Oriental FusionPaintings of Hong, Ji-yoon

“Minstrel, Romance, and Fantasy”

I Write Romantic Poems and Draw Fantastic Paintings
at Wonhyo-Ro and Chengpa-Dong.

Exhibition Title: Minstrel, Romance, and Fantasy
Exhibition Period: May 2, 2007 (Wed.) – May 15, 2007 (Tue.)
Exhibition Theme: Oriental Fusion Paintings of Hong, Ji-yoon; I Write Romantic Poems and Draw Fantastic Paintings at Wonhyo-Ro and Chengpa-Dong.
Invitation Date and Time: Wednesday, May 2, 1007 at 06:00 p.m.
Exhibition Location: Munhwa Ilbo Gallery http://gallery.munhwa.co.kr/
(100-723) 68, Chungjeong-ro 1-Ga, Joong-gu, Seoul. Tel. 02-3701-5755
Sponsored by: The Arts Council of Korea, and the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture



Oriental Fusion Paintings by Hong Ji-yoon represent nature and the philosophical clues of life through text, paintings, graphics, and images based on oriental drawing paper, calligraphy, and ink, which are the tradition in ink paintings, and the concept of poetry, calligraphy, Oriental fine arts paintings; all of which considers that poetry, calligraphy, and painting are united as one entity. Also, through encounters with analogue and digital, and the open-minded oriental paintings, and other culture in the continuum of ongoing time, Hong, Ji-yoon attempts a new form of Oriental paintings and tries to expand the scope.

1. Minstrel
I like writing poems. Looking at the dark blue sky at dawn before sunrise, I used to write smart and clear poems with a sober spirit. When I take a trip, I sometimes write romantic poems, hearing the heart-pounding sounds in front of beautiful scenes. When my heart aches for love, I write tragic poems shedding tears. And, singing along with my favorite songs, I used to compose lyrics for the music in my own way.
I am enjoying talking to somebody about the stories that seem to never end.

2. Romance
I do calligraphy for the poems I write. For me, handwriting began in my childhood when I wrote my diaries every day with sharpened pencil. When I was in my teens and in my youth, I wrote long letters to my friends on colored paper or the paper with beautiful pictures. After some time passed and I got to know Oriental calligraphy, I began to write letters on Chinese drawing paper with Chinese ink. It is fantastic to see the unexpected shapes and forms that emerge on the paper just as soon as the ink spreads; as if someone else is writing characters using my hand.
Also, it is interesting to play with a computer that is smart, unlike me. I like listening to music as well. Listening to classical music, I feel that I am a graceful noble lady in Europe. Otherwise, when listening to jazz, I feel like I am a singer in the night in New York and a passionate woman from South America. Listening to Korean folk music, I feel like I am a noble scholar. Thus, I sometimes used to create animated drawings by using a computer in which my poems, calligraphy, paintings, and music are stored.
Now, writing poems, calligraphy letters, and drawing what I am impressed by are my daily routine; just like when I select various kinds of cereals that look tasty, washing them well and boiling with a proper amount of water at a proper temperature for my meals.

3. Illusions
I moved to this town at the end of last summer from my residence near Hongik University where I spent a long time. My residence is in Wonhyo-ro and the name means the brightest street like an early morning. Taking a walk slowly for 15 minutes, I can reach Cheongpa-dong, and that name means the town with a green hill. My atelier is on the 4th floor in a building there from which I can look down all over the town.
I especially like the names of two towns where I was born and raised and I feel comfortable with my town like the womb of my mother.
As time passed, I learned that I could look into the tender breeze, shivering waves, brilliant flowers, and fluttering leaves more in detail than before.
I began frequently to think over my times in the past and about today and tomorrow.
Thinking over what I missed surrounding me, that I live with, what I desire and want to be, whatever illusion of the past, or the phantoms I can see now, or a fantasy that happens and even I cannot notice, or a vision of tomorrow that is not substantial, but empty, and transient.
However, given the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, I have a peaceful and comfortable belief that my energy in fact is very close to my neighboring tender breezes, shivering waves, brilliant flowers, fluttering leaves, and above all, those who stay near me.

I, who am more free outside reality, like walking on the clouds, I want to write poems, do calligraphy, and draw paintings about what I feel from my heart as more freely than before.
Naturally, our lives and reality are transient and illusory. There are those things that tempt us with illusions for a while as if through magic.

A few days ago when it was warm and sunny like a full-spring day, a flower peddler yelled while peddling through the town, “Just two bucks for beautiful azaleas, just two bucks.” I jumped towards the peddler and bought two pots of royal azaleas that were still green. Today, they bloomed fully with beautiful pink flowers.

It is really fantastic.

