<Pictures of Reincarnation> by DESIGN60
Artist Kim Kwang Sik expressed this exhibition in his note as follows:
“An encounter of animals and plants drawn in old times with those in the present which are different but not different, Pictures of Reincarnation”
Everything of CODE’s Project Exhibition, Pictures of Reincarnation is merged into the above phrase. This exhibition displays works that reinterpret creatures appearing in old paintings by the ancestors in the perspectives of artists who draw eco-paintings. The members of CODE, who are active in various fields and have continued to exhibit eco-paintings since 2010, came up with an interesting idea while planning this exhibition. It was an idea starting from the following questions, “Did creatures appearing in old folk paintings really exist?” and “if so, what were the species and do they exist even now?”
The word, reincarnation assumes a little religious tinge; however, everyone, if not a Buddhist, might have been interested in samsara or reincarnation at least once. This exhibition focuses on animals rather than humans, intending to reincarnate the creatures appearing in the ancestors’ paintings. And yet, reincarnation in this exhibition is not ordinary reincarnation but the environment and life—homonyms pronounced the same; Hwansaeng in Korean. It is reincarnation, but that of the environment and life. This is an external parody of this exhibition.
To reincarnate the creatures, the artists used various techniques such as miniatures using deep-color pigment, Indian ink, watercolor, acrylic paint and colored pencil, and cartoons using a pen. In addition, in terms of the forms of the paintings, the creatures were represented with their own colors, not simply duplicated. The selection of genres and materials, I think, serves as an internal parody of this exhibition. Kim Jeong Hui’s Sehando (A Painting of the Bitter Cold around the Lunar New Year) maximized simple beauty drawing the life of a solitary and elegant classical scholar with a stroke of a brush and Indian ink while Hwang Gyeong Taek shows the relationship between houses and nature humorously and comically in Sehando in Everyday Series.
There are some direct parodies in the form of cartoons; however, other artists borrowed indirect parodies. Jeong Hae Jin drew the transience of wealth and fame freely and splendidly using the question of how to express Morando (A Painting of Peony Blossom) placed in the house to summon wealth and honor in the 21st century in Shin Modando (A New Picture of Peony Blossom) like patterns on the wall paper. Butterflies drawn in the sense of joy symbolizing the coming spring in Nam Gye Wu’s Seokhwajeobdo Daeryeon (A Painting of Stones, Flowers and Butterflies) , which Yoon Yeong Ah replaced by moths often seen around and named it Seokhwaahdo Daeryeon (A Painting of Stones, Flowers and Moths). Although moths do not lack values as a life compared to butterflies, our attitude toward them differs from that toward moths. Is there any law that prohibits moths from being used as a subject of a work! The artist causes the viewers to ask themselves by expressing this in a miniature. Jung Yong Hoon draws Jang Seung Eob’s Hoeungdo (A Picture of The Head Falcon), Cheon Ji Hyeon draws Kim Hong Do’s Hwajodo (A Picture of Flowers and Birds), and Kim Kwang Sik draws Haetamnohwado (A Picture of Crabs holding Reed Flowers) in their own way, and as if they revolted against the ancestors’ minimalism of drawing with a stroke of a brush, they emphasized decorative beauty by expressing in a miniature.
Parodies function as empowering history through the representation of the original copy linking heaviness to lightness: saving the permanence of the original copy. Also, as the parodies are connected and come to have probability, they themselves come to have a structure and are sublimated as a work of art, and if they are expressed as the socio-functional role of art, they sometimes change cultural structures. Prequel movies that can often be encountered in the film world represent this. If an ordinary exhibition develops to one before exhibition or one after exhibition, the techniques used in films can be embodied in the world of art in another aspect. The planner focused on this. I firmly believe that with an intention to make people perceive the narrative structure of art as popular code, these things pile up and retain the diversity of cultural ecosystem.
Representation of the creatures in old paintings: I hope that you will have a lot of interest in and support for CODE’s Exhibition, Pictures of Reincarnation, so that the meeting of the artists who express creatures continues, they add up to artistic values, and they develop themselves while resolving their works by visual amusement.
Reincarnation: ① [noun] 1. To be reborn, 2. Rebirth of the dead. ② A dead life is born again, which is often used with samsara in Buddhism. Up to now, reincarnation has not been proved scientifically.
흐르는 강물을 보면서 누구나 한번쯤 했었을 생각들 중 하나. 저 강물은 어제의 강물이 아니고, 지금 흐르고 있는 강물 또한 이 순간이 지나면 과거의 강물이 되겠지 라는, 허무하면서 자조적이되, 반대로 지금의 순간을 충실하게 살아가도록 힘을 주기도 하는 그런 생각들......
저 옛날 어느 환쟁이나 문인의 눈에 들어 그려졌었던 동물이나 풀들은 오늘의 그것들과는 다르면서 다르지 않은 또 하나의 순간의 삶을 표현하고 있다는 생각. 앞서 얘기했던 흐르는 저 강물의 매 순간과 같지 않은가? 다르면서 다르지 않은......물과......
