Exhibition Information

			Expression of free will through immersion

KIm, Sung_Ho, Art Critic

 

Prologue

Painter Sooman Moon's private exhibition makes you see his formative world at a glance as he shows his recent and past representative works together. A 〈Cloud〉 series, his recent work, is an abstract painting which multiplied and arranged a lot of grains of rice in concentric circular form. The work was from relic images from the results of several formative experiments of Korean backgrounds including celadon to place butterfly or bird-shaped pictures of flowers, his early works. In other words, a 〈Simulacre〉 series which makes third-dimensional shapes of Korean relics including celadon and earthenware the flatness of two dimensions was changed to a 〈Fractal〉 series to search for the texture of relics and then a series of 〈Cloud〉 which maximizes the round images that they claim to advocate to be the method to stack them as images of small grains of rice got to appear. What are uniform formative awareness and aesthetics that these serieses which look different from one another continue?

I. Laying three-dimensional structures on the flat - A <Simulacre> Series

Painters have had language of representation which creates illusion to paint scenes, persons, and three-dimensional things on the flat for a long time. The three-dimensional existence has been reproduced perfectly on two dimensions through trompe-l’œil that objects are painted their normal size in a very realistic way. Therefore, simulacre's attribute which sticks to status of fakes which are more realistic than the genuine articles after the thee dimensional existence is copied to be 'an illusion of images' is fundamentally the flat.

Then, what is a method of representation shown in the 〈Simulacre〉 series by Painter Sooman Moon? That is "an attempt to put Vollplastik in a screen like a planar figure to be spread on the flat" as the painter mentioned. He makes things like pottery the flatness with a developed projection like a map projection to cover a sphere (球體) like the earth with a cylindrical or conical shape, assume that a point of sight is the center of the earth, and project and indicate the lines of longitude and latitude onto the flat. Therefore, ancient relics become visible to be anamorphosis on the flat being spread as the circular images like shields in his work. As maps are the anamorphic indices that the earth were set in flat coordinates, his 〈Simulacre〉 series become the anamorphic indices that external images of relics were spread in the circular flat to make you see it at a glance.

In that sense, his work twists and embraces Simulacre's philosophical concept of 'fakes which are more realistic than the genuine articles'. That is very closely connected with an issue of points of sight (視點). In other words, simulacre that illusions of representation claims to advocate is essentially 'magical fiction made by perspective at a particular point of sight,' while Sooman Moon's 〈Simulacre〉 series becomes 'friction realized with a method out of perspective (脫) through an imaginary point of sight made in the center of things.' In other words, general formative simulacre builds three-dimensional structures on the flat by perspective, while, Sooman Moon's 〈Simulacre〉 series lays them on the flat through the method out of perspective.'

His 〈Simulacre〉 series which was changed from three dimension to two dimensions is recognized as the works that patterns were drawn on circular shields. Here, ceramic patterns are localized to be the same size without any distance being laid flat on the flat. Let's look at his work, 〈F1-4-2 Simulacre(241804)〉. Various patterns are radially spread in several concentric circles with the central axis as the center in radial shape. They can be found that his 〈Simulacre〉 series just has the central axis and does not have any main characters and patterned patterns are just maldistributed. In other words, all the patterns and images become a new index which were democratically reorganized in the situation that they do not have the relation between master (主) and servant (終).


II. Material's self-similarity - 〈Fractal〉 series

A 〈Fractal〉 series, Painter Sooman Moon's another work, is differentiated from others in that it takes over images like repetitive patterns from the  〈Simulacre〉 series and maximizes matterness.

These two serieses affect and are done by another ones including 〈Gate of Time〉, 〈Finding Flow〉, 〈Coherence〉, and 〈Potter's wing〉. These works share Simulacre's attributes of 'the flatness of flat circles' found from the 〈Simulacre〉 series and partially have a relief's attribute of matiere. The relief's matiere is effectively revealed through visual attributes of vague or clear pattern images that various patterns are repetitively produced as well as physical ones of matterness made as media meet colors. This aspect of democratical maldistribution of the patterns without any relation between master and servant is more specifically revealed in his work, 〈F1-1-0 Simulacre(191804)〉. It's because plant patterns harmonize with the relief's matiere together with geometrical ones. The 〈Fractal〉series deserves to be a follow-up to the 〈Simulacre〉 series at this level.

By the way, what is Fractal? This means a so-called shape made up of parts that are the same shape as itself. 'When a whole is split into parts, the whole shape is included in each part, which is a geometrical shape.' Or it is 'the small structure which is constantly repeated in a similar form with the whole shape.' Here, the part has attributes of 'self-similarity' and 'recursiveness.' The former is generally found from figures with high self-similarity that mathematical rules are applied. And the latter is generally done from natural objects with low 'self-similarity' and attributes of 'recursiveness' such as brocoli, bracken, sunflowers, shells, and beehives. Especially, fractal images found from natural objects are revealed while order and disorder cross. It's because original nature is based on randomness and complexity.

These two attributes and types overlap each other in Sooman Moon's 〈Fractal〉 series. It's because plant patterns which are organic like fractal shapes featuring repetition and multiplication or arabesque patterns (唐草紋), but symmetrical are used together. Furthermore, the relief's matiere which looks asymmetrical also creates symmetrical images in general as it is radically 'spread/returned' towards the outside/inside of concentric circles. His 〈Fractal〉 series is work to twist and expand the limited meaning of fractals limited to 'self-similarity of images' by adding 'self-similarity of matterness' and 'natural randomness and complexity' to it at that level.

In addition, a 〈Gate of Time〉 series which affected and were done by the 〈Simulacre〉 series and the 〈Fractal〉 series expands the space concept into time in that images of traditional relics bring the past to the present and this place. Sooman Moon's work features images, material, time, and space which are in harmony.


