Hwang Yong Yop | KUKJE GALLERY
May 12, 1992 - May 25, 1992
K1
Seoul
INTRODUCTION
...Referring to a series of 'Otage' by Fautrier that exposes distorted human figures as if they were trodden by boots. Andre Marlaux named it a pictograph of tortures. He understood Fautrier's works as a reincarnation of doomed people tortured and killed by Nazi to be shown in a status of immortal visual languages. The human figures appearing in Hwang's pictures look as much painful as those in Fautirer's 'Otage'. Yet Hwang's figures are not those of being distorted and agonized human being's shape that are moulded with sizzling pigments.
His figures are not so much straightforward as Fautrier's in description. they are rather on the verge of being erased out ,torn into every bit and seen only as a state of being all skin and bone.They are not the essentials of anger and cry reviving as a monument of great suffering in Fautrier's but rather a deserted Landscape of human existence associating the image of torn-off paper kite trembling on a bare branch of a tree or an electricity pole in cold winter with an unextricable torture...
He came over to South Korea from the North when Korea War broke out and enlisted in the Korean Army. After his military service, he sticked around U.S. military camp living on drawing a portrait of American soldiers. He was not the only one who suffered from great pain during the early 50's. He was just one of majority who were on the verge of live or let-die and with bitter family separation the war brought about.However,considering the fact that most Korean people began to adjust themselves gradually to the context of that period and newly started or even succeeded in their lives, we can not deny his painful experience was an obstacle for him to lead a social life positively for a too long long time. Compared to those who successfully had led their social life, he had been all down in dumps over many years. This could be clarified even from his confession "I could not exile from the bad dreams for many years after the war. Even while I was smiling on my face, my soul was always down in dumps with the uncurable injury", It is natural that in his paintings he has exposed his own life of the past through the painful looking human figures captured in the context of hopelessness that has no wayout. If it is true, what made him have suffered from the pain and what made it impossible for him to be sociable for much longer period than any other artists in almost his age who had a similar experience to him during the war? It could be a kind of syndrom of autism introvert artists can easily suffer from. That is ,it could be said that it is a state of myth born through the inner experience of introvert artists who cannot be easily affiliated with social life. The fact that he has been dealing with "human being "for nearly 30 years may show utmost clearly the process of accomplishing a state of myth of his inner experience.
In his recent paintings, concrete images are beginning to be connected each other again and the whole pieces are rather close to 'landscapes' Forms of human body are revived and they are not to be posed in a simple flat surface but in the back grounds with elements of 'landscapes' like tree, hills or fields. He seems to come back to the reality of life concretely with regard to the scene of his recent paintings. The human figures in his painting are not distorted any more with the memory of suffering comparing to the figures in the past. Instead, he captures a scene of joyful life showing men and women walking over with a parasol, taking a rest under the trees with a fan or happily conversing with each other. Now the happy talk is his truth regarding the theme of his art and it is vividly alive in the rich colors of sensitivity .From a description of diverse scenes we can also substantiate that a human context as existence is changing to that as landscapes. His trial prescribed above is to approach the truth of human existence with a new vision on human beings. It is also a presentation of his interest in the bright side of condition of human being as an apposite side of dark side. Now it can be thought that what he has been persuiting for is the brightness and at the same time the darkness of human life. It seems certain that human being is an everlasting theme to him as far as he doesn't stop painting as he once stated.
그는 늘 인간이라는 소재를 갖고 그림을 그리고 있다. 이러한 소재는 별 뜻을 담고 있는 것이 아니고 그의 젊 은 시절의 체험에서 시작되었을 뿐이다.그가 태어나 자란 곳이 북한이라는 움직일 수 없는 숙명 하나만으로 폐쇄된 공산사회에서 교육을 받을 수밖에 없었고, 독재사회의 틀에서 벗어날 수 없었고, 비인간의 굴레 속에서 살 수 밖에 없었던 것이다. 울고 싶을 때 울지 못하고, 웃고 싶을 때 웃지 못하면 그 이상의 비극은 없는 것이다. 다시 말하면 감정의 표 현마저 빼앗겼다면 사람은 한낱 상자 속에 놓여진 꼭두각시 이상 무엇이 다르겠는가.
이러한 숙명이 그의 가 냘픈 자유의 절규로 화했는지도 모를 일이다. 그의 내면이 화면 위에 형상화하면서 보잘것 없는 왜소하고 가 냘프고 일그러진 모습으로 그려진 것이리라 생각된다. 끈으로 옭아 매어진 상태로서도 인간은 꼭두각시가 아니 기에 무언가 찾기 위해 움직일 수 밖에 없는 것이다. 이러한 절규의 상황이 그의 그림에서 떠날 수 없는 것들 이다. 허한 상자 속에서 보이지도 잡히지도 않는 그의 독백을 반복하면서 그의 모습과 가족을 그린다고나 할까. 아니면 나도 알 수 없는 현실의 인간이 아닌 내 형상을 갖고 있다고 할까 이러한 여러 한계 상황은 그의 내면 에서 떠날 수 없는 조형의 바탕일 수밖에 없고, 크고 작은 인간의 형태, 또는 여자인지 남자인지 분간할 수 없 는 변형된 인간들의 비슷한 애조띤 모습으로 변모 했는지도 모르겠다. 따라서 인간상을 그리는 작업이 나에게 는 중요한 심리적, 인간적 요소이며 동시에 회화적 요소의 바탕에서 그리려는 깊은 뜻을 간직하고 있는 것이다. 한정된 이차원의 주면 위에서 인간의 동작을 가로놓아 보고 세로놓아 보고 확대, 또는 축소해보며 변화시 키는 작업이라 해도 좋을 듯하다.
