Shigeo Chiba, 2001

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I.

The Korean contemporary art can date back to the Korean War. As well known, its first movement was ignited by Informel from 1950s through 1960s. It is not significant notion whether Korean Informel was directly influenced by that of European Informel or Abstract Expressionism of the United States. What matters in Korean Informel, in my opinion, can be summarized as follows: First, it provided young artists (Park Seo-bo, Kim Tschang-yeul, Youn Myeung-ro, Chung Chang-sup, etc.) a momentum to question the conventional authority and pursue a new form of arts. (This is similar to Japanese Informel or Anti-Arts movement.) Second, it totally denied the conventional forms of art though it ended up only initiative efforts. If such movement had happened half a century ago in Europe, it would have sought new forms by using human unconsciousness or new forms from abstractness. However, Korean artists strove to divest themselves from a form itself and still their arts could exist as painting. Take examples of Monochromism, All-over painting and Color-field painting, it is still paintings without forms.

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In later 1960's the Korean Informel generation faced a big obstacle to divestment from forms. This was the time when Korea enjoyed a booming economy dubbed as Miracle of River Han and Korean people showed a strong interest in cultural identity boosted by democratic movements. Trials and errors repeated: some of the Informel artists returned to forms, turned their back against them and went back to them again. Among the former artists was Kim Tschang-yeul and the latter artists were instrumental in creating Monochrome works in the 1970s. In a way the Korean Informel generation avoided paintings themselves as well as forms. They simply do something on canvas and it could be seen as paintings, but matter of fact they are not paintings but works.

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The characteristics of Monochrome are easy to notice: Material (objects and pigments), Texture and Work Process. They are still paintings, but different from conventional paintings. When people say, paintings, they usually think on the basis of those from a western art. To merely call Monochrome works paintings might fail to deliver the essence of this form of art. This is why I prefer to call them works of art rather than paintings. Monochrome works doesn't display something, image or illusionism. Of course, it shows some objects with pigments, but avoids focus on their materiality. It does not intend to replace images with textures. Though the process is shown on the works, it is not their goal. And the word, paintings, does not imply a sense of space while Monochrome does, strictly speaking, it is a different sense of space from that in a conventional painting.

 

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II.

Yun Hyong-keun is one of Monochrome artists along with Park Seo-bo, Chung Chang-sup, Ha Chong-hyun, Choi Myoung-young etc. I think a Korean Monochrome group comprises so-called the Korean War generation and April 19 (democratic movement) generation. Yun belongs to the former generation, but his starting point was later than the others. According to the art critic, Lee Yil, Yun's artistic world displays slightly different from the general characteristics of Monochrome art. In his memory, one of his early works which does not now exist reminds him a close-up parts of Monet's Water Lilies. There was another kind of works from Monochrome. We might say that his join to Monochrome was laid when his paintings were exhibited in Ecole De Seoul in the middle of 70's. He practically consummated to Monochrome through his own way.

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Unfortunately, his work created before 1967 could not be found. His works available were produced in 1970's. His paintings in a preparatory phase of Monochrome art in 1972 represent the key points of his artistic world which were established in 1994 in full swing. In this context, his works made from 1967 through 1970's significantly paved the way for its independent artistic world. His paintings can be differentiated from those by the Korean War generation or a Monochrome group because his background and motivation are not the same with theirs. His interests are more towards society, its tradition and nature even though he shares a certain common group with them.

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Artists usually search their outlet to a new form of art in Informel where they present primitive activities with ambiguous expression. However, Yun attaches more importance to a human being, society and nature than art themselves due to the influence of his background. He experienced most of Korean tragedies: Japanese colonial occupation, the Pacific War and its aftermath chaos and Korean War and its incurrent turmoil in both his boyhood and his youth which are crucial parts of his life. It was nature which alleviated our pains. Mountains and rivers laid a warm layer protecting us from ugly life scene and became an essential part of our existence. Therefore, what he tries to show through his works is to reach the laws of our life and nature as well. His works are the consequences of these attitudes.

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Yun did not merely jump on the wagon of the mainstreams arts. He was not obsessed with new art forms. He has just been patiently waiting until he can be inspired while weathering ups and downs of his life. Nothingness serves as a great teacher guiding his universe of art. This philosophical thought outweighs paintings or works which can be done afterwards.

 

I went to Mt. Odae at dusk one day. It was serenity itself decorated with fallen leaves, messengers of fall. Temple Sangwon in the mountain had a forest hardly untrodden by visitors. I was scared to suddenly find something lying ahead of me while I was indulged in walking by myself in the forest. It was a big tree. I was thrilled by assuming how old it was and how long it had been laid there. The centenarian tree got rotten and its root started changing into soil. I was lost in thinking the invincible principles of nature and stood still like a guidepost. These experiences are still vivid and will continue so for the rest of my life.

