[1] 
[2] (1) Chun, Kwang-Young, "Aggregation 95-16," mixed media with hand-made Korean mulberry paper, 63 x 94 1/2", 1995.
(2) Han, Young-Sup, "Relation 9304," rubbing on hand-made mulberry paper, 50.4 x 100", 1993.
[1] [2]
(1) Chun, Kwang-Young, "Aggregation 95-16," mixed media with
hand-made Korean mulberry paper, 63 x 94 1/2", 1995.
(2) Han, Young-Sup, "Relation 9304," rubbing on hand-made mulberry
paper, 50.4 x 100", 1993.
by Andy Brumer
(The Remba Gallery,West Hollywood,
hosting Galerie Bhak, Korea) Both of the Korean artists, Chun, Hwang-Young
and Han, Young-Sup, work exclusively with traditional hand-made Korean mulberry
paper, the properties of which provide each artist with a wide range of
stylistic and expressive options and possibilities.
Throughout Korea's history, mulberry paper, and its uses, has occupied a
central place in daily and cultural life. It has also served as a charged
symbol of emotional and spiritual experience, and as a conduit, almost,
to the religious realm. The traditional Korean house was practically covered
with mulberry paper, and many utensils and other objects were fabricated
from it. It has also been used extensively as surfaces for writing, painting
and calligraphy.
In pre-modern Korea, herb medicines were wrapped in white mulberry paper
and were then hung along ceiling rafters to prevent dampness and to keep
away insects. Chun, Kwang-Young, whose father was an herbal medicine doctor,
has created works that evoke these dangling bags. More specifically, he
has fabricated small triangles out of styrofoam and wrapped them with mulberry
paper. Chun then fastens these objects with string to a canvas, creating
evocative and beautiful relief works. The dense pattern that these objects
form once attached to the canvas gracefully alternates between playfully
opposed themes of chaos and order. Triangles. with intriguing Korean letters
or characters faintly visible on the mullberry paper intersect, interact
and intertwine with one another. These triangles have been fastened to the
canvas one at a time in slightly different ways to thematically emphasize
each element's individuality. However, in their gathering and placement
together in such obsessively close proximity, the coated triangles coalesce
with gestalt-like energy into a field of monolithic unity.
The work of Han, Young-Sup has been equally influenced by the properties
of hand-made mulberry paper, and also displays the simplicity and emotional
content inherent in the organic nature of the substance. Han works on a
large scale employing the hand rubbing method, "depositing" bold
yet elegant black markings across the surface of the mulberry paper. These
works more than gently introduce a powerful emotional quality not unlike
that of American abstract expressionism. His work, with massive pitch back
strokes of the hand orchestrating themselves across the mulberry paper,
forge an image that is at once rhythmic, daring and emotionally charged.
Both a sense of "primitive" immediacy and sophisticated artistic
restraint greet the viewer with a vibrant quality of assertiveness and confidence.
Both Chung, Kwang-Young and Han, Young-Sup seamlessly blend old and new
conventions in works of impressive accomplishment. By embellishing the culturally
"collective" material of their mulberry paper with markings and
shapes of such personal originality these artists honor their past
and invigorate the present with the living, pulsing perceptions of their
own lives.