작년(2011년) 어느 계절쯤이라 기억되는데, 황경택이 ‘도심 속의 사군자’ 라는 재미있는 제안을 했었다. 옛날의 사군자는 그들 시대의 개념이 부여된 식물들이었고, 지금의 우리들은 우리에게 맞는 현재적 개념이 부여 된 식물 또는 생물로 다시 표현되어도 재미있지 않겠냐 라는 말. 이 제안이 이상한(?) 경로를 타고 서로 부딪고 깨지며 다시 접합되어 어떤 모습으로 나타났다. 물론 아직은 미완의 형태이지만. 그리고 얼마 전 이번 전시의 제목을 서로 골몰하던 중, 천지현이 ‘환생도’ 라는 말을 꺼냈다. 잘 어울리는 말이다.
환생, 돌고 도는 죽음과 탄생. 어느 것이 죽음이고 어느 것이 탄생인지, 어느 것이 먼저고 어느 것이 나중인지는 중요치 않은 현재성을 가진 말이라는 생각이 들었다. 해서 여러 작가들에게 동의를 구했고, 약간 명의 암묵과 약간 명의 동의로 어물쩡 결정이 되었지만 사실 그게 무어 그리 중요한가.
옛날에 그려진 동식물과, 다르지만 다르지 않은 현재의 그것들과의 만남, ‘환생도’
Kim Kwang Sik
One of thoughts everyone had had looking at a flowing river. The river is not that of yesterday and the river flowing now also will become that of the past after this moment......, such thoughts that are futile and self-mocking, but strengthening us so that we can live the present moment faithfully......
A thought that the animals or grasses drawn being daubers or literary persons in old times express lives in another moment which is different but not different from them today. Is it the same as every single moment of the flowing river mentioned above? Different but not different…… from river water......
I recall it was in a season last year, 2011, Hwang Gyeong Taek made a fascinating proposal of ‘The Four Gracious Plants in the Urban Center.” A comment that the Four Gracious Plants in the past were plants to which the concepts of their age were granted and wouldn’t it be fun expressing the plants or creatures to which the present concepts suiting us again for us now? This proposal appeared in a certain image after getting on a weird path and bumping, breaking and knitted all together again. Of course, it is not complete yet, thought. And lately, when I was immersed in giving a title to this exhibition with each other, Cheon Ji Hyeon brought up ‘Pictures of Reincarnation.’ That suits it well.
Reincarnation, circulating deaths and births! I came to think that it was a word by which it is no longer important, which is death and which birth or which comes first and which later. I thought it had newness. So I sought for agreement from several artists, and it was decided with some silence and some agreement evasively, but in fact, is it that important?
An encounter of animals and plants drawn in old times with those in the present which are different but not different, Pictures of Reincarnation
Anyway, it is good for us to reincarnate (or recall) their paintings in old times and it is good for their paintings to be recalled (or reincarnated) by our paintings, but setting aside the weight or sense of responsibility arousing from that, I offer my heartfelt consolation in advance since I cannot repress pity as I expect a situation in which the fact that they should draw them extremely in detail may appear substituted by their headache, shoulder discomfort, predicted frozen shoulder or use of magnifying glasses due to a symptom that is not discernible between a simple loss of vision or presbyopia.
나비를 나비답게
일호 남계우(1811-1890)의 그림 속에는 당시의 나비들이 가득하다. 생물학적인 분류가 가능할 정도로 섬세하게 표현되어 있을 뿐 아니라 역동적으로 날아다니는 나비의 모습을 포착하여 그림으로 그려낸 그의 작품은 나비에 대한 그의 관심이 얼마나 지대했는지 짐작케 한다. 오늘날처럼 카메라 등의 다른 장비 도움 없이 오로지 대상을 직접 육안으로 관찰하고 특징을 살려 그것을 그것답게 그려내는 것. 1800년대 조선을 날아다니던 나비는 그렇게 그림으로 남겨져 있다.
나비(蝶)를 나방(蛾)으로
석화접도(石花蝶圖)대련 중 한 폭을 선택하여 나비를 나방으로 바꿔 그렸다. 어떤 작품을 어떻게 그려낼까 고민하던 중에 그의 나비그림을 나방으로 바꿔 그려보면 어떨까 싶었다. 나방은 나비만큼이나 화려하고 아름다운 곤충이다. 그림의 상단부터 순서대로 가중나무고치나방, 옥색긴꼬리산누에나방, 흰무늬왕불나방, 두줄제비나비붙이, 왕물결나방, 점박이불나방이다. 석화아도(石花蛾圖)인만큼 밤에 피었다 아침에 시드는 달맞이꽃을 그려 넣었다.
그림 속 1800년대의 나비를 2000년대의 나비로
Yoon Yeong Ah
Making butterflies butterflies-like
Ilho Nam Gye Wu (1811-1890)’s paintings are full of the then butterflies. His works that express butterflies so minutely that they can be classified biologically and capture the looks of butterflies flying dynamically allow us to guess how much his interest in butterflies was. Without any help of other devices like camera today, drawing an object by observing with the naked eye himself as it was: The butterflies flying in Joseon in the 1800s remain in the pictures.
