Exhibition Information

			Traces of Time and Traces of People–Yukako Kondo Solo Exhibition                  

                          Emiko Kida
(Professor of Otani University)

The works of Yukako Kondo makes one ponder upon death and at the same time, feel serene but firm strength. The works she created in Japan before she came to Korea were abstract paintings characterized by organic forms and exquisite colors. The artist’s tendency to create such works are deeply related with anxiety over her own health. The object that seem like human organs described in her works back then could be representations of his complicated mind, but there is also this vigorous and intense energy that is almost like lunacy, strong desire of the artist to communicate with the universe.

This style of her in the past completely changed as he settled in Korea. However, the roots can be traced back to abstraction of her days in Japan. Her paintings still try to express the anxiety over death and futility of life. The artists explains that such works are of Vanitas painting.

They could be a display of Memento mori of sort (remember death). While painting the things that she ate and used, one by one, as he lived in this foreign land Korea away from the land she was born into and lived, she is remembering her daily life. The continuity of time that seems eternal but futile is the core of Yukako Kondo’s works, and this enables the audience to plunge into philosophical thinking.

Yukako Kondo reached a new level through this solo exhibition. From a total of 20 pieces of works submitted, I presume that the huge painting of a living room with a piano will draw the audience’s attention. In fact, this is the home in Osaka where I was born and raised. This home where my parents, big brother and I lived together was built on my parent’s toil and moil of running a liquor store. To introduce a memory of mine back in the 1980’s, my mother would collect objects that she likes to decorate the house, and my father was always proud of the quality of the wood used for the doors and stairs. Time passed by and brother got married and created a family of his own, and my parents passed away in recent years. I left the home in Osaka where I was born and raised, and am living near my workplace in Kyoto. It is an empty space where only traces of the past and the people who left remain, but the place still contains boisterousness. Why? Perhaps it is because the many objects such as the beautiful ornaments my mother collected, the photographs I took with my father, the classic music CD my brother listened to, and the miniature tower representing Juche (self-reliance) ideology I brought from Pyeongyang, contain traces of people.

Yukako Kondo could draw these paintings of warmth because he has been a friend of mine for 20 years who frequently visited my home as if it was her own, and she paid attention to my family as she would do for her own family. A magical work of portraying a space of absence and thus, the feeling of depression… These works could be of Vanitas which describes transience of life, but at the heart lies the artist’s warm eyes and attention to others.

In her tranquil works, we would often feel the humor and charms of life. Yukako Kondo’s world of artworks could be described as the expression of warmth and diligence of the artist who surpassed joy and pin and wishes to live together with people. Every single brushstroke represents the accumulation of time, and this provides huge comfort to the audience. I truly hope that her sober but blazing time can be shared through this exhibition.