[critic]Appeared Soul’s Evolution as Realistic Sculpture
Appeared Soul’s Evolution as Realistic Sculpture
KHO, Chung-Hwan(Art Critic)
Nonexistence of Speculation
This word’s superficial meaning is there is no thinking. But its true meaning is not a simple passive situation that lack of thinking. It is practice and hint of positive and active behavior which is making empty thinking. It could be understood that involving these things recognition of one’s ignorance(Socrates), when I know, recognize knowing, when I don’t know, recognize unknowing(Confucius), act of vacate oneself(Buddhism) etc.
Specially, in Buddhism, act of vacate oneself obtains as a ritual act to get real self. Then, what should we empty to acquire real self. They are socialized self, systematized self, trained and subordinated self my morality, ethics and custom that result of artificial knowledge, and they are restrict real self. The fact makes reconsideration even general thought about humanism. Therefore, meaning of the word ‘human’ should be accepted as recovery of natural human that before be socialized, before be systematized, before be practiced.
Lee, Heang-Gyun realizes this theme as human body sculpture which is alike half-seated contemplative Maitreya(our version about Rodin’s Le Penseur), huge headlike sculpture that makes imagination of megalithic culture of Stone Henge. But there is no head in body sculpture, and headlike sculpture’s inside is digged. Through this, he expresses practice logic of none speculation that empty self paradoxically. This comes out through making comparison between realistic sculpture about body with stylized and abstracted sculpture about head. And from this, true speculation, true knowledge(wisdom) and change of true meditate on myself are experienced.
Transmigration
There is recognition about changing existence in this word. In other word, every existence is not fixing and unchanging individual. It is changed, transmuted, spoil and decay. And most of all, It circulates. In particular, heterogeneous moments that constitute existence are connected each other. It nos not divided and the moments couldn’t be parted like Mobius strip.
Lee, Heang-Gyun makes shape of transmigrating existence’s secret through a slowly moving and turning skeleton, and body sculpture with giant spindle as the centroid. At this time, the centroid appears as a form a big nipple. It suggests a life’s fountain of itself, the origin of existence and the huge womb(matrix) as the center of the universe. Thus, a skeleton and a baby are compared by the centroid of life’s fountain. Then , skeleton and a baby exist as independent individuals at first, but each shape is overlapped as the whole sculpture’s returning. A skeleton and a baby overlap and circulate, furthermore, it comes out as the same status. In here, a skeleton means death and a baby means life. Like this, heterogenetic two moments which looks like distinguished in a consciousness layer meet together in a unconsciousness layer. Freud thought unconsciousness is more essential thing than consciousness, and impulse about life and death are intersect in the unconsciousness layer, The other side, Georges Bataille saw a human’s limit in interruption of Eros(like) and Thanatos(death), and he saw possibility that overcomes the limit and recovers the whole human being from connecting cut discontinuity and recovering continuity. This is going through oriental speculation about transmigration, it has mutual understanding with ontological recognition which is showed up on Lee, Heang-Gyun’s sculpture as the theme ‘transmigration’.
Transmigration, Living together
The theme awareness which is appeared by transmigration could be changed to other sculpture. The artist makes form with huge granite, makes a pair sculpture that disinterred inside. The form makes imagination of the Great Absolute in Chinese philosophy pattern which is compared Yin and Yang. The theme awareness of transmigration that expressed through narrative method is magnified translated as the Great Absolute in Chinese philosophy’s symbolic form which is put on Yin and Yang’s mutuality relationship or interaction. Here, Yin means a principle existence, Yang means existence’s configuration that appeals the theory. In conclusion, there is no Yang without Yin, there is no Yin without Yang. Meaning of living together that showed up in the theme appeals dualistic secret meaning of existence, and manifests sympathy of gyrate transmigration in life and death. It should be understood as reflection of the artist’s intention that trying to suture different changes and trying to repair first condition of existence(a whole human being, true self, oneself).
The artist put in water on digged empty space of sculpture, it looks like a water tank. Actually, water seems like transmigration that makes stream with foreign moment, living together, configuration of circulation, true reconciliation and recovering moment. The artist floats a kind of butterfly shapes model in water tank. The model that inside is digged and the outside is sutured is floated on water, it is realization of water sculpture by flotage. This model expressed as floating rock on water, betraying rock against gravity, lightly moving rock as like a leaf, it makes reconsideration of fixed concept and preconception. Whit this, the artist introduces power into the model and realizes a kind of kinetic sculpture. The artist draws in a play element through moving sculpture by borrowing of power and a magnet that pushes out each other, so he extends the category of sculpture.
Ring of Life
The artist connects a great hand’s figure with continuously connected ring as a medium and a crouched baby like embryo to one of the ring. A baby is connected to ring, the ring is connected to a hand. The baby hints existence, and the ring hints a chain of DNA that dedices for hereby form and nature of existence, And a hand reminds existence of the God(or definite unconsciousness than consciousness) which is not grabbed by human’s sense. So, biological fact is attached on ontological recognition about human being that comes up as transmigration, circulation and living together. But at this time, the biological chain is begun by God’s hand we can’t see as well. Through this, the artist satirizes worldly knowledge which is appeared by human cloning and gene engineering, and he tells that ontological truth is before than scientific truth. Like this, Lee, Heang-Gyun makes shape the theme consciousness that ‘chain of life’ in narrative way of expresses as form of performance. He penetrates a hole with a rock drill on surface of huge rough granite stone, divides rough stone into pieces with a kind of lever. And he develops the space modeling or space composition with reconstruction way that lifting split pieces using a forklift. Each piece of stone as parts of this work that shows at the spot on exhibition day suggests an opportunity of life, act and process of reconstructing abstract a principle of living together that gestates real life with joining of the opportunity.
This work show a quite different approaching way from artist’s other works which are expressed as realistic sculpture. In a way, this work enlarges sculpture’s category into space organization that comes out as emphasis organic relation for physiological parts and parts, parts and the whole which extracts the whole shape through reorganize its parts, and into performance(which has physiological difference from traditional sclupture) that emphasized the actual sport and one time event.
Evolution of Soul
LEE, Heang_Gyun calls the main theme that penetrates recent works ‘evolution of soul’. It is merging minor theme which is expressed as non possession, transmigration, living together and ring of life into a big frame into a big frame. At least, in the artist’s theme awareness, developed soul doesn’t mean socialized, systematized and civilized human being. Artist aims human being that before socialized, before systematized, before civilized instead. With this, artist hopes recovery of the whole and ontological human being. Also, evolution of souls can’t be seized with temporal knowledge that comes out biological true and scientific true, it can be adopted when the knowledge empty. Artist deliveries these ontological cognizance with persuasive power as fresh description and narration that seems be caught by a hand which puts foundation of tradition of realistic sculpture, and symbolic grammar that implied the description.