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Geun-Taek Yoo

Birth

1965, Asan

Genre

Painting

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A Landscape, Following Spring, 2012

Black Ink, White Powder and Tempera on Korean Paper, 84 x 258cm

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Presence of objects and questions about method of perception, performance of the body and its intervals

It is because of the complicated psychological mechanism that things existing outside bring an emotional impact to the person looking at. We often call it 'emotion'. It is same as so-called 'feeling of heart or mind movement', In this way. a man's subjective reflection on objective reality of the things becomes an active motivation of a wide variety of artistic activities. For example, branches of willow tree outside window are simply moving in the wind but the subtle mind of the poet overlooking at them reminds him of parting and it is the case.

This 'emotion' is very special to Geun-Taek Yoo's painting. We can see from the quotation below how much he considers most this emotional problems in his work. "The third thing is that I climb and trip to the mountains myself. It is travel to architectural space of dots and lines where beauty of power of the mountain with enormous energy looking through my emotion, not the form and shape of the mountain and trees, is moving and squirming by light." - Geun-Taek Yoo's essay, 1991, from the catalog of the 1st private exhibition -

"I have often thought that Oriental Aesthetics are overly concentrated on the method of use of brush. Especially in modern society, there is certain area which can not be solved by it alone. For example, not to mention the culture, world that sad people is seeing is not same as the world that happy people is doing even though they are watching the same scenery. By this reason, since my age of the postgraduate course, search of emotional problem became the important goal in my work and area rather than a problem of brush usage. I even wrote on the emotion of Chung Sun(郑歚,1676-1759) for the graduate thesis." - Geun-Taek Yoo, Interview with author Kang Honggu, 2009, from catalog of

private exhibition at the Savina Museum -

The first article cited explains by which steps his work of the ink was developing through the point in 1991 and the second article mentions the problem of 'emotion' in the Oriental painting at present time, nearly 20 years later.

Ⅱ.

From the historical point of view, the problem about the method of use of brush, main stream of the theory of the Oriental Painting, is related to the Junbeop(皴法) in the Landscape Painting. This term, of which dictionary definitions is a technique of surface processing to represent dimension, contrast and texture of mountains and rocks when painting landscape, (World Art Dictionary, published by the Monthly Art ) is generally closer to the concept of the realistic description(形似), copy of things rather than the sensational description(写意) in connection with expression of spirit. Therefore, the fact that Geun-Taek Yoo has stepped from the stage of the technique of surface processing(皴) to the realistic description(形似) and again has gone forward the stage of emotion can be construed as movement of stage from the realistic description(形似) to the sensational description(写意). Considering the fact ,however, these the realistic description(形似) and the sensational description(写意) are not the separate item but are coupled each other in the traditional Oriental Painting, feelings or emotional problems to Geun-Taek Yoo is not the concept of the sensational description(写意) in the traditional sense but the concept of daily emotions the artist feels, that is, specific emotions related to the way of looking at things. If concept of sensational description(写意) in the traditional Oriental Painting means expression of the artist's noble spirit, what Geun-Taek Yoo's emotion means is associated with the way of perception of viewing things. This is, as he says, the descent to the life world with conversion to daily material.

The artist's exhibition at the Wonseo Gallery in 1999 was an important exhibition making up a waterhead in his personal history. He considers it as a sort of monumental exhibition in his painting history because he got out of inclination to ideological, ideal and spiritual side, which existing traditional ink painting used to have, and diverted attention to life world through his works exhibited. A series of is what he painted daily scenes (materials) in front of him by representation of the plane. 'Descent from the sky (idea) to the ground (reality)' stemmed from this series of works was possible due to development of an independent way of representation. In this series of works which were painted landscapes overlooked through window of his first floor apartment, embedded are the issue of time as well as the way of perception to see the target, or more specifically speaking, topic to feel the target through perception and how to solve the problem of emotion stirred by it in canvas. That is, the process of perception accompanying certain 'wonder' happened through everyday scenery out of the routine watch. As a result, Geun-Taek Yoo's scene contains the entirely different contents of perceptual experience from the previous scene and it is worth notice.

