2006. 08-29

Slithering on the Thinking Surface

Kang, Sun-Hak(Art Critic)
A specific impression of the works by Yoo, Ju-Hee is that there are no burden of representation. That is to say, there do not exist any figuration which provide a clue to understanding through the association or expression of certain things in the world. So her works make us feel difficult to understand because of the lack of concreteness, but they provide us special experiences in that they are free of existing figurative limitation. This means that we regard image itself as an independent thing which is self-contained and autonomous. Although we usually think that we like and understand modern art, we feel uncomfortable or even reject it. At this moment I wonder what our understanding of modern art is. It is an unbearable moment.

"The event being happened in artistic experience is the recognition of being without of ontological being.... Thing as an object of consciousness becomes identified with consciousness by a conscious act. Nevertheless, art postponed a vicious cycle which contrive to take things into consciousness by letting things freed from the world. Things keep their own external quality in a realm which art produces"(Park, Pyung-Jong, ). As far as we deny the understanding of individuality of works and only try to understand by the level of our ability based on the existing value, Yoo's works become just knotty.

On the way to her works, we must give up the attitudes to understand or to approach with the existing imagism. She refuses to tell any story, but just wants to show formation of objects which she does not want to control. If we deny the moment with which she hands off from the imagism, there are no way to come to her works.

Vestiges remained by pulling squeegee reveal movement, direction, tones, thickness, and surface quality. Pulled vestiges become color and texture, decide the direction of painting, and construct main image. To the artist, this vestiges are not only fluence, action, bubble and thickness, but also are all the visual images she wants to show. The picture surface which is composed of accidental color mix and conscious division of color plane seems monotonous at first sight. Process and meaning are also repetitious without seeking varieties among paintings by different methods. Only repetitious gestures are visualized as pure vestiges. Spontaneously mixed whites and blacks. Residues pulled horizontally, and differences of thickness of paint made by the force of pulling. And partially revealed vertical drops, bubbles, blots, and irregular lines let monotony avert from monotony.

Scattered vestiges assembled as an unified image floated on the surface of paintings done before, but now those vestiges cover whole surface. Although the images are not quite different from earlier ones, traces of squeegee show how the technique or method develops into the content in the course of changing composition. This is a change which is contrasting to the former works. This change can be seen in consciously arranged vestiges of pulling squeegee. Because this effect dominates overall surface, it turns intermitted vestiges into an unified flow, faceted image into a continuous whole, and fitful gestures into a dimension of time.

Dividing picture surface into vestiges and monochromatic fields is not different from the earlier method which she intended to make a contrast between incident and inevitability as a base of composition. But now she clearly recognizes the differences among texture, gesture, and autonomy of object in self-controlled space and action. That is to say, different images occur even the method is same, according to the attitudes which can be intermitted or wholesome. Surface effect, vestige, and texture change following the manner of artist who sees fluence as fluent action itself. So we see the development from composed objects to generated ones.

In particular, the artist does not dispose vestiges here and there like before, she elongates vestiges over the limit of canvas maintaining the continuity of action. As a result, her action becomes new and different movement which overcomes self-control.

Vestiges of white and black reveal curious color mix in accordance with the direction and strength of gesture. They are not painted or drawn but seem to be different color mix by the various thickness of paint and strength of squeegeeing. Resulted vestiges are mainly horizontal and going out of canvas. There are no limitation in getting out. This is a critical change we find in her works.

From now on, gesture takes autonomy freed from consciousness, and it becomes object which has no relation with the artist's will. Not about something other, but existence itself as a being there. Images are freed from the temptation of representation. Like she is free of representational image, there is no problem in stratum caused by depth and mixture. There is a stratum, stratum of one dimension which can be noticed only by eyes. It is speculation on the surface devoid of depth. It does not mention about the depth of the artist's thought, but shows a freedom of facial speculation which is given by visual image or it is a completeness as object. Not depth which accompanies the feeling of heaviness or strain but ontologically perfect object itself. As it is external, it seems chaotic but free. It is just external without a ground, and the artist gives emphasis not on the rooted consciousness but on the movement of surface. Canvas is constructed only by the logic of canvas. There are no other things. We just encounter incidents veered from external image.

Her works defy the logics of artist herself and viewers. They show the realm that not only surface becomes ground and but also ground remains as a vestige of surface. In a word, surface is identified with depth. Her works do not represent the outer world, but it is enough for us to slide along the trace of pulling action.

There is no behind but only the moment of present in her painting. There is no temptation of depth which dominates surface, but the vestige resulted from her action. Surface of her paintings is greasy and sliding, making movements and stops. Finally the movements go to somewhere taking off from canvas.

Greasy vestiges of squeegeeing which induce to speculate on the surface are her vision and thinking. And they are fulfilled by images which do not contain the burden of depth and heaviness of thought. But the problem of monotonous surface and the problem of relation between meaning and action might suggest her some difficulties. In this sense, it surely is her task to widen and create a new horizon of speculation by tackling to the consideration on surface.
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