Joy, Freedom and Purity -Hong Jung Hee's Works- by Oh Kwang-Su(Art critic)
Artists can be divided into two types, according to how they change their profile over time. The first types expand outward, while the second deepen inward. The changes in the former are immediately apparent and definite, while those in the latter are more profound, albeit less obvious. Generally speaking, the former are sensitive to changes in the outside world, while the latter are not interested in them, concentrating more on listening to their inward voices. The latter are absorbed in searching for their inner world, which bears no relation to the particular aesthetics of their age. Those who are more self-aware tend to be more self-searching. Glancing through the career of Hong Jung Hee, she is definitely a good example of the latter types.
Prima facie, her works do not appear to have undergone much change since the early 1970s up to the present. In saying that, I do not of course mean to say that there has been no change. What I mean is that the changes are not immediately apparent, although they have constantly been taking place. That is evidence to suggest that she has been treading the path that is true to herself. In other words, her tendency to listen to her inner voices, does not allow her to wander around outside.
Hong Jung Hee's methodology can be analyzed as having been under the influence of abstract expressionism from the outset. The 1960s, when she was an art student, were a period when abstract expressionism was causing a great stir in the Korean art world, and some were in the process of identifying themselves with it. A large majority of sensitive aspiring artists naturally took to this method. She made a debut by winning the National Art Exhibition Award for a few consecutive years, and after receiving the Minister of Culture and Information Art Award in 1971, she attracted the attention of many people. And through winning the Young Artist of the Year Prize by Alpha Chemical Co. in 1976, the Special Prize in the Korean Art Award, recommendation at the Central Art Great Festival in 1978, she became an independent established artist, finally transcending the state of neophytes.
In the 1970s her contemporary artists already began to be sceptical about abstract expressionism, and hurriedly attempted to change their format. However, she was carefully examining her world, concealing the spirit of her starting point. The fact that her works are still underpinned by her early formative concern derived from her attitude. If one compares her latest works with those of her first solo exhibition held in 1973, one can definitely feel that she has constantly followed the same direction. The ground-sinking weight, deliberately simple forms, and the texture of the rough surface, which characterize her early works, still exist latently in her latest works.
In her second solo exhibition in 1978, her works revealed that the holistic concern was being partially checked, whilst still maintaining those characteristics. They were dominated by homogenization of colours throughout her canvases, and the dynamic creative intention, tinged with somewhat fluid gestures. One could also detect a clearer attempt to dislocate materials through mixing other elements with paint. She had already started thickening paint with ground fish bones and coffee grounds in the early 1970s, but that practice was surfacing more overtly as time passed. The stickiness of the paint thickened with various elements and the homogeneity imposed on the whole canvas produce a definite relationship with the scale of her work, and are important elements in creating the generous atmosphere of the whole picture.
Her constant self-searching, unperturbed by anything, is also revealed in the title. From her second solo exhibition her works were entitled "A - Korean". "A" is a Sino Korean for "na" which means "I". In other words, it means "I - Korean". And from her third exhibition, the title "Tara" or "Off-Self", which means "Transcending Oneself", has been continuously used up to the present. More recently other titles such as "Passion" and "Nano" appear occasionally. In the case of abstract art, the titles have no specific meaning, but are generally recognized as simple codes. In a work embodying concrete images, the title is an important means of explanation, but in the case of an abstract work, a title is merely added after its completion, and does not serve as a means of explanation. However, one can occasionally witness a case in which an abstract painter presents a title as a response to his/her inner voices. Not infrequently the intention of an artist of a particular age is expressed through the title. I think the titles that Hong Jung Hee chooses for her works are merely codes, but reflect her self-awareness. To an artist, work is a kind of formation of his/her mental labour, and through that labour, he/she constantly purifies him/herself, which is expressed in the title. In her continuous use of the title "Off-Self", one can detect a process of purification.
Although her works of the 1980s maintained the status quo of the 1970s, elements of holism and automatic expression can clearly be found. They were composed of the colours invading the whole canvas, and the surface is filled with ballot-paper like scars. They appear to yearn for the space beyond the earth, such as the surface of the moon.