Butterflies replaced by moths
I selected and drew a picture from Seokhwajeobdo Daeryeon changing butterflies with moths. Concerned about what I would draw and how to do it, I thought how about drawing moths instead of butterflies in his pictures. Moths are insects as splendid and beautiful as butterflies. From the top of the picture, Samia cynthia, Actias gnoma mandsahurica, Aglaeomorpha histrio, Epicopeia menciana, Brahmaea certhia and Agrisius fuliginosus. I drew a sundrops that blooms at night and withers in the morning since it is Seokhwaado.
Butterflies of the 1800s in the paintings to those of the 2000s
Among the butterflies in his work, Hwajeobdo Geunyeokhwahwi Incheob, I reproduced those living then, by actual specimens on the pictures of Papilio bianor, tiger swallowtail, Neptis alwina and Nymphalis canace.
吾園으로부터
시대를 넘어 예술적 행위나 그 결과물을 만들어내는 이들은 일반적이거나 상식적인 사고의 영역의 삶을 살지 않았을 것이다. 아마도 태생적으로 비현실적인 관점과 논리로 무장되어 분석되기 싫어하는, 그러나 헤아릴 수 없는 매력의 다양함과 에너지는 인간의 삶을 지탱하는 원동력으로 각 시대를 풍미하였을 것이다..
옛 그림에 대한 고찰과 분석을 주제로 한 이번 환생도 전시를 준비하며 나는 오원의 생각을 엿보려고 무단히 고민을 했던 것 같다. 과연 오원은 무슨 생각과 집착이 그 수많은 새와 동물을 그리게 하였는지, 백 년이 훨씬 넘는 과거에 뛰어난 필력과 예민한 관찰력만으로 그 많은 생물을 표현했다는 것만으로도 당시에 대단한 인물임에 틀림없을 것이다.
같은 관점에서 본다면 나 역시 오원과 일맥 유사점이 있어 보인다.
이것은 단순히 그리는 기술적 행위에 매력보다는 그것을 수단으로 표현하고 전달하려는 다른 무언가가 있었다는 생각을 한다. 물론 모든 작가(화가)가 다양한 자기 관심사에서부터 작업이 출발하지만, 회화의 입장에서 그린다는 행위, 다시 말하자면 사실적으로 잘 그린다는 것은 단지 원하는 목표점에 다가가기 위한 수단일 뿐 그것이 회화의 본질적인 입장이라고 할 수는 없다.
작가(화가)는 그림 한 점을 그리기 위해 꽤나 뛰어난 기술을 발휘하는 것처럼 보이지만 그 이면에 작가가 이야기하고자 하는 것을 이해하려고 한다면 보다 다양한 세상을 일면을 볼 수 있는 기회일수도 있을 것 같다.
나는 항상 생물에 대한 경이로움과 지적 호기심에 사로 잡혀 일상을 보내고 있는 것 같다.
새들은 어떻게 날고 어디로 이동하는지 살기위해 무엇을 먹고 어떻게 진화했는지, 곤충들의 변태는 어떻게 일어나고 그 화려함은 원천은 무엇인지,,
이런 소소한 것들을 알아가는 재미 속에 보잘 것 없는 나의 수단으로 이들의 놀라운 생존의 비밀들을 많은 이들과 즐기고 싶다. 예술가들에게 있어서 자연은 영원한 소재의 원천으로 마르지 않는 샘이기에....
Jung Yong Hoon
From Oh Won
At all time, people who create artistic actions or their products probably might not live a life belonging to the area of ordinary or common thoughts. Their unwilling-to-be-analyzed but immeasurable variety of attraction and energy armed with inherently unreal perspectives and logic might sweep each period with a motive that sustained human life.
While preparing for this Exhibition, Pictures of Reincarnation with the theme of considerations and analyses on old paintings, I might be concerned to peep Oh Won’s thoughts constantly: What on earth thought and obsession made him draw the numerous birds and animals?
He must have been a great figure then only with his expressions of the numerous lives by the excellent power of a brush stroke and sharp observation more than 100 years ago. In the same vein, I may have something in common with Oh Won. I think he had something more than simple appeal with the technical actions of drawing by which he attempted to express and deliver. Of course, every artist (painter) begins work from his/her interests, though.
From the point of view of painting, drawing something well, in other words, drawing that realistically is just a means to approach a desired goal, not the essence of it. It seems that an artist (painter) exhibits quite superior techniques to draw a picture; however, on the flip side of that, if one tries to understand what the artist attempts to say, he or she can get a chance to see one side of more diverse worlds.
I may spend everyday life captured by the wonders of living things and the intellectual curiosities about them all the time: How birds fly, where they move to, what they eat to live, how they have evolved; and how insects’ metamorphosis occurs and what is the source of their splendor.
In the pleasures of getting to know these trivial things, I would like to enjoy their secrets of wonderful survival with many others by petty means of my own; since nature to artists is an eternal origin of subject matters and a fountain that never dries up....
Today I come in and out of my workship and the field seeking for such fun... So did Oh Won...
