it is created. Artists who were disparaged for depicting virtual reality rather than reality worked hard to create a more realistic reality on the screen. Appreciating the art of representation was not that difficult. Visitors could easily understand the theme or content of the work just by looking at it.
However, today's art is no longer easy. Beyond the simple ‘impression’ of the artist, ‘abstraction’ that cannot be recognized has appeared, and the world of dreams or products can become art. Just by looking at it, it is impossible to determine whether it is a painting of an object, a landscape, or a human being. If you look at the proposition table to understand it better, the title of the work is also ‘Untitled’. In addition, the distinction between genres and media has become ambiguous, such as whether this work should be viewed as a painting or a formative art. Contemporary artists are trying to abandon the principles of representation and visualize things that are invisible or ‘beyond’ what is visible.
Oul Art Center’s exhibition “The Other Side” shows the world of artists. Just as no one has experienced or can define Idea, the worlds in their works are all different. Landscapes that resemble reality or are borrowed from reality present a world that is both familiar and unfamiliar. Although it is different from reality, the world of artists is too diverse to be divided only by the dichotomy of reality and virtuality.
Author Park In-seong expresses the world in his own way, giving materiality to reality. Rather than simply drawing, he uses a pictorial technique of placing an image captured with a camera on a canvas and layering acrylic paint and epoxy resin on top of it. The artist's pictorial world is superimposed on the results of the camera that captures the world, creating a new world. The image of the reproduction, which is bound to be the same as what was perceived visually through camera technology, is obscured and obscured by paint and resin, and at the same time, it is difficult to determine what the original image was. Effects that directly reflect the properties of the paint, which has a curdled liquid texture that covers a still photographed image, create a screen that seems to be alive and moving. His layers, which he invested time and care into on top of a still screen, actually give it a sense of movement and rhythm, giving the illusion that it is alive.
Writer Kim Ryang-hee filled the screen with landscapes that are around us but that we do not pay much attention to. He pays no heed to human indifference and focuses on natural objects that boast infinite vitality. It is a landscape that can be easily encountered in everyday life, but for most people, it is simply unmanaged nature that is easily overlooked. However, the author looked at them with affectionate eyes. The screen is filled with images of plants living their lives leisurely, unaffected by conditions and environments. The tangled stems and branches, nameless plants showing off their presence among the rubble, etc. rather have an unorganized, raw appearance and the outstretched leaves and stems show even stronger vitality. Rough expressions that seem more exaggerated than reality express a presence that goes beyond what is visible. In addition, the way it expands without space to fill the screen is unfamiliar, but it catches the viewer's attention so that it cannot be easily overlooked.
Artists express ‘beyond’ reality through photography rather than painting. Artist Song Seok-woo uses his film camera to show landscapes that reflect his reality. Although he used real space as the background and material, the characters acting within it are somewhat awkward. Through his work, the author tells the stories of young people, especially men in their 20s, who are unable to adapt to a rapidly changing society. Therefore, although his world is a very ordinary space, the characters do things that do not fit the place or seem to wander, giving a feeling of being out of sync with the space. This subtle awkwardness reflects the psychology of young people about the world that he seeks to express. The space also gives off an atmosphere of not knowing why they are here, and the characters in the space also have no facial expressions, creating the feeling of not knowing why they are here.
Artist Kim Jae-yu incorporated his visual experiences from everyday scenes into his paintings. He captures the scenes he personally witnessed and expresses them in his own way. The reality he reflects is far from a worthy landscape that anyone would praise. His landscapes, which serve as the subject matter of his works, are mainly ones that are interrupted, frozen, or disappearing. The empty and strange atmosphere created by the scattering and covering of things left behind in places where construction has been halted, the grass growing wild on the roads that were left unconnected and temporarily suspended, and the countless nameless creatures that will leave one day but are currently inhabiting the place that is their home. A flock of birds, a landscape beyond the window that seems fixed forever, but changes with time, etc. He did not forget to record the disorderly nature that appeared in the neatly organized artificial appearance, and the appearance of life emerging even in the process of extinction. Perhaps that is why his technique resembles the rough and fast strokes used by the Impressionists to capture moments. The heterogeneous colors also seem to reflect the artist's impression. Rough brushstrokes and traces of paint give a sense of reality, creating a sense of vitality in his still world.
Artist Baek Da-rae shows a world somewhere where reality and virtuality are combined through installation and video work. The screen in the world he presents has floating digital images and phrases such as directives or chat windows, making you feel like you are in a game world. However, the players within it, that is, the characters and backgrounds that seem to be the subjects of the world, reflect our lives, adding to the confusion. He recorded and collected visual images of cities, nature, and society that serve as the background of our daily lives and that we believe are huge and perfect, and combined them with imperfect images created by the artist to create intentionally heterogeneous landscapes. Through this, he tried to settle his imperfect existence in a perfect society. In particular, the installation work, which requires a monitor that appears to protrude from the image and a small chair that appears to have fallen from a piece of the work to view the image through a round hole, arouses the curiosity of visitors with its bizarre appearance. The moment the viewer sits down on the chair with curiosity, he or she becomes a part of his world. But in reality, visitors have no choice but to just watch. Nothing can be changed. In the end, this too becomes a foreign entity in the landscape.
Just because you are an artist doesn't mean you live in a different world from us. They too have followed a similar trajectory of life within social customs, feel the changes of the four seasons, and live repetitive daily lives. Even if you are an artist, if you have supernatural powers or mental abnormalities, or if you hear special sounds or see things that are generally incomprehensible, it will be difficult for you to live your daily life. However, artists have a special attitude and way of life. Rather than simply burying the world they feel in their hearts, they visually reveal the essence of the world. Rather than simply reproducing what is seen, the method of reproduction has simply changed. In a way, they are trying to show us the reality that Plato wanted.
The development of art has made it possible to visualize and perceive the abstract and mental forms that Plato mentioned. Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) painted the stone mountain ‘La Sainte-Victoire’ numerous times to represent the essence of things. André Marchand (1907-1997) once said, “The universe should penetrate the artist, and the artist should not try to penetrate the universe.” Artists who disparaged Plato as passive and imitative have, through various attempts and experiments throughout history, glimpsed the Idea that he only pursued existentially and presented it visibly.
In the end, there is not one form of Idea shown by artists. Each Idea has a different appearance, but seeks to show the essential reality. The viewer also does not have to see it as the artist suggests. It is also the viewer's responsibility to discover the idea within. So, what is the world ‘beyond’ the world you see now?