Underneath the fierce movement and thick materials, her 80s works maintained a balance between interior and exterior, and inward and outward breathing, as opposed toher70sworkwhichwereoverpoweredbyinwardbreathing. Asthe80sprogressed, her works were more and more emphasized by exterior movement. The colours poured directly onto her canvas with its raw texture still visible, revokes flowing lava. Energy is emitted outward. Compared to that great energy, the composition is very simple. Agreatmassappearstofillthewholecanvas.Tracesofpaintdrippingoverthe edges merely imply that energy. Albert Weber describes this expression on the canvas as follows:
"Imposing shapes or masses flow onto the canvas space, gently pushing and bending towards opposite sides to end in a responsive contour where movement is affected by a proximity of confining edges. These recurring contours are a basic element of her graphic means bringing vitality and lyrical quality into the paintings. Occasionally a more open space turns in on itself in a modest but playful Baroque gesture. Shape, mass and line move on the canvas surface with the ease of a running stream, volcanic lava flow, tidal activity of the growth patterns they evoke. Smouldering earth colors, tonalities and vivid reds rekindle ancient earth processes bringing that in its various stages to life on the canvas." (1)
As Albert Weber points out, her canvas is filled with huge shapes and masses, but overflows with fluidity near its edges, which gives the feeling of weightiness and cheerfulness simultaneously. It is as if it gives a preview of existence that consists of absolute uniformity and constant creation. The rough surface is like the phenomenon created by the erupting lava as it gradually solidifies. However, her works are not dead volcanoes. They are like volcanoes from which lava is overflowing moment by moment. The stronger her cries inside demanding new life and order, the more her work is surrounded by the feeling that it could explode any moment. Yi Gyeongseong describes it as, "Artistically she searches the origin of new life through the primordial senses such as the feel of rocks and the texture of earth." (2) A search for the origin of life constantly precedes expression. She transcends the ordinary method of painting which concentrates on expression that is left behind. The remaining expression does not consider a conclusion important. The intensity of consciousness opening towards the horizon of creation dominated her canvas, deciding its value. The crudeness of the canvas untouched by artificiality replaces the canvas with the living chapter. Her canvas which simultaneously aims at the decided and undecided conditions has continuity. She replaces the prevailing concept that the canvas is created with the one that the canvas creates itself. The canvas is not created through a particular intent and
the use of particular materials, but it must give the artist the logic of creation. The artist and the canvas must co-exist. The artist and the canvas are not the subject and object respectively, but subject and object simultaneously. The generation of life through this undivided self-awareness can retain purity. The simplicity to the point of appearing dull, a feeling of unfinishedness or incompleteness, which were found in her 1980s works, is derived from that fact. She reveals that the simpler and the more incomplete the canvas is, the more alive it is.
Changing whilst maintaining consistency is a characteristic running through Hong Jung Hee's entire works. Dreaming of changes whilst remaining constant comes across irrespective of age. Her 90s works clearly had a different feel from those of the 80s. The huge form and masses created through the imagery of lava, and the powerful composition created though the self-complacently overflowing paint progressed to a higher dimension through regulating the tension between the whole and details and the rich harmonization of colours. The painter who was breathing in unison with her canvas has regained her aesthetic stance of watching it at a certain distance. It was as though she was taking a break from a journey with the canvas. It looks as though having gained the summit she was looking down at the valley below from which she had single-mindedly climbed up. Latitude of mind is being restored. I have written elsewhere that "She has returned to a state of leisure in which she has gone out of the canvas and watches it, rather than jumping into it become one with the canvas in a state of ecstasy." (3). This recovery of leisure is represented in abstract landscapes. A landscape involves a distance between the self and the other. Moving from the elimination of distance of the 80s to the recovery of distance is in some ways a product of self-reflection. Perhaps its is "contemplative nature", as Yi Il points out. As I mentioned earlier what is immediately apparent in her 90s paintings is a rich sense of colour. On top of that the adherence of colours is more pronounced. The overflowing spirit of creation is contracted, solidified, and turned into flexible geographical layers. This solid stratification is equivalent to "the muralized character", pointed out by Yi Il. A tendency for muralization is another expression of a sense of scale. Her works showed from early on a distinct sense of scale, but in her 90s works the scale becomes more concrete. They give one the same feel as when one faces a huge rock face, or looks down on the panoramic view of a vast field.
"The whole seen from a distance," is an apt description of her works. Her rich sense of colour intensifies through the contrasting and alternative uses of primary colours like red, green and yellow. Whilst maintaining the rough surface, tension created by layers of colours dominates the canvas. The canvas, which was previously covered entirely with a single colour, has added layers through interplay between colours. The visual power is accordingly enhanced. Perhaps it is derived form "the lyricism of colour, per se," as pointed out by Yi Il.
More recently in the 2002, her canvas begins to reveal another ambience, previously undetected. While her management of colour and material is consistent with that of the 90s, she departs from positive holism and has started using simple but vivid forms or signs. The fiery heat and the stickiness of the thickened paint head for a dispassionate state. The cheerful harmony achieved through bright contrasting colours can be analogized to freedom into the brilliant sunshine, a song of liberation, perhaps. The stratification of colours as a contemplative landscape is gradually being metamorphosed into a simple structure, with basic shapes such as square, triangle and petal shapes. Her canvas reflects a strong desire for absolute forms, ending the field of landscape. Triangles, squares and four-leaf clovers reveal existential forms. Preceding any explanation, they bestow a stronger sense of existence.
What is as distinct as the sense of existence is alchemy of colour. Her works are still composed of thick materials, but begin to reveal the transparent interior. For example, watching her acquire a vivid sense of existence through contrasting use of red and green, one realizes what an outstanding alchemist of colour she really is. Among the artists who started their career with abstract expressionism, there is no one who has a sense of colour as rich as her. Her latest works, which show richness in simplicity, suggestiveness latent in briefness, are the products of joy of life and rapture of creation. They will bestow on the artist as well as the onlookers joy, freedom, and yearning for purity.
References
(1)Weber,Albert. Prefacetothesoloexhibitioncatalogue."TheWorksofHongJungHee".1983
(2) Yi, Gyeongseong. Preface to the solo exhibition catalogue. "The Works of Hong Jung Hee". 1983
(3) Oh Kwang-Su. Preface to the solo exhibition catalogue. "Hot Emotions, or Private Composition". 1990 (4)Yu,Junsang. Prefacetothesoloexhibitioncatalogue."AMagicianofcolours". 2001
(5) Yi Eol. Preface to the solo exhibition catalogue. "Comparative Aesthetics, or Another Nature". 1996