캄캄한 동굴 안에 울려 퍼지는 복화술
한예종 창작스튜디오 비평가 매칭 프로그램: 이진형
안소연
미술비평가
최근 작업에서 이진형은 문자를 다룬다. 영어 알파벳 철자를 이용해 이미지를 만들어 가는 일련의 과정에 주목하여, 그는 회화의 ‘감각(sensation)’에 관한 오래된 문제의식을 좇는다. 이 일은, 문자를 가져와 캔버스에 이미지를 조성하는 최근 작업 이전부터 그가 회화를 통해 닿고자 했던 “감각의 실현”이라는 과제로 압축해 볼 수 있을 텐데, 포괄적으로는 그가 생각하는 “회화란 무엇인가”라는 물음에 관하여 답을 좇는 일로 보인다.
그의 첫 개인전 《비원향》(2020)에 대한 짧은 글에서, 나는 여러 정황들을 추려내 그가 모색하는 회화의 가능성에 대해 말하면서 회화의 대상을 회화(적으)로 변환시키는 일련의 조건들을 살폈다. 이를테면, 당시 전시한 모든 작업의 제목을 “Untitled(무제)”로 표기한 내막이라든가 모서리와 붓질 등의 단서로 각각의 회화가 회화 바깥의 환경과 관계 맺으면서 스스로 회화에 대한 감각을 반복 혹은 지속시키려는 시도를 엿본 것이다. 회화사의 익숙한 관점에서 본다면, 재현에서 추상으로의 전환이라는 모더니즘 회화의 조건을 환기시키듯, 이진형의 작업에 있어서 회화의 첫 출발점은 재현으로부터 벗어난 추상적 이미지를 향해 있었다. 하지만 동시에 반전을 꾀하듯, 그는 추상적 이미지로서의 회화를 완수하는 성취 대신 일종의 회화적 환경의 네트워크를 암시하는 제스처를 단서처럼 남겨두고 (완결되지 못한) 또 다른 미궁을 향해 숨어버리려는 사람 같았다. 이름 없는 “어떤” 이미지들의 흐릿한 윤곽들-이건 엄밀하게 말하면 윤곽이라 말할 수 없다-이랄까. 무엇인지는 모르겠지만 어떤 것을 자꾸 좇게 하는, 그러한 뒤쫓음이 경찰과 도둑의 달리기처럼 이어졌다.
대략 2020년부터 2024년까지 매년 개인전을 통해 회화에 대한 실험을 릴레이 경주처럼 줄기차게 이어왔던 이진형은, “감각”이라는 화두를 중심에 놓고 현실 세계의 일면을 회화적으로 변환해내는 조건들을 탐색해 왔다. 모든 작업을 관통하는 공통점이 있다면 “붓질”이라 말할 수 있을 텐데, 이진형은 에어브러시로 분사한 표면처럼 붓자국이 거의 느껴지지 않을 만큼 매끈하게 마무리한 붓질로 미묘한 시차를 보여준다. 이러한 (고정될 수 없는) 시차가 그의 회화를 구축하는 일종의 자기장 같은 동력이라고 말할 수도 있을 것이다. 예컨대 시각적 오해와 형상의 이접, 윤곽의 지워짐과 색채의 뭉개짐처럼 어떤 “문제들”이 회화의 “조건들”처럼 의기양양하게 서로 얼개를 짜고 있는 것이 스스로 논리를 갖추어 가는 것처럼 보일 지경이다.
최근 《송은미술대상전》(2025)에서, 이진형은 작업 안에 작동하는 네트워크를 제시하기 위하여 몇 가지 (임의의) 조건에 강력한 힘을 위임하듯 넘겨준 것처럼 보였다. <지금 당신 앞에 있는 것,>(2025)은 세 개의 캔버스가 차곡차곡 겹쳐 세워진 것으로, 벽에 걸리기 전이든가 혹은 벽에서 떼어 내려놓은 것처럼 임시적인 정황 속에서 어떤 시차를 느끼게 한다. 어쩌면 그는 회화 그 자체에 다가가기 보다는 회화를 등지고 흐릿하게 드리워진 그것의 그림자 혹은 그 가장자리의 (빛에 의한) 흔들림 같은 것에서 (이미 어딘가에 존재하는) 회화를 상상하고 있는 것인지도 모른다. 그런 의미에서, <지금 당신 앞에 있는 것,>을 다시 보면, 세 개의 캔버스, 그것도 가로 그림 하나와 세로 그림 둘의 어긋남과 겹침 위로 작고 반투명한 종이 콜라주 한 점이 추가되어 있음을 볼 수 있다. 벽에 기댄 채 서 있는 이 “그림들”은, 반투명한 트레싱지가 덮고 있는 그 뒤편의 캔버스들과 벽 사이의 간격을 감추거나, 두번째 캔버스가 세번째 캔버스를 선적인 것으로 위장시켜 놓든가, 세번째 캔버스가 맨 뒤의 가로 그림에 대한 시각적 반전을 도모하는 식으로 (어딘가에 있는) “상상의” 회화를 경험하게 한다.
