My Art world is entirely derived from the philosophical research in " Yin" and "Yang" , the negative & positive forces of Cosmos. My point of the view of the Abstract is from interpretation and analysis of the ancient korean art.  
     
 

* One can look at an object in four ways: Memory, Existence, Non-existence, and Work.

  
  One is the memory of the artist, the memory of his ancestors and the blood of his clan. For example, the views of Asians and Westerners are different because of their cultural differences. Even when people look at the same tree, the views of the natives of the Amazon jungle and the views of the Bedouins of the deserts will be different. The object that has been seen by the memory can become the material motive for a mental picture/image. The preconception that has been brought forth from the deep space of memory in the subconscious whether collective subconscious or individual subconscious can re-light the object in front of the eyes and reorganize it. I hope that the subconscious of the spectators that look at these works can also participate and reach a more profound comprehension and make a fresh discovery.  
  Looking at one's self as an existence is like looking at the relationship between nature and time, which is like the relationship between cooled lava and steaming magma. I learned the phenomenon that coincidence is inevitability through the science of divination, which is contained in oriental astrology, and in the world of Zen. Our bodies are made up of countless cells, but in each of those cells the likeness of the whole can be seen. One is all, and all is one. That is why my pictures/paintings/drawings are made up of hundreds of pieces of independent drawings. They were drawn at different times, and at times I may draw a tiny piece no bigger than a postage stamp in a span of 3 to 7 days. Because of this, my pictures become fun to look at more than once; when divided up into different pieces and then formed into another picture(s). The intervention of illusion as non-existent comes from the sun. The colors of the aurora emanate other things from the language of the color spectrum. And, fantasies and illusions have to be differentiated. I experienced this when I was a novice in college. [Dreams] always have the importance of reality, and this is where dreams exist with values. Am I the butterfly in the dreams in [Chuangtzu]? What is the reality that I saw when I woke up from my dreams? Illusion often comes walking in on two legs and knocks on the door. And then it says, "Draw me."  
  The last element, which is the work of the painter, is for spectators/viewers. The reason that inexpressible things are expressed in art is because the viewers participate, and because their minds are taking part in the drawing of my picture. That is why my picture is different each time you look at it, and looks more complete the more you look at it.  
  In explanation, this is not drawing, but drawing a performance or performing a drawing (the Zen of it); or, it may be described as existentialism in art that is perpetually creating itself. There must be elements that are incomplete, and they must arouse curiosity. The core of my pictures is to draw this incomplete territory.  
  Now, I turn the topic to the [Mind].. Although it is true that the origin is from Buddhist philosophy, the above four elements must come together and open the closed universe. It is designed to break down the strong walls of prejudice, and open the eyes of the mind. Through this eye of the mind, I see that the world and objects are inseparable. I can see the flow of the lively cosmic dual forces that are talked about in oriental philosophy, and see that the five elements [wood, fire, earth, metal, and water ] really do exist. The quantum and physical roles of these elements form the object. They make space, and form the screen.  
  I believe that a piece of work is not an article, and essentially not a piece of painting. It is a launching pad for a rocket named the Soul, which is the transformation of the Mind. It is a set of astronomical coordinates, a guide through the "telescope," and the "door" which is called the picture, allows you to look into mysterious places where man has never set foot before. The painter implies many messages, and lays out the secrets of the Soul through symbols. He is someone that speaks the language of drawing, which is common to all men, bridging the gap of language, customs, and culture. Additionally, he is himself an explorer. He exploits and explores places that the human mind has never set foot on. I think that the painter's work is to imply the future at all times. I too, intend to achieve this goal of experiencing this mysterious exploration every time I set to work. That is why I do not know what my work will turn out to be. The work is always teaching me and guiding me and changing the way it is done.  
     