III. Democratical maldistribution of modules which circulate boundaries - <Cloud> series

Paintings have been regarded as space art without question during the modern period with sculpture and architecture under Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's analysis. Time in paintings were then studied at the iconographical level to include historical narratives or give temporal symbols. We do not does not restrict paintings as space art in the art scene of the present time that everything claims to advocate decategrization. Paintings which give practical real movement through ways to add kinetic objets or maximize virtual movement through devices to create optical effects or methods to mix them with videos already intersect with the realm of temporal art.

Sooman Moon's paintings, especially his 〈Cloud〉 series drives temporality by providing illusions and creating their virtual movement through the screen made by a lot of small modules (images of grains of rice) accumulated in the paintings. But, temporality through the optical effects is not essence in his series. He is immersed in the concept of circulating temporality in the creative process of continuing slow and hard labor by making grains of rice modules and the multiple images, the outcome. He arranges the process to accumulate the modules called 'small grains of rice' as if he practices asceticism in the process to take modules out of a cloud folder and build parts to be a whole and mediate silently in hard labor by putting himself in creative temporality which is slowly connected.

By the way, why is grains of rice? He found a material of 'rice' in the process to investigate Goguryeo, history, and relics in an extension of the 〈Simulacre〉 series and the 〈Fractal〉 series and got to be interested in its formative language and meanings. When he was immersed in changing three-dimensional patterns of relics to the flatness of two dimensions, he got to begin a new 〈Cloud〉 series that patterns are replaced by images of grains of rice.

Rice is long food which has led human existence and the Korean people's staple food! It's a profound and mysterious shape which is a long and asymmetric oval and has an embryo bud similar with itself on one side! The shape itself of the grain of rice used as a module in Sooman Moon's 〈Cloud〉 series formatively takes over his 〈Fractal〉 series which showed symmetric fractals or plant patterns like asymmetric arabesque patterns together.

Interestingly, his creative process is very complicate in general, but his visualization method is comparatively simple. It's his own unique formative method settled after various formative experiments. For his new work, images of grains of rice which had been saved in a digital archive after separating them from the previous 〈Cloud〉 series were brought from a cloud folder and went through several simulation processes to arrange them in parallel in various ways by utilizing a computer graphic program. After that, ideas and rough sketches of new works are done on the computer, images of 'multiple-grains of rice' designed on the computer were moved to a mechanical device, the sheets punched as they were were attached to a canvas, and paints were applied at once. The creative method of 'Sand-mandala' in Tibetan Buddhism to make each image as a process of meditation and asceticism was systemized by a digital method and was changed to use instant brush strokes. But they are not different to the spirit of mandala paintings to aim at meditation and asceticism. He reapplies or wipes paints to change uniform concentric circles of the monotone and uses several punched sheets numerous times for a work by composing complicate colors on the whole from the start.

There is one thing to think of here. In his 〈Cloud〉 series which looks simple at first glance, but actually went through the complicated process, the images of grains of rice used as the module always appear as the images of the similar size with actual rice on small or large canvases, and even the multiple large canvases connected like three-fold altarpieces. They extend to the outside from the center of the concentric circle, while the identical grain size of rice is kept and 'democratical maldistribution' of the module which circulates boundaries continues. In a way, they can be a message of democratic communication like 'justice, equality, and everybody.'  That actively reveals the message with the structure of running all directions (四通八達) that a shape of 米, the Chinese character of rice, has. As a result, this moves towards the deep message created by the painter's formative experiments to reveal internal/external nature of rice without distortion and now, a world view of 'circulation.'


Epilogue - Free will expressed by immersion

'The world view of circulation' that Painter Sooman Moon's 〈Cloud〉 series aims at meets F. W. Nietzsche's world view of Ewige Wieder-Kunft, his philosophical metaphor, as he told you in person. The world view says that "endless time forms a circular shape (圓形), all the things are infinitely repeated as they are in it, and the discovery of awareness like that is also infinitely done." This concept of Nietzsche seems to explain Sooman Moon's formative world in the 〈Cloud〉 series. As Nietzsche's sole existence is nature as the entire creation and the only principle of life is a will to power, 'the will to power' in life continues to return to nature which wants more power. Nietzsche requests Amor Fati that you have to love your real life filled with birth, old age, sickness, and death without conditions and live every moment faithfully. This can be evaluated as 'Dionysian Yes' as his only positive reason to overcome 'his nihilistic reason' which accounts for his whole philosophy.

In this sense, Let's check Sooman Moon's notes.: "They say time flies. The older you get, the faster speed of life is like air resistance which is proportional to the square root of the speed in hydromechanics. There are more accidents in hardship and the crosswind which is against your body nips pretty harder." These words of the painters who are more than 50 years old make you get a sense of the difficult realities in his life that he chose art instead of a religion.

But, Painter Sooman Moon created his works keeping Amor Fati in mind today through his choice as an artist and Dionysian Yes about it as Nietzsche requested it through Ewige Wieder-Kunft. That interlocks with his view of work to try to enjoy freedom through immersion in art. You need to remember that nature of Sooman Moon's work which seems to be filled with images at first glance is 'a space left by a free will in immersion' and at the same time, a glimpse of introspection on life at this level.

“The main theme of my several series is ‘expression of a will to be free through immersion.’ Immersion makes me dominate canvases with unlimited imagination. (...) Screens are filled with patterns like machine parts which mesh and turn. But taking a close look, you can find that spaces are more important than individuals. In other words, it means that freedom must exist in order and there are still rules in it.  Expression of order, rules, spaces, and freedom reflects the paitner's ideas of life.”