Light, Life and the origin: the salvation of the ultimate and the purpose of the ultimate

 

Receptacle of Luminosity Exhibition Review

Jeon, Yu-Jeong, Curator

 

1. Seeking the truth : Gudo (求道)

   To human being, the exploration toward the substance of existence is written in its DNA, constantly repeated through generations after generations. Even a new born baby tries to confirm his existence by putting his hands and feet into his mouth. However, no one has ever came up with a perfect answer to this age old question, and maybe this is why we blindly believe in religions, following the mysteries of the unknown as some means to explore and to scrutiny the origins or mysteries of life.

   In this regard, if one has a deep passion toward seeking answer to this question, he has to also admit that the process itself toward this goal is indeed a very difficult ordeal. The fear toward the unknown realm is rampant in the process, and the moments that shed lights to the unseen (or seemingly untenable) are spare, but the aspirations and thirst toward the existence allow us to gladly walk the path of such journey, and it seems like a compelling destiny that forces and enables us to be on that journey.

   Here in this exhibition, I see an artist who repeatedly asks this time-tested question. Jang, Yongsun sublimated the persistent quest toward the substance of life into his art. When one is intrigued to religion, seeking out to the absolute being, then he relies on the bibles (if it’s Christianity) or holy writings of that religion, Jang relies on metals and portrays the substance of life and the moments when the light is born. The stainless steel pipes cut with certain/varied lengths are connected together, dynamically portraying the beginning and the moments of birth, and becomes a nest or bowels that hold lights and life. The substance of life, the light, life and birth, all these are the subjects that he wants to portray through his works, and they all pose these questions: where we come from, and how the absolute all really began?

   To the truth-seekers, the ordeal is in itself a glory, yet, the substance itself should not get vapid or stale. This is similar to how Jang cut and weld the steel pipes, and the contexts are always connected with the reality as well as the conceptual. His works are comprised of small and thin pipes with the dimeters of 7~34 mm, and sometimes, the cut dissections seem like they’re small molecules of organic beings.

   Maybe this is why Jang named one of his series of works as <Particle>. These particles (or cut dissections) of pipes are heated up using LPG-oxygen torch, so they have aurora-like colors which are most unique color that can be given to stainless metals. They are not artificially pigmented, but was endowed colors that are most origin and unique color that the matter can have, as the lights hit the surfaces of pipes. Those individual ‘particles’ are arranged in a dynamic way, as if an organic being is moving in its own will.

   This is why you need to place Jang’s works in a space with proper lighting, and the true ingenuity of his works cannot be properly portrayed in photographs. His works are most intense when seen in a sunset or when placed in/under carefully calibrated lightings which enable his works to breathe. As if these small particles come together to produce strong explosive energy, you are soon entering into an imagination that the cold metals are indeed some organic beings with warm blood, breathing with life.

 

2. The life (生命)

Jang used the term, dark matter, which is said to be occupying 23% of the materials that comprise the universe. The dark matter also means the materials that cannot be measured or observed by any electromagnetic wave and can only be confirmed through gravity. In other words, one can never observe this material with bare eyes, and we can only confirm its existence by vaguely assuming or understanding that it’s there with our insights.

   Jang unveiled a new series of works that linked the dark matter with proper nouns such as the names of mountains or islands. The dark matters that cannot be seen are named (and grouped) together as mountains or islands, on which we live, i.e. the space of life. When being put together, they inspire and encourage us to contemplate on ‘what’s to be seen and what’s that cannot be seen.’ Can the state or being of existence can be verified by ‘the act of seeing’? If so, how we can shed lights to the grand reasons (or logic) of being when cannot be understood or verified by using mere human visions.

   As our quest to the origins of life has always been, there should be something that’s looming beneath the unknown truth or knowledge, which has never have been identified. There must be a reason why those things exist, similar to the dark matter that can only be verified by gravity.

   In this context, Jang allows us to question and re-question our existences and our beings, by combining dark matters with the known mountains or islands. The mountains or islands are metaphor to the firm knowledge or fact that bares itself in front of us. He put together ‘things that can be seen’ with ‘things that cannot be seen’. For example, let’s assume that the metals, which can be easily identified or verified by its weight, co-existing with some truth, yet cannot be visually identified. This is not some complicate assumption. We all have our ideal place to go in our minds to escape from the reality, likewise, when those heavy-weighted pipes are co-existing with almost non-weight lights, this allows and encourages us to re-contemplate where we belong and where we are rooted on at this very moment.