(from Yun Hyong-keun’s Notes)

 

What achievement and great works of arts created by human beings can beat such a touching moment made by the old tree and the law of Nature? This is a point of departure for his philosophy of life that comes first and then does his art. Without this attitude, creation of any forms of arts cannot be achieved. With this in mind, Yun tries to construct his universe of art.

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It is fair to say his attitude toward art well represent that of Korean scholars, Seonbi, and further that of other East Asian arts. Accept nature as it is; appreciate what it shows to and tell us; figure out what makes this possible. What artists express do not always match what people think they do. It exists ion our daily life and is closely related with nature. Yun and his colleagues may be the last generation of Seonbi, a traditional Korean scholar of reputation. Technically, Seonbis are only alive in historical records. However, their spirits are sure to descend to their posterity like Yun. Though he is not a Seonbi, he redefines the spirits in his own terms. Producing works is likened to keeping a journal or diary to him so that his works remind people of Seonbi's mind or philosophy.

 

 

III.

I confront Yun's works again. His works of arts again do not tell anything: material, texture or work process. It may not be a Monochrome art, either. I know it sounds a little exaggerating to say so. However, I cannot choose but to put my impression on his art this way.

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Material: Yun uses canvas without applying any basic pigment to provide a natural feeling of a cloth itself, not a material on which something is represented. Only umber (burnt-umber) and blue (ultramarine-blue) are applied several times. Texture: Any object has texture that almost all the works of arts place a focus on. However, texture is not an ultimate goal that arts want to reach because it stands out only when it is mingled with other materials. For example, Chosun dynasty's ceramics are peculiar in their colors, white and blue. It is texture that renders them special. Thanks to their texture, the ceramic arts appear to eagerly want appreciators touch and use them though they are destined to live in glass cases of museum. This is why I feel reminiscence on a White Moon ceramic of Yi dynasty. Texture can be felt when people pay a full attention to works with heart and soul, and even body. Work process: I cannot trace any hint of how he works. The process of creating his art lies beneath his works themselves, which is not something anyone can easily notice. I mentioned before that his art may not belong to a Monochrome group. Though he retouches canvas with umber and blue several times, it turns dark brown and a part of canvas is remained raw cloth.

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As such, Yun paints his works with different uses of material, texture, process and Monochrome from those of Monochrome group.

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A number of people consider Monochrome art a new form, yet think it is a part of paintings and call it Material, Texture and Process. In this context, Monochrome paintings are slightly diverted from those mentioned in a Western art. Some even say this form of art is a new form or the renewal of an oriental art. I suppose we should be cautious in admitting this comment, because it possibly implies that Yun will not go back to general paintings and other forms of art.

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IV.

I stand still in front of Yun's works again and look closely. I am wondering how I can best describe his universe of art, which doesn't simply mean I put my eyes on them but feel something simple, some kind of essence. If my appreciation is only limited to looking at his works, I cannot experience a sense of space and find their materiality and texture, either.

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I cannot leave the exhibition where his works are displayed. I find myself fathoming their deep meaning. My eyes reach a larger scope of his artistic world, which is the universe, not a mere artistic world. In this universe there are no depth, no movement, centrifugal centripetal. In a nutshell, his universe embraces nature, society, a human being and even their abstract concept.

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Yun's artistic home is in nature. I use nature as an abstract term, not a concrete one such as his birthplace or his nation. When I say I feel something essential from his works, it is nature itself in a way. Conception is oppositely interpreted to nature. He changes nature into his work of art thorough a sophisticated process of conceptualization. In other words, nature lives in his conception while his paintings are uplifted to his universe through which art exists beyond art. However, it is not necessary to compare his artistic world with Minimal art (or Conceptual Art). The only emphasis should be placed on the conceptualization of his universe which once interest Donald Judd in a profound way.

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To appreciate Yun's art requires our five senses, even our body and our additional imagination. This may sound like a cliché. However, people may change their thoughts if they see his works which do not reveal many things, to say nothing of any clues. My eyes lost focus on the works and my view enlarges to the size of my body. Normally, view focused on one point, so the results of pin-point view constructed in mind for figure out the whole picture. In front of Yun's works my view abandons pin-point function and then enlarges width of acceptability by itself. My view becomes my body, and it takes in Yun’s works. It is rather acceptance than seeing that occurs with whole body. Therefore, looking at his works becomes totally another kind of quality.

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V.

Yun has been expressing how to accept and represent his universe as a whole, which is far from paintings and arts. His works can be looked upon as paintings in that they are created with pigments on canvas. Can we still call them paintings after a consideration of their different sense of space, forms and uses of colors? As matter of fact, it is not a painting. This is related to what nature ordinary means, in his universe: nature is not a physical environment but conceptualization. Lee Yil also made this clear in his critic view on Yun's art in 1980s'. He described Yun's arts as paintings of impossibility because in his art, there was the primal state of nature which could not be hired as form. Hereby, I would agree with Lee Yil's idea when his word, the nature, were highly conceptualized notion, but he stuck to the notion of figuration. In Yun's works, there was not such a thing as figuration. Some parts of 1980s' Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue could be seen as a trunk of a huge tree, but those of 1990s' Umber-Blue became a sense of stern rectangle. This proved that figuration was not Yun's intention. He did not mean to express nature's primitive stage as any kind of forms. He rather aimed at exhibiting his universe, the more abstinent, intelligent and strict. Scenic mountains and rivers, fighting laborers and plaintive facial expressions can show nature, society and a human being, yet they still miss something to describe the universe as the whole. Therefore, intense abstraction is essential, and it is meaningless without being expressed through physical and mental substances.

