View with your heart - JOUNG Chang-kyeun's Myeonggyeongsu (明鏡止水)

Park Jung-soo: Art critic
 
Jeong Chang-kyun's "Myeonggyeongsu," which is also the proposition of the work, pursues a clean spirit of turbidity in modern society, which is more advanced in the spirit of the East. A clear mirror is a philosophical meaning to show a person's heart and the value of living in its original form. Therefore, rather than drawing a book, draw objects on the book, and focus on the state of being reflected in the mirror rather than books and objects. On the outside, it seems to have moved the still life as it is, but it is returned to the emotional art unique to Koreans who live in accordance with their individual senses and nature.

Unlike ordinary still life paintings that mean immobile nature or draw natural scenery indoors, it shows real and virtual reality. If you understand the fruits in the bowl and the flowers on the book as ordinary still life paintings, it is not easy to access his work. It is difficult to compare with the situation of fruits, flowers, and vases that I forcibly painted in art class. His still life was not simply painted by directing natural objects. Paradoxically, it expresses itself and the self in the other who looks at them by showing a situation where they draw what they see and redraw the illusion reflected in the mirror. Just as even the best painted flowers are not real flowers, the flowers in the clear mirror are not real either.

Flowers or fruits are placed on books or unfamiliar objects rather than natural directing to show something special that is discriminating. They spare no effort to value mental space rather than appreciate the natural composition. Through the surrounding objects, we try to clean up the mental exhaustion of modern people and the precarious situation of daily life by including internal emotions and emotions. Therefore, a proper gap is maintained with extreme facts that mimic natural objects. The still life reflected in the mirror contains the feelings and sensibilities of Koreans who use the entire culture, including poetry, literature, books, and paintings, as universal emotions in traditional metaphysical discourse. It is not a still life painting drawn by sensations, but it is even seen as a sign of emotion that includes spirituality as a true mind that pursues nothing or clarity.

Among our traditional painting methods, there is a term called "Jimyeongjeolji." It is an area of still life painting that has been in full swing since the late Joseon Dynasty. As the subject of the painting, bookshelf, stationery, and old furniture, which were mainly used by scholars, were drawn, and flowers or fruits with a lucky meaning that had nothing to do with the book were added to them. In the past, if the scholar decorated his study or thought of back, fertility, and wealth in the past, Jeong Chang-kyun's Myeonggyeong index deserves to be called a modern bookstore that pursues the clarity of the cloudy mind. This is because a mysterious philosophical spirit is mixed in a painting that is easily communicated with ordinary people, creating a delicious emotional area. It is the expansion of various mental domains that make ordinary things special. Starting from what you see, you seek the original sensibility by finding the law of invisible sensibility. It is an oriental spirit that recognizes the state that comes from the confrontation between property and oneself and studies the law of spirituality. The imitated objects are imitated again through the mirror, stopping the time of the object. The space reflected in the mirror becomes an infinite space. It is expressed as universal and typical, but it goes beyond personal and implies daily sensibility. Therefore, direct interest is being induced from the perspective of looking at the entire society.

One of the unique characteristics of JOUNG Chang-kyeun is that it easily generates a mental structure such as doing nothing while accepting visual naturalness. Through thick books half hidden by objects such as apples and roses, the aged spirit is depicted. It is placed on the infinite space of the mirror and enjoys a state of being extremely free from visible objects. Replace the space of the margin for appreciation and imagination with a mirror.

Recently, light works, including pop art, hyperrealism, and light stories, have been doing great. It may be because many people are paying attention to it. In this situation, JOUNG Chang-kyeun's mental activity is newly revealed. In modern art, rather than the problem of intuition and image translation related to form, it is savored by the actions of hidden emotions and acquired emotions on the screen. The spatial composition is unique, establishing a visual tension relationship that looks at nature according to one's own emotions and thought system. This is because they understand that even if they imitate the same object, all imitation is refurbished by the artist's danso. That's why it doesn't look like a normal still life. On the one hand, it finds a compromise with ordinary still life for communication. While maintaining the attributes of the object to be drawn, it causes communication with the object and furthermore, the spiritual discourse of the public. Here is a formative element that will creatively transform the confrontation with one's emotions by moving objects to the screen as they are.

According to Jangja, 'If the mirror looks cloudy, dust sits, but what looks clear is that there is no dust. Likewise, when people are with wise men for a long time, their hearts become clear and their faults disappear,' he said, and in Deokchungbu Pyeon, "People cannot be reflected in flowing water, but they can be reflected in quiet water." For this reason, everything that is still can be cleared. This is the starting point of the art museum that JOUNG Chang-kyeun pursues.