2014 Hyehwa Art Center

solo exhibition

playing life,

Life is like Playing Instruments

Solo Exhibition  / 2014. 03. 21 - 27

@ Hyehwa Art Center

The aura of a life performer

German critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin says that the reason we are unconsciously overwhelmed by masterpieces is because of the aura of the work. Aura is breath (breathing), invisible but evidence of life that all living things have. Or, it is a similar concept to energy.

When I encounter his work, I experience his own aura. Even though the aura phenomenon is here and now, a one-time and experiential phenomenon in space and time, and can only be felt here and at this very moment, the feeling is strong.

The vividly contrasting colors and free and strong touch give the opposite feeling to the one who shows a neat and exemplary daily life in everything. However, when you hear that for him painting is a play with his inner self, you can quickly see that his work is also an inevitable instinct.

The most basic motifs in his paintings are desire and love. This is because living is constant self-love, and its basis comes from desire. Playing is both a method and a purpose of love. It is music that each person plays in their own way and reflects the emotions they face at every moment of their life. When these thoughts are expressed in paintings, there is no need to analyze whether they are contemporary or not. This is because they can always change in various ways depending on their nature.

The Latin word Homo ludens, meaning ‘playing man’, a concept proposed by Dutch historian J. Huizinga (1872-1945), is a concept he has devoted himself to for a long time.<악기연주> This is the topic of work. The theme of this exhibition is also the performance of life through musical instruments, and he feels that he is becoming more comfortable and free through his emotional performance, which contains many stories of joy, anger and sorrow. Beautiful music is being played that adds more depth to life, dreaming of transitioning from a given life with a script to a life of proactive and independent operator. This is because he is homo ludens ~ a human being who plays.

Hong Hee-gi (Pyeonghwa Gallery Curator)