같은 맥락에서 <신호 없음(No Signal)>(2025)도 흐릿하게 지워진 형상(원형)에 대한 집착 보다는 흰색과 검은색 사이의 명도를 보여주는 정사각형 유닛의 배열로 눈앞에 어른거리는 “새로운” 이미지들에 동공을 맡겨버리는 시각적 “포기” 상태로 이끈다. 말하자면, 각각 흰색과 검은색에서 시작한 색면의 이어달리기는 텅 빈 캔버스를 빈틈없이 색채로 채우는데 성공하지만, 동시에 “무제”에 가까운 시각의 붕괴, 즉 흐릿함 자체에 직면한 알아차림을 제시한다. 마지막으로, 가장 최근 작업으로서 <지금 당신 앞에 있는 것,>과 <신호 없음> 사이에 나란히 놓인 <sPacE>(2025)와 <emPTy>(2025)도 내막은 거의 비슷하다. 이 글을 시작하는 첫 문장에서, 나는 그가 이제 “문자”를 다루기 시작했음을 말했다. 이어서 그의 회화는 더 오래 전부터 “회화란 무엇인가”에 대한 질문을 기저에 두고 회화의 “감각”을 좇는다고 했다. 이때, 새삼스러운 문자의 등장은 다시 회화의 재현적 전통을 환기시킴으로써, 윤곽선의 (소멸이기 보다는) 훼손과 함께 일련의 채색된 색면들이 거의 흰색과 검은색 사이의 명도 안에 중첩된 채 음성의 소거를 향한다. 하나의 기호로서 문자가 드러내는 형태를 삭제하고 그 여백, 말하자면 형태의 윤곽을 지니고는 있으나 일종의 내거티브로서의 잔해물로 그는 이미지를 구축해낸다. 나아가 형상과 배경의 관계가 전복되듯 문자 서체의 단일함이 와해되어 있는 시각적 고요(혹은 암흑) 속에서, 그의 붓질은 회화의 표면 위에 서성이다 어떤 “자국들”을 만드는데 몰입한 정황을 보여준다.
이 글의 제목을 “캄캄한 동굴 안에 울려 퍼지는 복화술”이라고 적은 것도 그런 까닭이다. 이진형의 회화는 구체적인 형상이 화면으로 옮겨져 확대되거나 절단되어 초점이 붕괴된 흐릿함을 가져왔다. 일종의 시각적 암흑의 상황에서 그는 회화를 일종의 침묵하는 신체처럼 인식한듯 그것과 마주한 타인들로 하여금 “그[회화]”의 흔들림에 유독 집중하게 해왔다. 서로 한쪽 모서리를 붙여놓은 <sPacE>와 <emPTy>와의 대면 또한 마찬가지다. 문자의 잔상들이 겹쳐 있는 저 암흑의 신체들은 시각적 “흔들림”을 다시 신체적 “울림”으로 변환시켜, 흐릿함 너머의 (뚜렷한) 형태가 아닌 흔들림과 공명하는 (우연한) 자국들에서 어떤 회화적 기억들을 엿보거나 혹은 엿듣게 한다.
한편 신체성을 지닌 그의 회화와 대구를 이루는 작업은 “드로잉”으로서 회화의 감각을 직관적으로 드러낸다. 최근 문자 작업을 준비하면서 그는 알파벳 문자의 여백을 오리고 붙이는 일련의 드로잉 과정을 통해 형태와 배경이 끊임없이 이동하며 재배치하여 “침묵의 언어”에 가까운 이미지로 향하는 면면을 보여준 바 있다. 이때의 침묵은 형태에 대한 고요이며, 되레 화면 위에 남겨진 자국들의 복화술처럼 이중적이다. “무제”로 이름 붙은 목탄과 파스텔 드로잉에 대하여, 그는 “빠른 손의 움직임과 즉흥성을 기록한” 것이라고 말한다. 이러한 설명에도 불구하고 그의 드로잉 앞에서 내가 엿본 그[드로잉]의 신체는 매우 차분하고 때론 고요해 보일 정도다. 침묵, 그도 침묵에 가까운 흐릿함 속에 서 있다. 그럼에도 불구하고 이 드로잉과 회화가 둘러싼 공간은, 캄캄한 동굴의 울림처럼 텅 빈 (시각적) 어둠에 대한 물질적 감각을 알아차리게 될 또 다른 신체[나]를 한결같이 염두에 두고 있는 듯하다.