  * To rely on technique is to pollute the image.  
vb Half of my work has developed essentially from the "mind" of Korean painting, and especially from the "mind" of Indian ink painting. If I don't get to finish it in the first turn, I fail to put my spirit and my energy into my work, and it becomes polluted. However, while the mind may seem to be pure, purity is also another form of being polluted. Being polluted only means that it is in "chaos" during the process of "recognition." This is because there is no process of contemplation. Therefore, the contradiction found in fixing and overpainting as shown in western paintings are solved by bringing the light of the mind back in. Simply put, it is because seeing something is in itself a hindrance, and soon you do not get to see anymore. To see the object I close my mind. The attitude of the artist towards his work is not a prearranged process towards a certain finale, but the exploration of a world unknown to him, and the work itself must be like a pure dance. It must be a dance that is danced with the object. The dancer and the object become one and the same. The picture must be like music. From this aspect, technique makes all improvisations impossible. xc
     
  * The reason for choosing so many different materials. The set the scale of the colors of soil, watercolors, acrylics, and oil colors are all like the keys of a unique music, and the colors of each are like the tone and the chord. The reason that I like to use many different sets of materials is because I want to use the different sets of keys to compose music, so that I can find the third cord that the gap between the scales of two different materials create. These complex tones and melodies create a harmony of a new music that does not sound off and which the simple scale of one material cannot show.  
     
  * Beyond just the substance... In the process of work, there is a " force" that is much more than the substance. The delicate shivers of the drawn lines and the spirit of the human being looking at it imply the unseen vertical axis of such energy. Although it many be drawn with the sam materials and the same colors, it can have different effects. This is to say, that the same red has many other different invisible colors within. What is funny though, is that this effect cannot be seen in photographs, slides, and computer visuals.  
  * An introduction to myself *  
  I was born in Seoul on February 26th, 1955. I was the elder of two children. I have a sister 5 years younger than I. My father was an electrician and my mother was a faithful housewife. Since I was young, I was very fond of drawing pictures and won numerous prizes in contests. I used to go out to draw landscapes and stayed there as long as it took me. With my mother's support, as an elite student, I graduated from the most distinguished middle school, high school, and college in Korea. I chose to go to dental college, however, instead of going to the college of arts because I did not want the rigid art education of Korea to ruin my free spirit. Also, because I believed that being a dentist was relatively more sufficient economically than being a painter even though being a painter would help a lot more with the search for the inner self.  
  After my active practices in art between '75 ~ '79, my art came to a stop. However, for 12 years, until '91, I remained in a remote room and meditated and sought the truth as if I were a monk (except for the time when I was a practicing dentist). This was because I thought that in order to draw, it did not mean a performance by hands and technique, but rather, it was a means of developing the character of the painter himself. Further, that the human being himself is the brush. Now, being 45 years old, I have started painting again; arranging the many different views of life and relying on my own views of the future. What I've always sought though, were the utmost creativity and the discovery of a profound universality, and the harmonization of creativity and universality. It was a process of actually realizing the freedom of imagination that had not been as free as possible.  
  To acquire a new point of view, under my training plans to study other areas, I chose to study music and philosophy and had to raise my level to that of a professional in those areas. I played jazz piano at night in cafes so that I could practice composition and playing, went through the training for a Buddhist monk and took the professional course in meditation, and was finally recognized when I was about 40 years old. I studied the oriental science of divination and geomancy (feng-shui) and was recognized for my unique opinions, and learned to see the world differently and more profoundly. This also gave me a different kind of experience. And so this is how I came to share the same roots (the unification) with music, philosophy, and art. During the past few years, I've displayed my work in numerous exhibitions and also received an encouragement prize at an invitation exhibition in San Francisco in 1982, but it was not my style. And I also think that it was not an appropriate introduction for me.  
  I was considered a normal person until age 20, when I had my first illusion and was fascinated by the bright light, and that is when my life as an artist began. I began to be curious about the world that could not be seen (the invisible world), and to draw by choosing the world of my mind. I began with an empty canvas in front of me. This was my period as a novice in college.  
  Only after reaching nearly 40 did I understand that what could be seen in front of me are the things that really do not exist, and are merely expressions of a reality. Seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing are all the work of different organisms, but in reality they are one, and humans are only a coelenterate, like the sea slug or the sea anemone, that is one organism that shares the function of both the mouth and the anus. Consciousness, is like a small bunch of lights the size of a ballpoint pen, refilled and lit in a dark and large warehouse, and so therefore, only a tool that cannot be realized. Living in the dark was a big doubt, and this doubt was the biggest enemy. This came from the fear of the unknown world. The way it was expressed was already completely different from reality. Prejudice also was a big hindrance that came from this fear and doubt. To express reality, like the reality, was to empty oneself, and oddly enough the results were always very natural.  
  When I started believing and trusting in everything that I saw and adapted to the flow, my mind opened and my work proceeded without my consciousness (I was in a state of transcendence). Through this door, I draw without my hand drawing, and see without my eyes seeing. I sense without my senses sensing. I know without memory, and I look into the world of illusions without knowing that I think. I see that nature and time here is made up of five currents from the five elements [metal, wood, water, fire, and earth], and that human beings are the one living sun, and a dreaming being with an aurora-like point of view. The Soul is like the memory of a deep, deep well, and by being remembered it is seen that it is eternal. And from this, I presently see that the process of work is only a practice of dancing.      / 2000.  

