I recently visited the solo show of a Korean artist who is currently studying at Kyoto city university of the Arts. The exhibition consisted of two dimensional works in monochrome, however, I felt as if it were a joint exhibition of two artists because the show consisted of two styles that were clearly distinguishable from one other. I have recognised this tendency before, and it seems to me that the artist should seek her own expression by keeping the two styles side by side.
On the one hand Bae's work consisted of a black velvet cloth on which she drew faint white lines tightly together, like grassland, to create a unique depth from the space left unmarked on the velvet. She developed this style gently and gradually, with the occasional use of a smudging or blurring effect, which acted to integrate the velvet’s own glamour and depth into her style, yet without indulging in it.
On the other hand, her canvas works works were created using strong thick lines, like streams of charcoal and Chinese ink . This black flow, and its contrasting qualities to the velvet works, creates knots, sometimes spreading out over the plains of the canvas and rejoining to gather in to pockets of black depth. The feature of this style is one of active and inherent power, and is much in contrast to the style of the velvet works, which could be described as static and delicate.
Despite the risk of her early works developing in to a somewhat mannered style, Bae has displayed an outstanding progress, and this exhibition certainly attracted my attention, raising the question of whether these two styles might be integrated in the future, or not.
Tomoyuki Mitsui
Curator, Osaka Municipal Museum of Modern Art
現在京都の大学院で学ぶ韓国の作家の個展、作品はいずれもモノクロの平面作品だ が、かなり異なる二つの作風にはっきりと分かれるため、二人展のようにも感じる。
この傾向は以前からも見られたもので、作者は二系統の制作を並行させることで、自身の表現の探求をしているようである。
二つの傾向のうち、黒いベルベット布に草原のようにびっしりと薄い白い線を描き込み、残した部分とのあいだに独特な奥行きを感じさせる作風は、時に染みの効果を用いるなど、緩やかな発展を示し、ベルベット自体の持つ魅力を、それに溺れることなくうまく自分の表現に生かしていた。
もう一方は、木炭や墨による、川の流れのような太く力強い作品群。 ベルベットとは質の違う黒の「流れ」が結び目をつくり、時に面的に広がり黒々とした水たまりとなる。 ベルベットの作品を静的・繊細とすれば、こちらは動的で土俗的な力強さが特徴である。 以前は作為的で野暮ったいところがあったが、今回は格段の進歩を示していた。
この二つの傾向はいつか統合されるのか、されないのか。継続してみたいと思わせる展示であった。
「動」の作品に格段の進歩
大阪市立近代美術館建設準備室学芸員 三井 知行