Ventriloquism Echoing in a Pitch-Dark Cave
Korea National University of Arts (Karts) Creative Studio Critic Matching Program: Jinhyung Lee
Soyeon Ahn
Art Critic
In his recent works, Jinhyung Lee deals with text. By focusing on the series of processes involved in creating images using the letters of the English alphabet, he pursues an age-old inquiry into the "sensation" of painting. This endeavor can be condensed into the task of the "realization of sensation," a goal he has sought to reach through painting even before his recent shift toward composing images on canvas using text. Broadly, it appears to be a quest for an answer to the question, "What is painting?"
In a short essay regarding his first solo exhibition, <B1hyang> (2020), I gathered various circumstances to discuss the possibilities of painting he was exploring, examining the set of conditions that transform an object into something painterly. For instance, I looked into the hidden intentions behind labeling all works as "Untitled," or how clues like corners and brushstrokes allowed each painting to relate to the environment outside its frame, attempting to repeat or sustain a sensation of the medium itself. From a familiar perspective of art history—evoking the modernist condition of shifting from representation to abstraction—the starting point for Lee’s work was toward an abstract image liberated from representation. Yet, as if plotting a reversal, instead of achieving the fulfillment of an abstract image, he seemed like someone trying to hide within another (unfinished) labyrinth, leaving behind gestures that suggest a network of painterly environments. These were the blurred outlines—though strictly speaking, they cannot be called outlines—of nameless "certain" images. It was a pursuit of something indefinable, a chase that continued like a game of cops and robbers.
From roughly 2020 to 2024, Lee has consistently conducted experiments on painting through annual solo exhibitions, much like a relay race, exploring the conditions for converting aspects of the real world into the painterly while keeping the theme of "sensation" at the center. If there is a commonality threading through all his works, it would be the "brushstroke." Lee demonstrates a subtle time lag through strokes finished so smoothly—reminiscent of airbrushed surfaces—that the traces of the brush are barely felt. One might say this (unfixable) time lag acts as a magnetic force that constructs his paintings. For example, "problems" such as visual misunderstandings, the disjunction of forms, the erasure of outlines, and the smudging of colors weave together like "conditions" of painting, appearing as if they are establishing their own internal logic.
In the recent <SONGEUN Art Award exhibition> (2025), Lee appeared to delegate a powerful force to several (arbitrary) conditions in order to present the networks operating within his work. <What Lies Before You Now,>, (2025) consists of three canvases stacked and leaned together; it evokes a certain time lag within a provisional context, appearing as if it were either waiting to be hung or had just been taken down from the wall. Perhaps, rather than approaching painting itself, he is imagining a painting (already existing somewhere) through its blurry shadow or the flickering of its edges caused by light. In this sense, looking at <What Lies Before You Now,> again, one can see three canvases—specifically one horizontal and two vertical—overlapping and misaligned, with a small, translucent paper collage added on top. These "paintings," leaning against the wall, hide the gap between the wall and the canvases covered by translucent tracing paper, or have the second canvas disguise the third as a linear element, or let the third canvas plot a visual reversal of the horizontal painting at the very back, allowing the viewer to experience an "imaginary" painting.
In the same vein, <No Signal> (2025) leads the viewer into a state of visual "surrender"—leaving one's pupils to the "new" images flickering before them—not through an obsession with blurred circular forms, but through an arrangement of square units showing gradations between white and black. That is to say, the relay of color planes starting from white and black respectively succeeds in filling the empty canvas without gaps, but simultaneously presents an awareness of a visual collapse akin to "Untitled"—an encounter with blurriness itself. Finally, as his most recent works, the inner workings of <sPacE> (2025) and <emPTy> (2025), placed alongside the previous two, are much the same. In the first sentence of this text, I mentioned that he has begun to handle "text." I followed by saying his painting pursues the "sensation" of the medium, grounded in the fundamental question of "what is painting." Here, the re-emergence of text evokes the representational tradition of painting once more; along with the damage (rather than disappearance) of outlines, a series of colored planes are overlapped within the luminosity between white and black, moving toward the erasure of voice. By deleting the forms revealed by letters as signs, he constructs images from the negative remains—the remnants that possess the contours of the form yet function as a void. Furthermore, in a visual silence (or darkness) where the uniformity of typography is dismantled as if the relationship between figure and ground has been subverted, his brushstrokes hover over the surface, showing an immersion in creating certain "traces."
This is why I titled this essay "Ventriloquism Echoing in a Pitch-Dark Cave." Jinhyung Lee’s paintings have brought about a blurriness where focus collapses as concrete forms are transferred to the screen, enlarged, or severed. In a situation of visual darkness, he seems to perceive painting as a silent body, making others who face it focus intensely on "its" (the painting's) trembling. The encounter with sPacE and emPTy, joined at one corner, is no different. Those dark bodies, where afterimages of letters overlap, convert visual "trembling" back into physical "resonance." This allows us to glimpse or even "overhear" certain painterly memories not through clear forms beyond the blur, but through the (accidental) traces resonating with the vibration.