   We human beings not only exist upon the firm surface metals that are represented with mountains or islands, but also relying upon lights that also signify our purposes and callings of truth, which can be defined as visible invisibility. They are so-called the ultimate, or salvations.

   Maybe this is why I want to observe his works at a lower posture, from down to upward. Human beings have preferred birds eye view when exploring unknown territories, yet for his works, I would favor more up-close personal viewing closer to the earth or ground. We still keep our distances from his works, by utilizing the water he provided nearby his works.

   Such lowered posture will enable us to encounter new findings. Like the absolute truth such as the earth is round, and the uneven surfaces of the earth became mountains or islands; the low grounds are under water, yet the high grounds are above the water. There’s nothing too dramatic about any of this, yet they always are given new times upon different times.

   Jang cut steel pipes and connected them together. The dissection of those cut pipes are embedded with strong material substances; however, when put together, they transcend their material aspects, and seen as a bowl or a vehicle that holds space and time. When you view his works as such, you can transform the gallery space you’re in into a conceptual place, a venue where the quest take place. The quest which enables us to get one-step closer to the answer to the question we posed in the beginning of this writing. At that moment, the lights, air or even the noise surrounding his works allow us to set smooth sail in that quest.

   In this regard, the title of this exhibition《Receptacle of Luminosity》can be seen as very meaningful. This could be interpreted as ‘a bowl that holds lights’, in other words, the intentional arrangement of such words should be perceived as a tool that embraces life, and you gain very intuitive sympathy that predates the time before the language.

   Jang’s brilliance directly captures and portrays the truth and the light of life that cannot be explained using fixed ways or words, yet he let the life bare itself to our eyes by letting it breathe warm air in front of us. His works create harmonious ambient between his works (shapes) and the lights that surround the works. In other words, he exposes the bare truth or the question toward the truth by usurping the rampant assumptions we used to verify the life, which were only limited to materiality, and he observes into the very chasm that was created by such act of overthrow. This creates a path that leads us toward the very question that Jang posed.

 

3. The Journey (旅程)

Let’s re-look at the mass of lights that he created with metals. His works are show very concrete yet also very abstract mass. They seem like a cut dissection of a life-being, or the life itself. The disperse of lightings that fluctuate and oscillate following the connected round surfaces of pipes are mimēsis that Jang presents to the viewers by capturing the momentary beauty from those cuts, like the ephemeral beauty captured when we’re on a journey to previously unknown places.

   Moreover, such organically connected works create overall shapes of mountains or islands, or some round nest, and leaves a special shadow when lighted. Such images (combined with shadows) are traces of pipes, and they resemble the shape of cobwebs. I say cobwebs because they (the pipes and shadows) are woven together. Also, the encounters of the pipes and the shadows are like the spaces between the thin threads of cobwebs, and there were actual cobwebs built at those pipes! Of course, those cobwebs quickly disappeared as visitors frequent the space, but Jang said he can often find cobwebs built at his works.

   His works are actual habitat of various creatures, and those creatures and his creations all share common aspects, leaving the traces of life. The cobwebs that were once resided at the pipes, and the cobweb like shadows that are created by Jang’s works share similarity that is more than just a mere coincidence. The arena of death (cut pipes) are turned into an arena of life. This is positive oxymoron, and the life on cobwebs are like the life of human being in our everyday life.

   I have once observed a spider creating a cobweb. Unless you pay enough attention, the spider is seen as floating in the universe without hindered by gravity. Spiders endlessly and relentlessly build its own home, and gain life from the death of other creatures. This is similar to Jang’s art works yet he collects life from the death (metals).

   As for the quest toward the substance of life, Jang does not present any crystal clear answer yet only presents his own interpretations and process of such journey. Even though he lets us glimpse at his version of answer with his works such as <particle> series or <Dark Matter> series, his <Treasure> series veer from giving us any fixed answer. In other words, Jang is trying to say that we may not be able to get a firm and definitive answer, but we can only continue press on taking part in this journey of looking for the life, deeply rooted on lights. Embarking on such journey itself would only be the perfect ‘answer’ to the question that we started.