 

 

 

 

 ** Additional  Artist`s remarks.

 

* Speech of the Artist *

 

Before the general theory of art discussions on formative beauty on every transfiguration, transformation, change, and/or contrast, there is the ¡°Echo of the Light¡±. This is the ¡°Sound of Life¡±. This time, I published a book for the public, which is related to ¡°I Ching¡±. The book is the fruition of my research that I have made for years in order to complete my arts theory and it was written to help each individual rediscover the value of his/her life, using the theories of Zen and I Ching. The title of the Korean version before it was translated into English was ¡°I Ching and Horoscopic Data¡±.

 

The subtitle of this book is Life is the Only Truth in which ¡°Living and Life¡± are the most important themes beyond all nations, religions, philosophies, and cultures, and is regarded as the most important value of art.

 

Stepping out to the seashore in the mornings, I see traces of millions of hermit crabs, tiny shellfish, and bugs that have passed by and their nests hidden in the vast tidy seashore. Such traces of life, which are different one another but similar as well, are strongly appealing.

 

In the arts, the issue of ¡°contrast¡±, that is, mutual contrast among themes, sub-themes, and background; the differences in colors, chrome, brightness, and texture; contrast among diverse people and among heterogeneous cultures that might exist in each separated section in one screen; contrast between machinery and natural things in installation arts and the stories that accompany them - those produce an appealing ¡°formative beauty¡±. However, I believe these all just come from ¡°breathing living and life¡±. Such contrasts seem to show formative beauty generated from the contrast with numerous different shapes; contrast with colors; and contrast with materials, but there must be a single mono-tone lying beneath the formative beauty, that is, the breathing appealing.

It is the Echo of the Light.

 

The Yin and Yang are mingled together as one from the Language of Light and the language of light seems to be connected with something ¡°sacred ¡°. The direction of my art aims to connect the language that the Living and Life possess, to such sacredness.

 

This is connected to the ¡°Inherent Happiness of Man¡± which is separate from Nature, Mother Earth, and hence was lost, and was also connected to the memory of ancient times that mankind has lost.

 

Just breathing is not evidence of being ¡°alive¡±. Life disconnected from our sacred inner essence is a dying thing and you cannot say ¡°The man is alive¡± just from the appearance of a man laughing and casually getting along. Our inner lives are the Nature and the Echo of the Light and it should be made as one shared thing so that it can take the breath of life itself and the breath of feeling life.

 

This means not only we should stop the physical destruction of the environment and preserve the living environment of men, but also correct the mental environment that is contaminated and deformed.

I believe such a ¡°message from the essence¡± is a kind of artistic appeal. Art is really interesting since it is a medium that is able to report a damaged and deformed mental world and then takes the message of essence that can cure the mental world.

 

To feel the beauty of life is not different from the feeling of paradise. And, to feel harmony with a sufficiently happy inner intimacy means to reach Nirvana of the Buddha.

I would like to express the Echo of the Light through the Art of Language that can express in different ways, unlike expression through physical language.