Meanwhile, the works that form a counterpoint to his "corporeal" paintings are his "drawings," which intuitively reveal the sensation of painting. While preparing his recent text-based works, he demonstrated a process of moving toward images akin to a "silent language" by cutting and pasting the negative spaces of alphabet letters, constantly shifting and rearranging form and background. The silence here is a stillness regarding form; rather, it is dualistic, like the ventriloquism of the traces left on the surface. Regarding the charcoal and pastel drawings titled "Untitled," he describes them as "records of fast hand movements and improvisation." Despite this explanation, the "body" of the drawings I glimpsed appears remarkably calm, even serene. Silence—he, too, stands within a blur close to silence. Nevertheless, the space surrounded by these drawings and paintings seems consistently mindful of "another body" [the viewer], who will come to recognize the material sensation of the empty (visual) darkness, like an echo in a pitch-black cave.
Gaze that occupies without occupying
[O] Jinhyung Lee Solo Exhibition Preface
The Soso 2022.10.29-11.25
Heejeong Jeon
Gallery Soso Curator
Gaze that occupies without occupying
5 send His iris starts moving to focus on the subject. The artist does not wait for the moment when the movement stops and the image is fixed. He just sharpens his senses in every process that happens to his eyes moment by moment. Then, a certain attribute of the object captured by his vision begins to be transferred to the screen. It is sometimes a form, a color, and a texture. And the moment he draws it on the screen, the artist's gaze moves again. The process of focusing the gaze, the image captured somewhere is not fixed and still moves while it is being transferred to the screen.
This is an artist who is faithful to the essence of painting. His work consists of the act of seeing and making visible. What he sees is different from understanding the context of the object. He thoroughly uses his eyes like a lens to focus on every moment his gaze moves. That is why he 'sees' the moment right before focus is set, the moment of zooming in when the viewpoint is fixed on one part and the surroundings become blurred, and the moment when the shape looks distorted when the gaze is moved. Then, he transfers what he sees to the screen and makes it visible. Even in this process, he does not stop looking, so the work is equipped with delicate layers every time the artist's gaze captures something.
In order to express this layered canvas, the artist repeatedly applied do. As the layers of paint pile up, the brush marks and the heavy physical properties of the paint gradually fade. In the end, a delicate and beautiful screen with only the fine particles of paint remaining on the many layers of images that have sunk far away remains. While the artist is faithful to every moment of the vision and moves it meticulously, the work moves away from the original appearance of the object and from the images of the moment captured by the artist, and is completed with only one independent image. His work, which is a perfect figurative painting in which the object is transferred to the screen as it is visible, and an abstract painting completed only with pure formative elements extracted from the object, has once again distanced itself from all of them and has become a painting unique to Lee Jin-hyung.
움직이는 시선이 대상의 표면 위에 잠시 머무는 순간들을 잡아 자신 Lee Jin-hyung, who has created his own paintings, is now trying to broaden his steps. 'O', the title of this exhibition, can be read as an alphabet, recognized as a number, and seen as a figure. Like the title of this exhibition, which is open to various interpretations, he invites viewers to view his works freely. The artist, who has tried to keep a distance from the fixed image of the subject, tried to get away from the fixed interpretation, and has taken a step back even from the image being drawn on the screen, says that this is his way, that he has established a solid identity in a very open way. . Furthermore, through the eyes of the appreciator, he tries to overcome the limits of the firmly established image once again.
이진형의 시선은 대상의 온전한 모습을 점유하려 하지 않고 float His hand does not try to grasp any attribute of the object he has captured, but covers and covers it. Just like O in a delicate moment in a state where neither meaning nor form is fixed, Lee Jin-hyeong has been painting somewhere between minute gaps. And he came to have his own solid and clear painting like O, which has its own completeness with lines connected euphemistically. Lee Jin-hyeong now invites us to look at the painting with an open eye, thereby making the image move once again. Occupying a place of its own by not occupying anything, his paintings are heading toward an infinite realm of vision that we are seeing but never recognizing.
Captured gazes without perception
Jinhyung Lee sends his gaze to a spot amid vague regulations describing an object. His iris begins to move to focus on the object. He does not wait for the moment when the movement of its image stops, and the image is fixed. He simply awakens his senses for every step happening in front of his eyes from moment to moment. It could be in a certain form, color, or texture. The moment he draws it on the canvas, his gaze moves again. The process by which his gaze focuses, or the image captured somewhere is not fixed and is still moving, even as it is transferred to the canvas.
