Wind Wave

Seemingly depicting a sunlit meadow rippling in the breeze, the painting was made, surprisingly, in a rigidly controlled manner. The first step was to prepare the ground by repeatedly applying layers of paint to create a gradation of color from yellow to dark green. The surface was then scratched with iron wire to reveal the layers of color underneath, forming first a grid pattern and then the arcs for grass. The method seemed to allow absolutely no emotion or subjectivism to penetrate through the process. In the end, however, depth, movement, light, wind and even a sense of season are evident in the work. Abstract and representational, intellectual rules and rich lyricism are, so to speak, naturally connected here. By restraining the artificial intention toward figurative representation and by accumulating the traces of manual work on canvas, the artist has developed the technique of ‘monochrome painting’ unique to Korea. In the meantime, this work demonstrates the artist’s belief that the working of intellect – free of subjectivism – could lead human beings to the immense universe and nature.