March 25, 2007 at Cheongpa-dong by Hong, Ji-yoon

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With a Rhythm ● Her studio is always filled with music and poetical imagination for her preference to music and poetry. The poetical inspiration based on her peculiarly cheerful and romantic views is the origin of creativity and the mainspring of brush works. With the inspiration, she makes melancholy, enjoyment, sorrow and pleasure. It is very her arts. Jiyoon Hong's works start from the poetical inspiration. Her words are neither purely outward objects and exaggerated representation of real human world nor the pursuit of inward spirits, speculation, and philosophy. But it is just positive, romantic consideration and feeling and yearning and persistence toward the human world. A kind of plentiful, young passion and imagination sinks into hers. The expressions of depression, gloominess, and sorrow are even filled with the power of youthfulness, freedom and pleasure. The power is fully reflected with the words, handwritings for the words and pictures with handwritings. Then she puts rhythm into the works.


Contradictory Aesthetics ● The combination of words and paintings had started propriety to show in the exhibition, 2005 solo exhibition in Seoul Korea and 2006 project exhibition in Munich Germany, containing overlapped images of words and paintings. 1) This exhibition which 'the word (has meaning, not just text)' actively interrupt in the works of art presents another direction of the correspondence between poetry, calligraphy and painting. The another direction means the mixed composition that depending on the basis of oriental paintings like paper, pens and ink and poetry, calligraphy and painting, the works use diverse media like fluorescent paints, clothes and light boxes for the expression. In addition, it means to get contemporary and traditional styles at once for the contents using metaphor and implication based on literary lyricism. This complex construction is ultimately to make the new better adopting merits of each other and making up for the defects. It is not just to make one separated thing absorbed to the other. 2)


Hong maximizes contents with her typical expression ways; the ways and the contents balance in the extension of high strain. It is the confrontation of words and colors or contents and image and the active use of media. The fantasy series like 'The rainbow... It was fantastic', 'Fantastic world' drawn by black ink on a colorful ground and 'Likeness' and 'To the rainbow' make amplified effects for the co-use of strong colors and stressed words. The word per se has a special characteristic to let automatically audience read, so it could cause huge risks to use word in paintings despite of the attractiveness. It is because the visual factors can disappear for the word in an instant. Hong prevents the risk with the fluorescent colors to balance between words and images.



This kind of risk can be caused between the contents and images. To stress the effect of images, making classical images of chrysanthemum, fully bloomed flowers and birds, she use the strongly fluorescent colors of yellow, pink and orange with black ink. Like 'Chrysanthemum in the Western Sky' or 'A flower blooms in a flower...', the strong aura of text can make balance with colors, as strong as the text, and fully bloomed flowers. In addition, it causes same effect to scribble the words for the effects of decreased readability. Trying to break existing rules daringly, she makes her peculiar arts with the creative combination of the Eastern and the Western thoughts and styles.


It shows the classical oriental paintings that 'Forgiving', 'Flame tree', 'No more blues-reply: chega de saudade', 'Four friends- plum, orchid, chrysanthe-mum and bamboo' and so on are made in the basis of black and white drawing and are formed pictures and words like engraving. Nevertheless, for instance, 'No more blues-reply: chega de saudade' contains simultaneously a paragraph of Brazilian folk songs and a woman playing guitar and another woman showing the love of mother. This work brings more than effect overcoming against the limitation of the materials like blank ink. On this wise, Hong's works is created with texts and images in the contradiction moreover, classical ink and contemporary colors exist in contradiction. Paper and media even make contradiction. The multilayered conflicts preferably make Hongjiyoon's fusion oriental paintings. 3) Like most cultural forerunner in every areas.


Where is the Illusion ● Hong synechdochically makes a definition of llusion according to time and space Whether Illusion of the past, Phantom of the present, Fantasy formed unconsciously, or Vision of unsubstantial, vain, ephemeral tomorrow. (Jiyoon Hong, in the work notes) The impression of 'illusion', the main theme of this exhibition, is the embodiment of emotions happen frequently and easily in the ordinary life. The unreasonable, but pleasant imagination in her childhood is eated as the works with various media and contents. For her invitation for warm black ea, the impression of streets of Wonhyo-ro and Cheongpa-dong might be glad to go. In the gap / strange to Westerners / strange even to Asian.

■ Sung,yun-jin : Munwha ilbo curator


Invitation

On a day not so sunny not so cloudy
Come here around three o’clock.
Dim winter sun is felt warm
Birds fly quietly from the window through which I can look at the sun
And, listening to the Arioso of Bach played by cello, solo,
More than any other resort
More than any other heaven
It looks like heaven.
On the floor, there is a little dust to show not too much cleaning
Newly hung unbleached beige cotton curtains
Will block even the cold winter wind.
Sitting on a comfortable chair, when I have any time
I can brew you warm tea.
I wish you would really come here.

Hongjiyoon 15march 2008