Jinhyung Lee is an artist who is faithful to the essence of painting. His work consists of the act of seeing and showing. For him, seeing is different from understanding the context of an object. He thoroughly uses his eyes as lenses to focus on every moment his gaze moves. Therefore, he “sees” the moment just before the focus sets in, the moment when the point of view is fixed on one part and the surroundings become blurry, and the moment when the form is distorted upon the movement of gazing. He then transcribes what he sees to the canvas to show it. Even in this process, he never stops seeing, so his work is stacked with delicate layers every moment his gaze captures something.
repeatedly express the entire surface of the layers_bb3b-186 bade canvas. As the paint accumulates, the brush marks and the heavy properties of the paint gradually fade. A delicate and beautiful canvas is left on top of the many layers of images that have sunk away, with only fine particles of the paint remaining. While Lee is faithful to every moment of his vision and meticulously transcribes it on canvas, his work moves away from the original form of the object and away from the images of the moment he captured and is completed as a single independent image. In this way, his oeuvre – perfect figurative painting transposing objects to the canvas as they are, and abstract painting completed only with pure figurative elements extracted from objects – ends up being his unique painting taking a step once again from all of those.
Lee created his own style of painting by capturing moments when the moving gaze stays on the surface of objects for a while. He is now trying to broaden up his horizons. The title of this exhibition O is read as an alphabet, recognized as a number, and seen as a figure. Like the title of this exhibition, which is open to a variety of interpretations, he invites the audience to look at his work in a free-spirited manner. He has tried to distance himself from the fixed image of objects, and moved away from their fixed interpretation, and taken steps back even from the images conveyed on the canvas said that this is his way of doing art, having established his identity as an artist in such an open way. He also intends to push the limits of firmly established images through the eyes of the viewers.
Lee's gaze drifts away, not trying to occupy the entire images of objects. His hand covers them without trying to tightly grasp any attributes of the objects he keeps eyes on. Just like “O” in a subtle moment in which neither meaning nor form is fixed, Lee has been painting somewhere amid microscopic gaps. And he came to tout his firm, clear style of painting like “O” which has its own completion with roughly connected lines. Jinhyung Lee recommends us to look at his painting with an open mind so that the images may move once again. His painting, which occupies its own place by occupying nothing, is directed towards an infinite realm of vision that we are seeing but have never recognized.
Chun Heejung (Gallery SoSo)
what do you want the picture to be
[Pinhole] Jinhyung Lee Solo Exhibition Introduction
A Lounge Gallery 2021.06.17~07.17
what do you want the picture to be
Seonghui Lee
Jinhyung Lee has a habit of collecting images produced by various visual media and looking at them repeatedly. Due to his habit of continuously looking at images, Lee Jin-hyeong comes to grasp the meaning, context, and personality of the images when he first collects them. I encountered the moment and found it interesting. Jinhyung Lee expresses this point as somewhere between the objects, or somewhere in the middle between stillness and noise. Using the images placed at these points as the material of his work, the artist partially captures the texture and structural contours of the atmosphere of the images. capture and compose the screen. How far away from the original image is Lee Jin-hyeong's painting born in this way? The artist hopes that her painting will break away from the original context of the image and look like an independent entity, paradoxically capturing the fading point more clearly and trying to accurately position the work there.
The pinhole: the role of the eye
In Jinhyung Lee's paintings, the role of the eyes is important. The reason why the artist decided to title this exhibition as 'Pinhole' is that the phenomenon called the pinhole effect resembles the artist's habit and work method at a glance. refers to a phenomenon The artist says that he has a habit of unconsciously squinting his eyes when drawing. As a result, it presents us with a somewhat blurry image rather than a completely clear image, but the degree of clarity or blurring is a certain point the artist has chosen while looking at the canvas with constantly frowning eyes during the work process. Like a pinhole camera, which takes a long time to obtain an image and is difficult to obtain a clear image due to the size of the hole and the fineness of distance control, his paintings move back and forth between the subject and the eye, and the focus is determined at a certain intermediate point. It's like a street. And the unknown but clear focal length of his work determined in this way induces the viewer facing the work to move forward or step back to capture a clearer image. At this time, the information that the eyes grasp leads the movement of the body. In front of the work, the eyes naturally first step through the process of trying to figure out the identity of the image. However, his paintings do not easily give hints, and what the eye discovers is the surface texture and color development of the paint evenly applied on the canvas. This surface conveys a full feeling of desolation without showing the shape. The eyes that sweep down the surface of the canvas, denied the illusion, end up lingering in front of the dark canvas surface that seems to have absorbed not only the paint but also the surrounding sounds.