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Art takes things which do not rely on words or language as a subject, furthermore it is not a kind of slogan with any certain meaning or direction. It is a try to express trivial life-size something of a person, and sometimes only its creator can decide the meaning of his work of art. Art is a certain kind of attempt to present tiny meanings. Yun's universe is himself and the expression of his universe can be connected with its viewers body, not his/her mind when it is described in an abstract sense. According to Yun's own words, he decided up his mind to do fine art, and his whole life has been devoted to it. He wrote in his notes, "my art is myself, not the paintings, something beforehand of language and indescribable, and they are like my daily records written in my diary." Yun's most expression, Art like myself, means the universe in fact Only the issue of externalization what he has inside is crucial point because without that, no one can recognize that as the actual fact. In this case, externalizing needs the formality related to his body and perception. It has to be possible to grasp the whole the whole at a glance and to be given as a shape of enormous space as the whole universe. It practically happens in his formality and is represented in front of our bare eyes. Furthermore, his universe retains a work of art, not a painting.

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VI.

Whether Korean Monochrome works belong to conventional paintings or not is up to art historians. Monochrome artists actually pursue neither painting nor works of art. The young artists face the end of Modernism today and make utmost efforts to produce a brand new form of arts. Their attitudes are akin to those of Monochrome artists. It is more accurate to say the end of Modernism in Korea had already begun right before or after the Korean War. Young artists who have been enjoying economic upbeat may raise their eyebrows about this opinion. They are more familiar with popularism, information age in a consumption-oriented society. Even though their social situations are totally different, it is natural that young artists and Monochrome artists pursue the same traces. To me, as a generation who is somewhere between the two, this shows a double side of our society. The sandwich generation views both what changes and what remains unchanged as indistinguishable in a broad spectrum of eternity.

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To any generation, the focal point lies in whether they accept conventional arts or deny and overcome them. This is how Modernism of East Asian arts develops while their artists think hard whether to blindly follow a western contemporary art or take an independent route. The Monochrome group has been doing its best to independently pursue their artistic world different from that of a Western art. The artists aware of Western arts achievements are trying their own ways without returning to conventional Korean art before. Western people possibly think of these efforts as a part of Exoticism. Exoticism including Orientalism and Japonism reflect their closed mind set. They want to bar unfamiliar things which are hard to understand in the name of Exoticism and enjoy them secretly. Asian people should be careful in interpreting such attitude. We might copy them without knowing ourselves, which brings another Exoticism, that is, Counter-Exoticism. We cannot do what they expect and should keep self-respect. Globalization or Internationalism sometimes delivers a wrong message that we are inferior to them. Newness is not always analogous to that of western. This explains why Yun's works are more meaningful: They are not same with other Monochrome works that we can find around us. His artistic world, providing an opportunity to rethink about the Monochrome art, has become a role model to other artists. To look at his arts anew is a source of looking at overall Korean arts anew. His works are original. In the 21st century, a century of diversity and mixture, his artistic world lightens up Korean art brightly.

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VII.

I am here back to Yun's works at the end. Given what is all said, his works seemingly remain calm and tacit now. However, they have showed immense tense since the middle of 1990s when Korean society and the world were engulfed with conflicts and gradual decadence hidden in material prosperity. He was born in 1928 and grew to become an adult mature to meet the challenges caused by this adversity. He did not loosen tightness of his focus on arts. "It becomes even tougher". Yun said. His sincerity and consistency in arts do not allow mannerism. He is the last artist to be satisfied and lazy in creating arts. He does not allow himself to be stagnated and work slowly keeping consistency and composed rhythm. Since he awakened of what he did, he has been doing the same serial works, which are not identical each other though. His universe is built by each slice of his daily life and provides a feeling of eternity for those who love his works.

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I stand still at the beach looking at waves coming toward. I do not get tired of watching them, as there is no identical wave. They will come and go this way forever. Repeatedly rolling waves and I am in harmony with the eternal rhythm of the universe. My body is a tiny part of such a grand movement. Yun's works are like those waves. Additionally, his each work exists in me with a movement or peacefulness under tidal waves. Is it a sign of upcoming thunder or serenity? Or will nothing happen? Only his tomorrow's universe has the answer.

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* from the exhibition catalog of

Yun Hyong-keun's solo exhibition 

held at Artsonje Museum, Seoul, 2001