Why are there so many works in contemporary art that have “Untitled” written in the title column? The intention is to give a title and leave a seat so as not to limit the viewer's imagination.
I met Sangmin Lee and Seunghun Shin, who said, “The basics of contemporary art are to open a communication window with the audience,” at Cheongdam-dong Cell Arts Gallery.
Sangmin Lee (left) and Seunghun Shin (right). Photo Mijung Park PD
The work of the artist and the new artist who created a subtle color by painting paints on the canvas are cool in the gallery space. The atmosphere was fully blown.
Do you have a message that you want to express through your work activities?
Sangmin Lee I am working with a vessel series now. The shape of this bowl is not the design I made, but the shape of a bowl made by an ancestor of the past, like white porcelain and celadon. When I went to Taiwan before, I felt the beauty of preserving the old culture, and when I returned to Japan and re-examined white porcelain and celadon, I got new inspiration.
Even if you give any name to the bowl, the essence is to entertain with a cup. Looking back at its essence, I feel like I'm breathing with old potters and craftsmen. It feels like the ancestors have received the power of reviving tradition and reinterpreting it.
Seunghun Shin I was thinking “I ’m a magician of light” while watching Professor Sangmin Lee’s work. It was a light that could not be seen outside, but when I saw it, I felt healed and received energy. I also want to express and convey a work that can give people healing and renewal power.
What I want for my work is “unspecified colors”. At first glance it seems to be a single color, but if you look closely it is a color that is not out of the market. I want to create a color that breaks the boundaries of colors and gives a new feeling, and to receive a happy feeling. I want to create a work with positive emotions that allows me to go out happily day by day and be happy with others.
Seunghun Shin explained that the painting was done using oriental painting techniques using oil paintings of Western painting. Traditionally, when painting a precious picture such as a king, once it was painted and the paint was dry, we used a technique that increased the color over and over again. In this way, repetitive coloring acts to create a mysterious color. Seunghun Shin It will also take a month for the creation of a work that raises multiple colors on the canvas.
If you have something to remember while preparing the work for this exhibition ...
Seunghun Shin I was struggling when I made a big work in front of the Seunghun Shin exhibition hall. If you order and receive that large canvas, it may be slightly different from what you actually thought. So for the first time from the beginning, I was involved directly from the canvas production process and carried it directly.
It was not easy to move, and drawing was very difficult, and there was a physical burden. The eyes that such hardships are suitable for may go and the mind may go.
Sangmin Lee the glass plate used in this work is 1cm thick. In order to create a sense of depth by cutting a 1cm glass plate, it is necessary to consider all aspects of light and volume.
What's interesting is that people who see my work appreciate the light in their eyes, but when I create the work, I work with my ears. While listening to the sound of shaving the glass, I guess whether it has been shaved to some extent. Feel like listening to music.
This sound is received while changing the glass with a diamond grinder. In the past, if you continued to work, you could hear your ears becoming temporarily clogged. When I went to the glass of watching TV at home, there was also an ear illness that doesn't sound exactly or the frequency of the sound of the TV was just right. It's a kind of occupational disease.
what kind of occupation is an artist from the standpoint of actually doing art.
Sangmin Lee I think the artist goes a step ahead of the masses. It's not the role of the writer ... Strive to create and reinterpret the universal but also special case. I will steadily communicate with the public and participate in society. Rather than only one work being completed, the artist must explain his work and strive to communicate with the audience.
Seunghun Shin In my case, once I paint the canvas, it takes 8 hours to dry. I hit it all today, so I need to dry it a little and finish it tomorrow, and when I go to the work room the next day, I'm sitting on the top of the figure and sticking ... I need to paint again. Because it is a series of tomorrows that cannot be predicted, I sometimes think that art has a kind of “fate”.
Another interesting thing is that there is one piece that I actually tried to exhibit. When it was completed, it was decided that this color was chosen for this year's trendy color. I didn't display it this time (laughs), looking at whether it seemed that it was made without any reason (the trend). I made a work inspired by the colors of nature that I pursue, but it seems strange that it is evaluated as contemporary.
As for communication with the masses, when two artists who think about the essence of things during the day asked the point of appreciation of contemporary art, the answer was “comfortable”. “I'm interested in contemporary art, but I do n’t know how to appreciate it”, if you are a spectator, you can refer to their ears.
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I think contemporary art is “the time of vision (poetry). It is enough to relax by thinking that you read a short poem. (Seunghun Shin)
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Previously, there was no label at all next to the work that I had exhibited in Germany. I asked why Yotonya, “I just want you to enjoy it without being bound by its name.”
It is also in this context that many titles have “Untitled” written in the title column. Of course, the intention of the artist is important as well as the work of art, but the most important thing is to enjoy the audience. (Sangmin Lee)
Yale Lee reporter celsetta@donga.com