Moon Sooman’s Paintings

The Universe, Nature and Being Derived from Grains of Rice

Seen from a distance or not attentively, Mun Su-man’s paintings show solid colors. Seen closely and carefully, they show grains of rice that fill the whole canvas. Grains of rice! Reversely considered, the densely arranged grains of rice make patterns, and the patterns appear to be a solid color. Therefore, one painting has a solid color, patterns made with arrangements, and re-creation that describes each grain of rice. Key-concepts made with arrangements, patterns, a solid color and re-creation are in one picture.

Here, the artist touches the matter of distance. Distance is an aesthetic term that means a certain gap should be maintained for viewing a certain object better, which might not simply mean a visual experience. So to speak, it is a concept that is applied to conceptual existence such as truth and fact. The concept of mental distance might be the case. What is important is that paintings look different depending on the distance. There was time that the angle of point of view mattered in the past(for instance, high angle, elevation, depth and plane), but rare cases were the distance of point of view. Of course, the angle and distance are overlapped to a certain degree, but it is not an exaggeration to say that the artist suggest another method of viewing(therefore, reading) paintings.

Strictly speaking, the artist’s paintings are not a solid color(all over painting). In the thought-provoking canvas that seems to hide atypical forms(stains) that are hard to notice, the painting has subtle differences and gradation. There is also dim(therefore, more artistic) light. With the harmony of the difference, gradation, atypical stains and light, the painting seems like a scenery. It might be optical illusion aroused by patterns with horizontal lines layered, like the far horizon, sea line inside the painting, sky and sea with the border of sea line, and sunrise or sunset. It is optical illusion that reassures the prejudice about scenery, or recognition information(or perception information). Regarding the optical illusion, the artist’s paintings have the aspect of optical art, which is the effect of slight shimmer, or sometimes arousing dizziness(That’s why optical art is optical, visual, physiological, and physical.), and this effect is caused by the pattern, needless to say.

Then, what is pattern? Is a pattern generated in a certain pictorial(or image) condition? One unit element, or a module structure with Monad regenerated repeatedly makes pattern. In the artist’s paintings, each grain of rice is repeatedly regenerated and makes pattern. However, grains of rice are repeated, but at the same time, they are not repeated. What does that mean? he draws each grain by hand, so there is no identical individual grain. It is impossible to draw exactly the same. With repeated, but not repeated patterns, his paintings have inner vibration(wave?) of tension given by the antinomy and contradiction like energy originated inside of the canvas is expanded to the outside of the canvas, or the outside of themselves. Can it be said that the horizontal system through repetition that generates difference, or cross-sectional connection is in the formal experiment(Gilles Deleuze). The repetition is a grammar of modernism paradigm, and surpasses repetition(generated by the self-sameness) through repetition(repetition that generates difference).

The artists’s paintings have inner vibration that seems to expand to outside of the canvas. There are waves and wavelengths. It can be caused by pattern itself, but the paintings are like parts of infinitely expanded paintings, and seem to imply potential expandability. Heinrich Wölfflin said the Baroque has expandability that is open to the outside, extended out of canvas, which causes dramatic tension when comparing the Renaissance and the Baroque in <Basic Concepts of Art History>. Therefore, the artist’s paintings look like abstract version of the Baroque. This expandibility appears to infinitely extended sideways in the horizontal structure paintings. It is not great to generalize, but cultures mostly have verticality, and nature emphasizes horizontality relatively. This might not be irrelevant that the artist’s paintings remind of natural landscape.

Especially waves and wavelengths are more obvious in circle structure paintings with the patterns of concentric circle highlighted, and they give the feeling of interactions of centrifugal force outwards the paintings and centripetal force inwards the paintings. The patterns of concentric circle seem like circle of time, and the trajectory of layered time. Like paintings of horizontal structure, densely arranged infinite grains of rice look like a distant dot, or a ring of connection(bond) with dots repeated.

The artist’s paintings have the face of abstract, but contain artistic existence like natural landscape, along with the conceptual being like time and bond. Therefore, his paintings are hard to defined or classified as abstract. Here, the minimal unit element, or Monad is rice. This means the artist might break the boundary between abstract and representational art. Actually, Gerhard Richter who crosses abstract and representational art said there is no abstract that doesn’t mean anything, or that is purely formal. Mark Rothko who is best known for his color field paintings said he wanted to make paintings that make people cry with emotions. These are cases that acknowledge the representative and descriptive possibility like implication and arousing in abstract. Maybe, the artist suggests another use of abstract.

Then, why rice? Does rice have significant meaning? The artist, who is interested in history, saw a fossil of rice seed preserved in the original shape along with other grave goods at an excavation site via media. He might have seen a fossil of time from the rice seed. It might have been persistent vitality of history and human being. It might have been the origin of being, or the original form of being. Therefore, the grains of rice in his paintings are the original form of being, and symbolize the origin of being.

“The narrative with entangled human relationships and history immersed is the matrix of my works. When dots are geometric and conceptual, rice is an organic and materialistic element. Through the morpheme of rice, I pursue the existence of nature.”

This is from his artist’s note. The artist might consider rice as the existence of nature, or the origin and original form of being. He might have wanted to imply nature by borrowing rice(This explains the artistic existence his paintings imply like natural scenery.). He might have wanted to imply entangled human relationships by borrowing rice(This interprets the conceptual existence like the ring of bond his paintings imply.). All beings look a dot from a distance. All artistic existence looks like conceptual existence from a distance. In this way, artistic existence and conceptual existence are originally one, and one body. Here, the artist involves the matter of distance again. The artist might suggest the reestablishment of abstract that gains validity from artistic existence with the medium of distance.