A painting that tries to break away from the image
Lee Jin-hyung refers to photographs, but has constantly attempted to deviate from the original image.[One]Looking at his works in the mid-to-late 2010s, we can see that he had been referring to photography before, but he was more interested in creating the surface of newly composed images on the canvas rather than faithfully reproducing the original image. What is interesting is that as time goes by, brush strokes and stains of paint disappear from Jinhyung Lee's canvas, and he pursues a smooth surface. There are layers on this surface, but rather than overlapping on top of the canvas screen, layers sinking under the screen are piled up. All traces and gestures have a depth that cannot be measured. For example, the works introduced in the group exhibition 《The Earth's Surface Repeats Uplift and Subsidence》 (Shinhan Gallery Yeoksam, 2018) and his first solo exhibition 《Non-Wonhyang》 (Project Space Sarubia, 2020) were displayed in a short period of 3-4 years. It shows how the way he handled the painting surface has changed over the years. All of these works, titled <Untitled>, clearly show that they have made great efforts not to contain the contents of images other than paintings. The artist chose a part or fragment of an image or an ambiguous situation to make it impossible to explain the image. It made it impossible to know which part of the original image was moved to the canvas and took its place. As it is an image without a specific shape, as a result, the viewer has no choice but to pay more attention to the structure or surface of the screen. In addition, the way in which paintings relate to space is examined. At this moment, the painting itself occupies the space. In particular, the works introduced in <Niwonhyang> are conscious of the walls, floors, and columns as if they were part of the Sarubia space, but seldom convey the artist's emotions or gestures that can be created through brushstrokes. If the paintings at that time can be described as abstract, it would be because they were literally abstract, reducing explanations, reducing emotions, and only opening the surface of the painting towards the space and the air that filled it.
Events on the surface of the painting
In this solo exhibition, there are works that the artist hinted at or worked with individual titles in mind instead of the title 'Untitled'. This is slightly different from the existing attitude of not providing a priori information to images. For example, <Untitled (Closer)>, a series of five works in No. 10, has the subtitle 'closer'. The artist said that this word expresses the emotions she felt through brushstrokes and touches during work. Since the senses felt by brush strokes and touch belong only to the artist, for the viewer who cannot touch the painting, there is no other way to infer the senses and emotions through them other than getting closer to the painting. So, when we approach these paintings and close our eyes, we experience that the images gradually appear as material. The image, which looks like haze or shimmering light when seen from behind, is actually a surface on which paint particles are evenly applied, and whitish particles are irregularly distributed amidst subtle colors spreading indistinguishable from boundaries. Thin lines drawn as if one or two brushed through are also passed under the layer where the paint particles are applied. Therefore, the fine particles of paint exist on the top layer of the canvas, and the image subsides below them. The nuance of color created by these surface particles subtly changes depending on the angle of lighting and gaze. Blue seems to seep out from under gray, and red seems to seep out from under black. Jinhyung Lee uses a mixture of pigment and oil when using oil paint, but he also filters out the oil to adjust the degree of light reflection on the surface of the paint. In particular, <Untitled (Resonance)>, which is hanging on the central wall of the exhibition hall in this lounge, was painted mainly with pigments left after filtering out a considerable amount of linseed oil from black paint. It is not to the extent of challenging 0% light reflectance like Vanta Black, but his black color reduces light reflection and gives a feeling of color seeping up from under the surface of the canvas. As if looking at the surface of the speaker grill cloth, it seems to absorb even the surrounding sounds. The artist told the author that he thought of the subtitle as 'resonance', that is, 'resonance', because he felt that the colors painted under this black color made their own sound. However, I feel that the sound of the resonance does not resonate grandly outside the screen, but is adsorbed to the black color and permeates under the canvas. While subtly holding the nuance of each color.
Previously, I used the expression 'clear or blurry' when explaining Lee Jin-hyung's paintings. However, this is an expression based on the premise of the original image, and if Lee Jin-hyung's painting is completely removed from the original image and viewed only as the painting itself, it is correct to say that there is no reason to hear the expression that his painting is blurry compared to the object of representation. Rather, the important event that occurs on the surface of his painting is the nuance created by the adsorption of colors and their resonance. Often, we think of color only as a result of light. However, Goethe explained the principle of color and said that light and darkness, that is, light and non-light, are required for color to be created. He also said that color can be regarded as half-glow and half-shadow.[2]Above all, Goethe refused to see color as an objective entity like Newton's optics, and instead emphasized that it is a phenomenon related to the observer, that is, our eyes.
what do you want the picture to be
The question of what to paint is fateful for artists. However, at some point, Jinhyung Lee focuses more on how to paint than on what to paint. At this time, his eyes play an important role. In the first place, the reason why he had the habit of constantly collecting images and looking at them repeatedly for a long time may be because he was worried about what to paint, but his eyes seem to have experienced Goethe's words as follows.