III.

Geun-Taek Yoo began to use white powder from the year 1999. It is used by dissolving in water and, when coating onto the Korean paper, moisture is absorbed into the paper and only particles of the white powder remain on the surface of paper giving the thick and tasteless impression. He paints a picture using such a white powder and gouache. 24 pieces of 25ho-size (万有写生), series, series and series being on display in this private exhibition contain experimental techniques he is recently trying with his heart's blood.

According to his display plans, a separate room will be arranged on the first basement of the Savina Museum and 24 pieces of (万有写生) series will be displayed there at the man's height, series on the first floor and series will be on display on the second floor highlighting its spectacular character of the works as a whole. Especially the series on the first floor are 4.8 meters long and 2.4 meters high in size and will express the scene of the banquet hall as a place where desire crashes on the big screen showing Geun-Taek Yoo's unique grand spectacle.

As many critics indicate, the most prominent element in the works of Geun-Taek Yoo is the daily life. Everyday materials began to appear from the time he pays attention to actual life world instead of notion. It is already partly shown in the works of the early 80's such as (39x69cm, ink on the korean paper, 1982) but it is (191x264cm, Mixed Materials on the Korean paper, 1996) ,from where it began to be deployed by his new techniques including pointillism. He has made a sketch of a grandmother for a long time and it is linked to expression of historical character and became an axis of his works together with everyday scenery. This series of works became maximized at the series in the late 90's and particularly the masterpiece which is 10 meters long and 3.4 meters high in size.

Ⅳ.

(万有写生) series composed of 24 pieces in all are what Geun-Taek Yoo painted common materials easily found around us by his unique strokes which rouse up visual effects as if ink is melting and flowing. Considering peculiar properties of the painting material of mixture of white powder and gouache, he rubs it past aside with painting brush softening focus. This unique technique is producing unrealistic and dreamlike effect as if we saw scenery in dream. This trend is particularly noticeable in a series of interior landscapes in which some plants look like to eventually occupy the entire room.

Geun-Taek Yoo's picture of the screen producing surreal strange scenery through strong contrast between daily scene of a room as a background and plants over the room is consist of a certain device of montage by which two different scenes meet in one picture of the screen. The combination of the different dimensions provides an opportunity to look presence of things from a new angle. It shows a strange pictures as shown when two different images printed on transparencies are overlapping.

The artist labelled 24 pieces of daily landscapes as (万有写生) in a sense of things to compose of himself. Existence of body is emphasized in these paintings on the point that artist's body is progressively involved in the landscapes. It implies the artist's intent that scenery in front of me can be seen thanks to active participation of my eyes and therefore meaningful to me. Geun-Taek Yoo names such acts as visual breathing and it implies the meaning to see paintings from the horizon of the breathing. Banquet hall is, considering active participation of the body, the place where throw the body is directly exposed, In his series, however, there is no person. Only bottles, plates containing food, forks and knives and flower etc are tossed on the table. His series put in the artist's thoughts on the place where desires crash as well as change of times through appearance of banquet hall gradually being in disorder. That is, he shows satire on man's endless desire and insidious political deal metaphorically through diner party where political discourse is deployed like 'six party talks' or 'talks between south and north'.

Ⅴ.

