Exhibition Information

contact
2019, 디스위켄드룸 제공 ⓒ 곽상원 acrylic on korea paper 145cm x 210cm

stone
2019, 디스위켄드룸 제공 ⓒ 곽상원 oil on canvas 162cm x 130cm

2020, 디스위켄드룸 제공 ⓒ 곽상원 194x130cm

			Curve:Enjoying the rhythm of decision
Writing: Cho Sook-hyun (Art Criticism)

 Kwak Sang-won's work is a feast of lines. Lines serve as various image roles. In the work, freely curved lines float around in various colors. Lying flat in the lonely shadow of a hockey player, it becomes an unknown fear that covers the night of the forest, a flaming grey fire, and then a wave of night sea, giving a glimpse of the writer's loneliness of yesterday and the determination of today. Above all, however, Kwak Sang-won's line is attractive because it hides its rhythm and sword behind the multilayered layer of canvas. 

The free lines of canvas form images of ideas and abstractions, but they also serve as emotional lines. Let's be more specific. For us, the moment of contact is important. It is interesting that the curves of the East, the West, the North, and the South are the emotional lines of the author's daily psychology. The author's work intersects work with abstract concepts with conceptual forms. It is not a simple problem that can be divided into the contents of the picture. The work on landscapes that contain nature, such as the sea and forests, is not just a simulation of the scenery, but a result of the expression of the curves of the scenery that remains in the artist's head and mind. Therefore, the reality of the specific landscape is not such an important topic in interpreting Kwak's work. And this has to do with the fact that the writer majored in Oriental painting. As is well known, in Oriental painting, the author becomes the main character of an omniscient point of view, exploring and completing the work. The author is not very interested in imitating a given reality or image. 

The author's focus on "line" is deeply related to primitive work  activities as a writer. Lines form images as themselves as well as components of the picture. What Kwak Sang-won's line dreamy images, such as dreams, fantasies, and imaginations added to reality. These lines are also very spontaneous. There are even paintings that are completed by playing around with painting brush strokes without sketching. Without setting a specific format or narrative, lines completed within canvas(screen) leave the body to the rhythm of the decision. 

As for improvisation, a momentary supplementary statement is needed. The artist usually stores 'daily scenery' captured by the visual artist's unique and sensitive aesthetic sense in his head and releases it on canvas. For example, the night streets that I used to ride my bike every day, the scenery around me that I captured as I walked through my daily life, and the subtle differences that change little by little from day to day are kept in my mind and unfolded. The landscape of each day is slightly different, and the writer's mind to encounter and unravel it is also different every day. This completed painting of frank feelings overlaps layers of layers to complete a rich narrative and mystery. The energy of the primitive painting overlaps with the power to refine and sometimes explode, and the portraits and landscapes overlap. There is no character in the author's work, but it sometimes paints a character with its whole body. That's why once the curtain of lines in the painting has been pulled down, it gives off a feeling of life hidden behind it. 

Munch, Vasilik, Peter Dojig, and Kiki Smith are writers who are supportive of Kwak's way of drawing images. They are also writers who want to pursue the subject of images in the future. A feast of lines that are always performed with a slightly different mind, one day well and one day poorly, complete with a stream of consciousness, not an image of a calculating line. The author's ultimate goal is to push and highlight these lines to the end. The character hidden inn the landscape painting functions in a mass of images the author wants to draw. To remain anonymous, having no specific form or name, and enjoy rhythm in the sea of ambiguity. That's how Kwak Sang-won leads the image of rhythm.

[Source] thisweekendroom homepage