Bonovitz Space
Thresholds/Blue Mountain
|"There are three main components in the conceptual development ofmy creative process—art philosophy, personal identity, and cultural dimension. Artistic activity is a form of reasoning, in which perceiving andthinking are indivisibly intertwined. Life is aboutcontacts and encounters, and the new work inevitably reveals the nature of thatnew contact. The subtle, gradual change in the way I see, inboth natural and cultural surroundings, expands the manner in which Iultimately operate in the studio. Under the title, In Search of Streams and Mountains, I have embarked on anartistic journey to a new territory for literalexploration of landscape views depicted in traditional Asian painting and poetry. Thestudy of these genres is a rich field of inquiry, which later develops into ahighly personal visual language. The initial research in books andliterary sources begins with gathering information on the usage of the macroview of nature depicted in traditional arts of painting, poetry and calligraphyof Far East. This new journey explores the divisions and unifications ofnature, culture and society as well as the acculturation of eastern ideas in awestern environment.\"
\"As theterm, a homing instinct, indicates, my search lies in the instinctual directing homeward in terms of philosophicalreturn to dust from dust, and the poetic pursuit of return to a physicalhomeland. I alsorecalled studying basic Chinese characters while growing up in Korea and howthose characters were developed in such a visual way, emulating nature itself.After the first trip to China, I started to study Chinese characters as thehieroglyphic nature of thelanguage inspires me to visual imagination, then to artistic interpretation. Throughthe multiple sets of stacked tea bowls and plates on wall, I attempt to visualize Chinesecharacters, 青山(qing shan: Blue Mountain), evoking elusivequalities as well as examining worldviews through the coordination of artobjects with meaning.\"
Artist Statement written by Jae Won Lee
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