Choi Byung-kil
(Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of Wonkwang University)
January, 2017
The art world of middle-standing western artist Lee Yang-sun departs from the representation of Korean artistic sense. For Korean traditional colors, entitled as five primary colors, functions as a pivotal component in this artist’s artworks. This five primary colors, symbolizing Yin Yang Five Elements of Principles, indicates five directions, namely, the blue implies the East, the red the South, the yellow the center, the white the West, and the black the North. But for this artist, it would be more correct to say that the black, as proved in the artworks of the 2000s, has a meaning as an original source of rest four colors.
First of all, the artist discovered at Dancheong the example that five primary colors were used. The artist deduced her own idea of creation from a thinking that the principle of the universe is expressed at Dancheong which indicates a decorated form with several colors, based upon the thought of Five Elements of Principles, on the wooden buildings.
Now the artist proceeds to the principle of composition. At the artworks in the early of the 1990s, we can find out a symmetric division to up down left right. The artist, by painting with the yellow at the central region, does not deviated from the Five Elements of Principles, and positioned the patterns of Dancheong either exaggerated or diminished at the rest spaces. The artist’s dualistic composition as such is a dual suggestion of Idea and appearance, which says that the artist establishes the yellow at the very central region of the canvas as the core of her spiritual Idea.
One hand, at the artworks produced at the year of 1993, the screen division is yet continued, but there occurs a change in symmetry. That is to say, she painted with the yellow at the small space of left central region, and the bluish white at two spaces of the above and right regions. On the contrary, she treated lotus and its leaves with the unique method on the big space ranging from the central region to the lower one. By the way, the colors of lotus and its leaves are very unusual. For she finished the former by coloring its inner space with the blue on the linear depiction of outlines in red, and shows the blackish dark green leaves also for the latter.
And then from the year of 1995, the screen division disappears, and instead the rock, cloud, lotus, etc. begin to appear with the white on the entire screen. The subject-matters of Ten Traditional Symbols of Longevity and Dancheong are gathered together, it results in a conclusion that Idea and appearance are combined. In particular, here the world of artist’s spirit is seen as being very freely played.
The artist, introduced a free-styled spiritual play as such into the screen, showed a similar trace to Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky(1866-1944)’s composition from the artwork of the 1999, but, as for the colors, again shows a bold use of splendid colors. The strong image of the black especially makes us confident that the artist’s artistic Idea to shape the objects in nature is based upon the Oriental Yin Yang Principles.
As for the artworks with a subject-matter of lotus that the artist began to produce after the 2000s, she permits a realistic approach in composition. But she as for the form and color of that subject-matter, delineated strong outlines and painted the inner spaces with five primary colors. And she moved the brush horizontally on the space symbolizing the surface of the water, and finished it by scratching with the knife, in which it is unique that they maintain same intervals.
Thus a very tranquil and withdrawn atmosphere is created. It is a result of a schematized abstract interpretation on lotus, in which is included the world of the artist’s subtle spirit.
The artist has been experimented several techniques, mixing the materials of Korean and western paintings. Meanwhile, the artist’s Idea of creation willing to say through the artworks is to release the objects’ original power of life and beauty from nature. It, especially in combination with a pursuit of the Korean, is related to a concern on five primary colors. If so, the artist’s Idea of creation is said as connected with Zhouyi thought. It is in that the artist regulates the black as a primitive state of all objects. Namely, I am sure that we can recognize the beauty of the subject-matter, lotus, emerging in the process of formalizing a Zhouyi Idea that light comes from darkness. Therefore that subject-matter is only a means for realizing the artist’s Idea of beauty, and it is not noteworthy to connect it with the artist’s religion.
Likewise, we have to pay attention to the fact that the subject-matter of lotus in the artist’s recent artworks are transformed as a very schematic form. To treat the objects in nature not with a realistic representation, but with a schematic one, implies that the world of artist’s spirit strongly functions within it. For example, the outline of the subject-matter is strongly exposed in French artist Georges-Henri Rouault(1871-1958)’s artworks, whose rendering technique would be a method for releasing the artist’s strong Idea. As in the artist Lee Yang-sun’s recent artworks, if we call it as a schema the inclination that such outlines are carefully selected and patterned, it would be to say it as a creative rendering method that the artist emphasizes her strong spirituality, but at the same time interprets the nature’s objects on the basis of Korean artistic sense.