Annihilation of time shown through the becomes more concrete at the series. The artist's visual experience at the Josuah Tree Desert in LA led to birth of this work with the tornado-like vortex structure. He says that he became to have an interest in sky, universe and certain structure of the world. The scenery he saw there where 'rocks scattering to sands, trees, hundred-year-old cactus and all others are getting desert' reminds him of problem on extinction. In his work ,however, everyday objects such as bed, toilets, trees, piano, tables, etc go well with each other forming a whirlpool instead of rocks or cactus which should be shown in desert. He shows us strange picture through a composition by which the landscape of the desert is taken from the air. The artist says that he became to be interested in structural problems like the movement of the universe through this work rather than vortex itself. But guess we will have to watch the further development How it reveals concretely through his works. Nevertheless, this work shows larger scale than existing works on the point that it shows surreal landscape as if everyday objects are placed among desert plants like the plants covering the room. Geun-Taek Yoo's latest works are linked with problems on painterly expression of 'wonderful' feeling which positive participation of eyes performing perception process of 'look' and such physical activity are giving rise. This issue is exposed in (万有写生) series. In addition, series are dealing with body's another performative aspects, namely political and ideologjcal problem through language, and series are treating issue on time and destruction of the body. These themes are being deployed on extension of previous work except for series. The coming exhibition at the Savina Museum shows Geun-Taek Yoo's blazing passion and strong desire on works as shown from the enormous size and therefore it is highly anticipated.

Ⅳ.

Ⅴ.

Yoon, Jin sup (art critic/ professor of the Honam University)

Language, Talk, Silence and, Occasionally, Noise

Encountering a good work of art by an unknown artist is more delightful than unexpectedly brushing past a beautiful man or woman. An attractive person can arouse an emotional response, but a work of art can do more than that. It teaches us that there is an imperishable quality in the world, a principle or method that provides the groundwork for emotion.

I had just such a delightful encounter with the work of Yoo geun taek. In the autumn of 2000, I happened to visit an exhibition entitled at the Seoul National Museum of Contemporary Art. Yoo's work, displayed in one corner of the exhibition, was the least conspicuous of the artworks on display. I say least conspicuous because, in an exhibition of younger artists vying for attention with novel approaches and forms, his realistic paintings executed with the techniques of traditional ink paintings and extremely minimal color appeared quite placid, even ascetic. However, this was the only part of the exhibition that made me stop. As I recall, there was a series of five or six paintings of the same size, depicting scenes in a park or along a path in the woods painted in minute detail with short brush strokes filling up every bit of the surface. I did not see the artist's name. Although I have forgotten the details of the paintings, I clearly remember the brushwork, which was very unsystematic but still formed a space separate from the depicted object with its own kind or order, creating a mysterious atmosphere combining warmth and severity. What I mean by warmth was probably an atmospheric effect. The severity was not derived form atmosphere but from sings that gave knowledge of the structure underneath the atmosphere. That is, the overall expression of the painting, which reverberates with the direct sensations and emotions that I am calling atmosphere, was unified with a skeleton-like element, resembling, a linguistic structure, that supports it. It reached out to embrace me and gave me a gentle jolt as I was casually passing by.

Last year, Gallery 21+Yo presented Yoo's first solo exhibition in Japan. I did not recognize the series of woodblock self-portraits or the woodblocks that were also on display, but I found small works in the style I had seen in Seoul hanging in the back room. My heart skipped a beat. This sort of reaction at a second meeting with a person might not be surprising, but what about a reunion with a work of art? With me, it was not without precedent. With certain artists, such as the Chinese literati painter of the Yuan dynasty, Ni-Zan, or the Italian renaissance painter, Piero della Francesca, I experience a sense of quiet illumination whenever I see their paintings. There is probably something similar in the mechanism of Yoo's paintings. Yoo is a young, contemporary artist, and his work is somewhat awkward, but it achieves an indissoluble unity of atmosphere and linguistic structure that is also found in the work of there predecessors of the four-teenth and fifteenth century. I have followed the changes and developments in his work from that exhibition to the present as much as possible by looking at his actual work as well as catalogs and other references. It seems to me that the structural strength that made such a strong initial impression on me has not significantly changed.