His figures are not so much straightforward as Fautrier's in description. they are rather on the verge of being erased out ,torn into every bit and seen only as a state of being all skin and bone.They are not the essentials of anger and cry reviving as a monument of great suffering in Fautrier's but rather a deserted Landscape of human existence associating the image of torn-off paper kite trembling on a bare branch of a tree or an electricity pole in cold winter with an unextricable torture...
He came over to South Korea from the North when Korea War broke out and enlisted in the Korean Army. After his military service, he sticked around U.S. military camp living on drawing a portrait of American soldiers. He was not the only one who suffered from great pain during the early 50's. He was just one of majority who were on the verge of live or let-die and with bitter family separation the war brought about.However,considering the fact that most Korean people began to adjust themselves gradually to the context of that period and newly started or even succeeded in their lives, we can not deny his painful experience was an obstacle for him to lead a social life positively for a too long long time. Compared to those who successfully had led their social life, he had been all down in dumps over many years. This could be clarified even from his confession "I could not exile from the bad dreams for many years after the war. Even while I was smiling on my face, my soul was always down in dumps with the uncurable injury", It is natural that in his paintings he has exposed his own life of the past through the painful looking human figures captured in the context of hopelessness that has no wayout. If it is true, what made him have suffered from the pain and what made it impossible for him to be sociable for much longer period than any other artists in almost his age who had a similar experience to him during the war? It could be a kind of syndrom of autism introvert artists can easily suffer from. That is ,it could be said that it is a state of myth born through the inner experience of introvert artists who cannot be easily affiliated with social life. The fact that he has been dealing with "human being "for nearly 30 years may show utmost clearly the process of accomplishing a state of myth of his inner experience.
In his recent paintings, concrete images are beginning to be connected each other again and the whole pieces are rather close to 'landscapes' Forms of human body are revived and they are not to be posed in a simple flat surface but in the back grounds with elements of 'landscapes' like tree, hills or fields. He seems to come back to the reality of life concretely with regard to the scene of his recent paintings. The human figures in his painting are not distorted any more with the memory of suffering comparing to the figures in the past. Instead, he captures a scene of joyful life showing men and women walking over with a parasol, taking a rest under the trees with a fan or happily conversing with each other. Now the happy talk is his truth regarding the theme of his art and it is vividly alive in the rich colors of sensitivity .From a description of diverse scenes we can also substantiate that a human context as existence is changing to that as landscapes. His trial prescribed above is to approach the truth of human existence with a new vision on human beings. It is also a presentation of his interest in the bright side of condition of human being as an apposite side of dark side. Now it can be thought that what he has been persuiting for is the brightness and at the same time the darkness of human life. It seems certain that human being is an everlasting theme to him as far as he doesn't stop painting as he once stated.
그는 늘 인간이라는 소재를 갖고 그림을 그리고 있다. 이러한 소재는 별 뜻을 담고 있는 것이 아니고 그의 젊 은 시절의 체험에서 시작되었을 뿐이다.그가 태어나 자란 곳이 북한이라는 움직일 수 없는 숙명 하나만으로 폐쇄된 공산사회에서 교육을 받을 수밖에 없었고, 독재사회의 틀에서 벗어날 수 없었고, 비인간의 굴레 속에서 살 수 밖에 없었던 것이다. 울고 싶을 때 울지 못하고, 웃고 싶을 때 웃지 못하면 그 이상의 비극은 없는 것이다. 다시 말하면 감정의 표 현마저 빼앗겼다면 사람은 한낱 상자 속에 놓여진 꼭두각시 이상 무엇이 다르겠는가.
이러한 숙명이 그의 가 냘픈 자유의 절규로 화했는지도 모를 일이다. 그의 내면이 화면 위에 형상화하면서 보잘것 없는 왜소하고 가 냘프고 일그러진 모습으로 그려진 것이리라 생각된다. 끈으로 옭아 매어진 상태로서도 인간은 꼭두각시가 아니 기에 무언가 찾기 위해 움직일 수 밖에 없는 것이다. 이러한 절규의 상황이 그의 그림에서 떠날 수 없는 것들 이다. 허한 상자 속에서 보이지도 잡히지도 않는 그의 독백을 반복하면서 그의 모습과 가족을 그린다고나 할까. 아니면 나도 알 수 없는 현실의 인간이 아닌 내 형상을 갖고 있다고 할까 이러한 여러 한계 상황은 그의 내면 에서 떠날 수 없는 조형의 바탕일 수밖에 없고, 크고 작은 인간의 형태, 또는 여자인지 남자인지 분간할 수 없 는 변형된 인간들의 비슷한 애조띤 모습으로 변모 했는지도 모르겠다. 따라서 인간상을 그리는 작업이 나에게 는 중요한 심리적, 인간적 요소이며 동시에 회화적 요소의 바탕에서 그리려는 깊은 뜻을 간직하고 있는 것이다. 한정된 이차원의 주면 위에서 인간의 동작을 가로놓아 보고 세로놓아 보고 확대, 또는 축소해보며 변화시 키는 작업이라 해도 좋을 듯하다.