말할 수 없는 것의 침묵 31.4″x35″ 한지, 자연염색, 깃털, 펜촉 2013
Silence Beyond Words (31.4″x35″ Korean Paper, natural dyeing, feather, pen point, 2013)
Jung-Ja Kim’s Expanding Universes
Kim’s training may have been in Oriental Painting as ink, brush, paper or silk landscape type work is called in Korea, however her work is conceptually and philosophically directed. Kim’s The Silence beyond Words recalls such a work as Man Ray’s photograph, ca. 1967, of Duchamp’s Dust Breeding, 1920 a work that may look and sound prosaic by its title but which is nevertheless brilliant in concept and beauty. Duchamp allowed dust to collect on his work The Large Glass that naturally produced concavities, hills, layered textures and patterns considered beautiful enough by Man Ray to commemorate photographically. The relationship to Kim’s work is not only in the use of common objects that a simple yet beautiful but also in both artists’ use of natural materials and the environmental/accidental effects on their media. In her mixed media works Kim allows natural staining to take place on Korean rice paper that attains a worn appearance fading midway while darkening at the edges. Moreover, Kim adds a real quill pen pointed at the tromp l’oeuil notebook. Duchamp erased most of the dust in his work but left one whole portion intact actually pasting the dust in permanently.
Like Chaekkori the traditional eight-fold painted screens of her native country, Kim overlays objects painted in a hyper-real style onto a flat surface. However, instead of sitting on the surface as usually do 3- dimensionally created objects in Chaekkori, Kim’s book seen in the foreground of The Silence beyond Words disappears as it recedes into the distance. This absence in the middle ground has its analogy in the word Silence contained within the title of Kim’s work. Moreover, it can be said that Kim is making a comment on a gender issue of importance; whereas books, ink stones, brushes were traditionally used in Chaekkori for decorating men’s quarters(sarangbang), Kim uses the book and ink quill as metaphors for herself. Chosun Dynasty Chaekkori when made for women, contained symbols of fertility and good fortune e.g. peonies, so that, Kim has reversed the symbolism in this work. It is as if she’s stating that women have come to the point in the 21st Century to be symbolized by their intellect rather than their ability to reproduce.
Several of Kim’s works allude to galaxies as does Polishing the Sky, 2013 (63.8x51.2in, Hanji, natural dyes, oriental ink) in which appears a human form upon a golden hill dotted by a red pillow. The first association is with color that is principally yellow or gold and red, a combination whose symbolic meaning is to ward off evil spirits serving as talisman. Kim also plays with solid color on the hill, against transparent as is the human form in its midst and inky sky dotted with white stars. Chosun dynasty Zhe school painting is something Kim would be well versed in consequently, her use of transparency which is ordinarily a very difficult effect to accomplish. The red pillow in the center by its crimson color signifies royalty and is embroidered in gold thread at the edge, a common practice even today in handicrafts. But, Korean legend has it that the Queen of Silla embroidered a pillow with a peace poem to present to the Tang Emperor to commemorate her enthronement. Thus all together perhaps the painting can be understood in terms of humanity seeking answers in the spiritual realm having left behind all the wealth and important position of its materialist past.
Subconscious Acting, 2007 (63.8x51.2in, Hanji, natural dyes, gold powder) painted six years before Polishing the Sky nevertheless relates to it coloristically and thematically. The 2013 work can be seen as continuation or return to the cosmic subject found earlier in the work. In Subconscious Acting, there are two human forms, a turquoise one placed higher than the transparent one below that overlaps it. Their arms up stretched as if in supplication, their size is not so patterned ground, the figures stand, and above them in the sky appear huge dotted spirals. Their entreaty evident, they are embracing the universe while their coloristic aura is reflected in the spirals above. The spiral has its own symbolism hearkening back to megalithic art and has been found in desserts, but also on roof tiles of the Tang Dynasty in Chang’an signifying the sun. Hence, the whorls of Kim should be seen as cosmic fingerprints of the galaxy.
Written By:
Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos,
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