“The eye cannot and does not intend to remain, even for a moment, in a particular state defined by an object. Rather, the eyes are forced into a kind of confrontation. Such an opposition, so to speak, opposes extreme to extreme, mediocre to mediocre, immediately unites the opposites, and at the same time directs the whole in its place.”[3]
Jinhyung Lee's painting started from an already existing image, but he does not even try to resemble the original image. A spectator who squints in front of his work may feel like grasping an existence that seems to be beyond the fog, but his paintings do not hide the image. He did not deny the property of image, which occupies half of the identity of painting. However, Lee Jin-hyung's painting intends to exist clearly. Desiring not to be subordinated to images, he wants to become an independent entity. Richter once commented on his photo-painting work in the 1960s and 1970s, which was well known for his blur technique.
“My own relation to reality is described as obscure, insecure, fearful, and fragmentary. But that doesn't explain my drawings. At best, that only explains why I paint. Pictures are a bit different. For example, my paintings are never made blurry. What we see as blurry is imprecise. And this means that it is different from the reproduced object. But since a picture is not drawn to be compared with reality, it cannot be blurry, imprecise, or anything else. For example, how can the colors on the canvas be faded?”[4]
When WJT Mitchell asked the question “What does the painting want?”, Mitchell said that the expression 'want' could paradoxically mean 'lack'.[5]If we apply this question to Jinhyung Lee's paintings, we can say that his paintings want to show the view. We do visual arts, but we are not faithful to what we see. The more images overflow, the more insincere the vision becomes. Jinhyung Lee's painting is located between us who lack this 'seeing' and the image.
[One]The fact that he pursues painting that deviates from the original image while referring to photography reminds us of <Ausschnitt>, a series of photo paintings by Gerhard Richter.
[2]Goethe, 『Color Theory』, translated by Chang Hee-chang, Seoul: Minumsa, 2016, p.43.
[3]Goethe, supra, p.56.
[4]A Conversation between Richter and Rolf Schön (1972). Requoted from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, 『Gerhard Richter, Master of German Contemporary Art』 (Seoul: Culture Books, 2003), p.28.
[5]WJT Mitchell, 『What does painting want』, translated by Jeon Yoo-kyung Kim, Seoul: Green Bee, 2016, p.68.
[Non-Wonhyang B1Hyang] Lee Jin-hyung Solo Exhibition Introduction
Project Space Sarubia 2020.3.25-4.24
Soyoung Moon
Project Space Sarubia Assistant Curator
There are things that come unexpectedly and subvert your vision: the smell of the season when the temperature changes, the temperature of the sunlight and wind touching your skin, the shape revealed when the night erases the color, the memories they evoke, and a place that is as unfamiliar as the distance of time. and stuff. The world is full of obscure things rather than obvious ones. In the empty Sarubia exhibition hall where the exhibition has not started, the artist senses a certain scent that he did not feel when the space was full. 『Non-Wonhyang』 is accompanied by the artist's attempt to distort the context of the object we know and reveal it in an unfamiliar way and realize it as a pictorial property.
Jinhyung Lee randomly collects images through visual media such as photos and movies. 'Collected images contain the intentions and tastes of the person who collected them' (Artist's note, 2019). The selected image is processed until the object it was pointing to is not reminiscent, or erased while leaving only part of it, and the colors and shapes captured in the process are transferred to the canvas. The image transferred to the canvas is reborn as an individual object, wearing the artist's senses and paint. Most of Jinhyeong Lee's works have figurative references, but the artist chooses to reveal them through the materiality of painting in an ambiguous and unfamiliar form rather than conveying them through a clear narrative. Rather than presenting a direct image, I try to embody the air and texture of the image as much as possible, so that one meaning prevents the image from being predicated and allows the viewer to bring their own experience and interpretation. Collected images and forms are catalysts that evoke the artist's senses, and are not transcribed on the screen, but are extracted, accumulated, and refined by the artist.
As mentioned earlier, Lee Jin-hyeong focuses on making people recognize the painting as an individual being rather than understanding the painting. Rather than recreating a scene, he chooses to materialize the senses floating in it like air into pictorial properties (thin and transparent, but that's why it's a deeper painting). So Jinhyung Lee's work focuses on how to draw rather than what to draw. In the process, the artist's thoughts come to mind as if creating a shape. Until he finds the moment when the scattered imagery is brought into focus and the stillness becomes clearer, the artist refines the image, adds delicate lines and marks, and carefully balances it. A series of works are also developed by experimenting in various ways, such as tone, size, density, medium, etc., without staying in a limited method. When composing the screen, the artist proceeds with the work while considering the connection between pictures. However, this does not mean connecting the paintings as a scene, but refers to the creation of contact points and connections between the surfaces through the artist's experimentation with the materiality of painting and the attitude towards the work. The paintings, which seemed to be branching out in various concentrations and techniques, come together again as the artist considers how to display the work and how to put it together.