I would like to point out one important feature. I have learned that during a certain period, Yoo's painting were characterized by long, thick strokes and a fiercely expressionistic style. They overflowed with anger and cynicism. However, the strokes of his brush gradually shortened as the nineties drew to a close, sometimes turning into dots like raindrops, scattered all over the surface of the painting, and sometimes taking splattery linear forms. The change was gradual rather than sudden, occurring in parallel with a variety of experiments in brush handling.

Around 1999, a decisive change emerged in Yoo's landscape paintings. He deliberately established a certain range of vision and distance between the scene in the park or the woods and himself as observer, adopting a fixed, consistent method of using the brush in a vague, floating planer space as if the neutral zone between the eye and the subject matter achieved in this way had become the main stage of the painting. Speaking more plainly, Yoo tentatively sets up a semi-transparent planar structure just in front of the subject, where the subject matter, and the drawn lines and images are mixed together, and slippery effect of this plane makes it difficult to see whether what emerges in the painting belongs to the object depicted or to the pictorial surface. The human figures that appear from time to time seem to embody passing time, their blurred outlines giving them the appearance of ghosts or sleepwalkers. Something like smoke or wind that suddenly rises in the mountains turns into engraved frosted glass, shuttig off the field of vision, as if it were suddenly remembered that the structure on the surface is painterly reality. During this period, Yoo managed to produce a painterly space that is partly independent of both the painted subject matter and the subjectivity of the painter even though he used a different approach form abstract painting. I was fortunate to encounter some of the paintings that made a sudden appearance during this period at the Seoul National Museum of Contemporary Art.

It is interesting to consider how Yoo went about finding a method other than abstraction to create this eminently painterly structure. Perviously, I pointed out that he adopted a fixed, consistent method of using the brush in a vaguely floating space, referring to the issue of method, the artistic vocabulary that provided the basis for the change in the artist's vision. At least in his landscapes or scenic paintings, Yoo's brush strokes became unified, mostly medium-width and several centimeters in length, with longer lines or droplet-like black spots mixed in from time to time. He moved away from both extended dynamic flourishes and delicate touches, focusing on a medium range of brush marks. This 'medium range' deserves attention.

Generally speaking, longer brush strokes serve to express the subjectivity and emotions of the artist. These were the sort of lines that dominated Yoo's work up to the mid-nineties. Even at the beginning of the new millennium, when he began to concentrate on self-portraits, he mainly used long, thick, dynamic stokes. The opposite sort of brushwork, short strokes like spots or points, tends to be used to reproduce the subject matter exactly. This tendency is demonstrated by the shout brush strokes of the French Impressionists, who were essentially naturalists in painting, taking pains to faithfully reproduce the objective world through the color divisions of light.

In this context, the significance of Yoo's medium-length strokes goes beyond the simply issue of length. They play a decisive, or at least effective, role in putting his painting in an intermediate position between objectivity and subjectivity. In this interval between the objective and the subjective, he uses a quite self-consistent from of brushwork, speaking in a single language with its own unique rules and structure. When I say unique, I mean that it is like the unique linguistic structure of the words we use everyday, which are powered by the objects they refer to and the intentions of the speaker. The uniqueness of the painterly structure established by Yoo's brushwork must also be somehow connected to both the subject matter depicted and the subjectivity of the artist. As already mentioned, Yoo's pictorial space floats between the eye (subjectivity) and the object that is painted. He has established a unique approach that is semi-independent of both the subject and the object.

Awareness of this sort of unique, semi-independent structure was a discovery made by modern painting. However, the same discovery had already been made in ancient Chinese ink painting, especially the literati painting of the Yuan dynasty. This is the first thing that should be pointed out in considering the significance of Yoo's study of traditional Asian painting. His art shows an awareness of method while being able to depart from method and speak freely, just as literati painting did. It fall into silence at times and becomes boisterous at others. At all times, however, the basic method is never lost sight of, always residing in the virtual plane set up in the interval between artist and subject matter. We can learn a great deal from Yoo's way of working as we watch his continuing development.

MINEMURA Toshiaki (Art critic, professor of Tama Art University)