Exhibition Information

			     Trees that are pruned put out their branches and overgrow with rain and sunshine amid a seasonal change. The branches that were selectively chosen to remain in the process of cutting are prolonging themselves into another time and space. Artist haiyoung suh elaborates on selective cutting and follow-on extension in 《prolongement》. She discovers the beauty derived from different aspects of the same act, that is, the contrasting concepts of cutting and prolonging as she stated that the motif was the word “prolongement” meaning the branches that are left to put out in horticulture.

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     Artist suh has deeply explored into the space. Her interest in the materials used to make a space, its surface, structure and the space as the final outcome has developed into her probing into wide-ranging materials – mirror, glass, felt and stainless steel – and production of drawing and steel structures. Her brick work that started from her curiosity in the artistic origin of humans began from her perception that “the act of stacking up bricks” was the first creative act of humans to overcome the physical environment. Her oeuvre where bricks as units and a physical space built with them are probed into, and exploration into a concept beyond them continues on have manifested that a space is not a single being but a combination of numerous parts, and also an entity embracing all of them. Now the artist tells stories on the expansion of a space being alive as well as the organic relatedness happening in the summation of parts.

 

     Her brass work is a visually classic example showing her attitude as such. As she has done so far, she has heralded the start of her work through exploration into diverse materials. In this exhibition, the object of her new discovery is brass. She said that she was mesmerized by the temporality and delicateness of brass casting available for sale on the street of hardware stores in Euljiro 3-ga. The casting created out of somebody’s need but forgotten because it no longer became necessary was subject to being rusted sorrowfully with its inherent delicateness. She decided to opt for the object and prolong it. The casting dangling on the brass branches protruding out into an empty space is selected from the past as such, and puts its face up towards the space of the future at the current time.

 

     The existing materials even in her wax work have tapped onto a new field through her selection. The wax with a property of melting has been recognized as a supplementary means instead of an exclusive material. Artist suh researched its attributes by modifying the melting point of wax. The wax, eventually, ended up having its own hardened space by turning into a being with its exclusive property and spirit. Individual wax works become a part of a space by being placed into a wooden box with refractory glass doors dangling over it. The refractory glass provides rhythms to the visual prolongement of the wax. We as beholders into the box are included in the microcosmos it has and contributes to the expansion of the universe.

 

      The universe of the microcosmos also unfolds in a picturesque matter. Her drawings that probed into the structure of the infinite expansion by enlarging cell membranes look like images seen through a microscope looking into the spirit of materials. The material inside her work where fine and thin lines are interwoven has become a living being with open possibilities that can protrude in any way through the light green tone chosen by the artist and the refracted glass as well as organic outlines. It is a being that creates infinite spaces between the vision of “yours” and “mine” while becoming something complete.

 

     Artist haiyoung suh believes that all properties have a spirit. Materials with a spirit react to and change as they encounter suh. Lastly, the images and visual phenomena shown before us establish their domain of being by meeting with and reacting to our spirit. The space is expanded from a property into a space, from suh’s hands to the reaction of viewers, and from the past to the present and the future, as a space embracing all with the combination all their parts. Prolongement – the branches that remain intact and the ones that are alive – protrude outward. As such, a new space begins.

 

                                                                                                                              Chun Heejung (Gallery SoSo)