Viewing the Front Page Artwork of the Newsletter (8) ‘More Light_Gazing into the Void’, by artist Ligyung
2016-08-22 l Hit 2869
Viewing the Front Page Artwork of the Newsletter
(8) ‘More Light_Gazing into the Void’, by artist Ligyung
 More Light_Gazing into the Void (Installation View), 2014, Laser light, smog, haze, multi-channel sound |
A record-breaking heat wave continues unabated in August. Lately, it feels like I am locked up in the invisible heat. In the same sense,《More Light_Gazing into the Void》, by artist Ligyung, creates a confined feeling visually with its use of light.
In fact, the work was selected for entry into the exhibition《6-8》held at the Art Sunje Center in 2014. Next to the Art Sunje Center, there is a small, traditional Korean house that is used more for lectures than exhibitions. Inside the house, the artist displayed《More Light_Gazing into the Void》, filling it up with light, smog, and sounds. This was the second time that the Art Sunje Center used this house as an exhibition hall, following an exhibition by Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima in 2002.
In the title《More Light_Gazing into the Void》, ‘Void’ means ‘空’, in other words, emptiness. Therefore, “gazing into the void” equates to ‘a painting staring into emptiness.’
The artist commented, “The most important theme of my work is depicting how groundless it is to trust what is shown through one’s eyes. The work exhibited in the Art Sunje Center creates space using lasers that point light at various angles, then the space is transformed into lines, showing the imperfection of our vision. What is not shown in the picture is that I added the sounds of string music to encourage the audience to meditate through the work.”
‘Light’ is one of the most important elements of the artist’s work.
She stated that ‘light is the thing that expresses truth as closely as possible.’ What made her think of this idea?
The artist Ligyung, who does not follow a religion, thinks the Book of Genesis, from the Bible, is the most dramatic story she has ever heard.
“In the Book of Genesis, things were created unceasingly and the first thing was light. The story was so intense that the excitement I received from it still remains and my interest in light seemed to start around then. I found that ‘light’ is the material through which I can clearly express what I want to talk about.” She said.
 |
As such an artist, Ligyung’s topic of interest these days is ‘natural light’. So far, her use of light had been controlled through careful calculation. Ligyung explained that it was not easy for her to use natural light, so called ‘light of lights’. She explained, “For the exhibition held at Maison Hermes in Ginza, Tokyo, 2014, I created 《Counter Transference》using natural light and I was able to realize the power of natural light (counter transference is an act of projection from a psychotherapist to his or her patients of the psychotherapist’s unsolved emotions and problems. Unlike normal and positive treatments, which project the emotions of patients to their psychotherapist, it could harm the normal therapeutic relationship). I plan to work with natural light for a while.”
In the meantime, the artist will participate in the Tokyo Wonder Site residency for 3 months from early September. After that, she will exhibit small objects at ‘Art Space Ben’ in March of next year, and is preparing an installation work that will be displayed at SongEun ArtSpace in August of next year.
2016. 8. 26 ⓒKorean Artist Project
Text and images may not be reproduced, reprinted, or redistributed without express consent.