The materiality of Lee Jin-hyung's painting is revealed in various ways, but it is mainly revealed through the form gently permeated onto the surface like a watercolor painting or through a smooth surface without any residue. The artist conducts research on painting supports and grounds and primer in order to use hand techniques such as brush-strokes more diversely and flexibly. On the surface of painting, there are shape descriptions made by habit and style, concentration of paint, brush strokes, and apart from techniques, it is composed of fabric, paper, wood, etc. there is. Rather than transforming or dismantling the canvas frame, the artist's research focuses on using a thin but deep surface by maintaining the basic rectangular shape and diversifying the use of fabric and floor coating. The unified form of the canvas highlights the results that vary depending on the use of the support.
When the work enters the exhibition hall, the artist thinks about balance once again. The space becomes a new screen and the images are rearranged within it. Like an incense underground that subverts sight without a shape, sometimes things that are not established are clearer. Anything we know well was once unknown. Rather than borrowing the form of an object or conveying a story as an image with a context, the artist hoped that the painting itself would gain vitality and speak for itself. Through 『Biwonhyang』, painting is presented as an independent entity rather than a metaphor, and I hope that various interpretations can coexist as a stranger with an open meaning.
Painting and/or environment
[Non-Wonhyang B1Hyang] Jinhyung Lee Solo Exhibition In-depth Criticism
Project Space Sarubia 2020.3.25-4.24
Ahn So-yeon
art critic
Lee Jin-hyeong's painting, named “Untitled,” usually represents an abstract structure that has a certain shape. Even though it sometimes reveals an empty abstract screen of nameless achromatic color to the extreme, somehow, if you endlessly imagine the outside of the painting screen, you will be sure that you do not know what kind of familiar shape you will come into contact with. Where does this urge to imagine the outside of painting come from? Perhaps it is because of the structural context in which a series of selective conditions Lee Jin-hyung recognizes in the process of painting production are re-recognized as a series of predestined results (according to media conventions) in his experience of painting through the medium of an exhibition. For example, when faced with the result of the convergence of the individual random elements selected by him as “conditions of painting” in the process of work in the first place in the exhibition, interestingly, there is an endless re-recognition of the arbitrary pictorial conditions again. It refers to the repetition of media-specific structures. In other words, Lee Jin-hyung seems to be trying to reconstruct the medium-specific formal logic of painting himself and renew the condition of painting, but what is emphasized at this time is the experience of the body and spatial perception (communication) triggered by the plane of painting.
As the title of the exhibition, ⟪Non-Wonhyang B1Hyang⟫, Jinhyung Lee emphasized the physical environment of the exhibition space and the physical senses of it. This is the condition in which his paintings are created, and also the conditions in which his (created) paintings are experienced. In other words, he repeats the sensuous logic of the external environment that he has converged on the plane of painting in the exhibition experience that extends to the painting environment. First of all, let's take a look at each plane of painting he created. (I couldn't find a proper way to name his work, which is all "untitled", so I have no choice but to describe in words the relationship it placed in the space.) When entering the exhibition space stably, the same size (116.8x91cm) ) of <Untitled> (2019), two dots hung in pairs almost closely attached to each other, or a clear difference between the two - a large background area occupied by green and gray, respectively - a more subtle resemblance - the color of an abstract pattern that slightly spans the opposite corner <Untitled> (2020), another two points that design a continuous flow in space, and the other two points of <Untitled> (2020), which are designed as a continuous flow in space due to the brush strokes of red color left on the screen like blurry traces, and a certain force relationship as if reflecting each other and reflecting themselves. Could it be summarized as a number of <Untitled> (2019-2020) placed on the wall and floor in exchange?
Lee Jin-hyung's paintings are all untitled because of his tenacious desire to see them as just “paintings,” and also because he wanted them to be seen as “paintings,” as well as his surroundings. It also reveals the will to experience the abstract painting as the result of referring to the numerous images acquired from the images in the same process as the sensory experience that has been selected and processed. In the selection and processing of images, he empties the narrative of reality that dwells in the object like the implication of “untitled” (with the intention of constructing a narrative without a narrative) and maximizes the logic of the senses that are converted into the materials and techniques of painting. rethink the experience of In short, Jinhyung Lee keeps in mind the painting environment that an anonymous body will experience in the process of painting. This is when the sensuous “perception” experienced in the process of selecting and processing not only the image, which can be called the subject of painting, but also the material and technique to transform it into a pictorial one is built into a pictorial environment. It is probably because he is looking for the possibility of painting to share experiences with anonymous bodies.
Untitled
Monthly Art August 2021
Editor's Picks EDITOR'S PICS (p69)
https://monthlyart.com/portfolio-item/2021%eb%85%84-8%ec%9b%94-%ec%a0%9c439%ed%98%b8/
Untitled
Monthly Art May 2020
UP-AND-COMING ARTIST (p130~131)
Reporter Yeom Ha-yeon
https://monthlyart.com/portfolio-item/2020%eb%85%84-5%ec%9b%94-%ec%a0%9c424%ed%98%b8/