HONG JUNGWOO
KOREA, B.1981
<몸이 기억하는 풍경>은 말로써 형용할 수 없는 막연한 감정을 낙서라는 하나의 몸부림으로써 화면에 쏟아내는 것에서부터 시작하였다. 다시 생각해보면 이 몸부림은 아무런 이유 없이 울었던 어릴 적 나의 어린 시절을 떠올리게 한다. 이유 없는 울음은 목적을 가지는 것이 아니라 나 자신이 겪고 있는 어떠한 상황에서 발생하는 막연한 감정을 해소하기 위한 무의식적인 해소가 아닌가 싶다. <몸이 기억하는 풍경>에서 나는 막연한 감정에 마주하며 목적이 없는 선을 화면에 옮겨 놓는다. 이 같은 선 긋기는 화면에서 긁힌 자국에서 시작하여 점차 다양한 형상으로 나타나기도 한다. 목적 없이 시작하였지만 결국 내 마음 속 깊이 뭉쳐있던 감정들이 하나 둘씩 시각적 형상 혹은 정체 모를 문자들로 화면이 채워진다. 이러한 과정은 목적을 두지 않은 선긋기 즉, 나만의 낙서라는 표현 방식이며 나의 과거와 현재 그리고 미래에 대한 막연한 감정의 덩어리들을 표출하는 해소의 역할을 한다.
<아름다운 날들> 작품에서 나는 말로 형용할 수 없는 감정들을 자유로운 낙서의 방식으로 표출한다. 작품의 화면은 무책임한 선긋기에서 시작하여 단순하지만 장난기가 서려있는 알록달록한 형상들로 채워진다. 그리고 읽을 수 없는 문자들이 화면에서 알 수 없는 감정과 이야기를 서술해 나간다. 이들은 화면에서 조각 조각 불분명한 형태로 화면을 글과 그림과 같이 채워가고 이내 많은 이야기들이 열거된 그림일기로 변해간다. 이 과정에서 오히려 작품은 나로 하여금 무의식적 낙서라는 표현을 빌려 어릴적 즐거운 날의 일기를 쓰는 듯 화면을 채우게 한다. 작품은 나의 내면 깊이 쌓이고 엉켜있던 감정을 하나씩 풀어 그 막연함에서 해방시키며 과거와 현재의 행복을 교차시킨다.
The works of <The landscape remembered in the body> begins with pouring indescribably vague emotions onto a white space through a single struggle called doodling. Looking it back, this struggle reminds me of my childhood when I cried for no reason. I guess crying without a reason does not have a purpose, but it may be an unconscious instinct to resolve the vague emotions that arise in any situation where I experiences by myself. The works represent the moments where I face vague emotions and move a purposeless line to the canvas. This line drawing starts with a scratch on the screen and may gradually appear in a variety of shapes.
It started without a purpose in the end, but in the end, the emotions that were deeply gathered in my mind may fill the canvas with unknown texts and visual shapes one by one. Such a process demonstrates a nonpurposed line drawing, which could be my own method of doodling, serving as a solution to express the vague masses of emotions toward my past, present, and future.
The series of works, <The Beautiful Days>, began during many emotions were vaguely crossed into heart in one period of 2021. In the process, the works threw me lots of messages, one of which was definitely ‘love’. I was reminded of one word that was mentioned by one artist at a residency program. He said that his purpose and meaning of art is ‘Love’. At that time, I couldn’t understand and rather thought that it is ridiculous.
However now I have come to understand and respect his words. And I realize that it was ‘love’ with all my people and family, which was touching my heart in the harsh time. Although there are many days that I don’t have clear memories with them, it is certain what I could feel is love of them. The time with my wife and child sometimes invokes the innocent feelings that I felt in my childhood when I was with my parents. It may overlap me given love in the past with me giving love in the present. This makes me realize that I am becoming an adult who knows and bear many loads of life, and I feel that the life formed of me and my family is intertwined with love.
Notes:
Artist notes from Jungwoo Hong
WORKS
Hong Jungwoo
The Landscapes Remembered in the Body 2024-4, 2024
Hong Jungwoo
The Landscapes Remembered in the Body 2023-11, 2023
Hong Jungwoo
The Landscapes Remembered in the Body 2024-5, 2024
Hong Jungwoo
The Beautiful Days 2022-19, 2022
Hong Jungwoo
The Landscapes Remembered in the Body 2024-10, 2024
Hong Jungwoo
The Beautiful Days 2023-13, 2023
NEWS
CV
EDUCATION
2016 Ph.D of Arts, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2009 M.F.A., Hong-ik University, Seoul
2007 B.F.A., Hong-ik University, Seoul
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 The Beautiful Days, N Gallery
2022 The Beautiful Scars, N Gallery
2021 Lines and Complexes, N Gallery
2020 Jungwoo Hong’s Solo Exhibition, N Gallery
2019 Painting and Drawing show: A matter irrelevant to you, Kyoungmin Museum
2019 Unreadable Diary, Artmora Gallery, New Jersey, USA
2018 The Blur scapes: Monologue of Doodle, Cyart Document
2018 Weight of Emotions, The Third Place
2017 The Landscapes remembered in the body - L’espace71 Young artist compet, L’espace71
2017 Timid Violence: Doodling, Gachang art studio, Dae-gu art factory
and more
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 The 6th Pakyoung art competition show-The shift(gallery Pakyoung, Paju)
2021 Post Print 2021 (Kimhisue art center of art gallery, Seoul)
2020 Awarded 14 artists show: Danwon it-da (Danwon art museum, Ansan)
and more
RESIDENCIES
2009 Guanlan Printmaking Workshop, Shenzhen, China
2017 Gachang art studio, Daegu, Korea
AWARDS
2018 The 20th Danwon Art Festival the winning of a prize, Seoul, Korea
2012 The 7th International Triennial of Graphic Art Bitola, the winning of a prize, Republic of Macedonia
2011 The 16th Space International Print Biennial, the winning of a prize, Seoul, Korea
2009 The 2st Guanlan International Print Biennial, the winning of a prize, Shenzhen, China
2009 The 15th International Print Biennial VARNA, the winning of a prize, Bulgaria
2007 The 1st Guanlan International Print Biennial, the winning of the Print Prize, Shenzhen, China
and more
COLLECTIONS
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Bank (MMCA Seoul)
Danwon Art Museum
The Guanlan International Print Biennial, Shenzhen, China
The International Print Exhibition Tokyo 2007, Sakima Art Museum, Japan
The 3th Print Exchange Exhibition, Luxun Academy, China
Private Collections