Beginning from a Trace (by curator Chaewon Yoon)

The old monochrome film or photograph shown on the artwork of SunSook Hwang looks like a stopped moment. Her work of a bizarre sensitivity cannot be clearly defined as an ink-and-wash painting (Su-muk painting) as we know, but we can ultimately find its root in it. There are not a few similarities between her work and the traditional Oriental painting in the aspect of their properties or materials, nonetheless, her work still belongs to the modern time. Hwang seeks out a novelty instead of being complacent with one result. And even the trial and error in the process becomes a part of the work to show various forms that the ink-and-wash painting can show us.

The relative relationship between an effect of light/shade, which is made by 'hanji' (Korean handmade paper) and 'muk' (Korean black ink), and the random shape and blank space created by the light/shade effect has been a main characteristic and forte of Oriental painting. But in the world of Hwang's work, a root of the tradition produced by these media escapes from an established form and move to a new place in order to show a different kind of start. The career of Sunsuk Hwang, who has changed her major from Oriental painting to film&digital media, is dominated by her video works. But still, there are traces of Korean ink-and-wash painting. With the coexistence of an unpredictable autonomy of density/lightness (of water) and its contrasting tranquility, the artist offers a blank that would contain a question for herself. This is same as a meditation of literati painting. If there was a difference, it would be a change of the image caused by the situational variation. The diversion of Hwang herself, who never lost the basis while she attempted to move from painting to video and from traditional painting to digital work, not only reminds us of the basic spirit of the traditional literati painting but also brings up an infinite creation of the unpredictable image. We can also talk about a vividness of a wash-and-ink painting as an another aspect of the basis I mentioned above. The paintings we usually see are the results after all the working processes are finished, but in fact, they are also the records showing every movement from start to the final result. Every trace is regarded as a flow itself here, and Hwang captures the traces and use them as a means to transcend the boundary between traditional painting and modern art. In the exhibition <Remaining Place>, Hwang concentrates on the photograph and painting using hanji rather than working on the previous animation works. Instead of going back to the past, an exam for another chance was taken on the hanji. The usage of computer graphics, and the repeated processes of scanning and printing perhaps share a similar context with her video work that the artist had to draw thousands of pictures for the few minutes of the film. The errors which must be deleted or revised is also regarded as one of the traces, all the remaining records are printed on hanji, and an alteration of the boundary between photograph and painting genres was attempted. Sunnsuk Hwang also displays casting works made of hanji as an another form of this multi-media attempt in this exhibition. She took casts of the epidermis of plastic, disposable, manufactured objects that are found in our everyday life, then she created those scenes illuminating the empty space in the casts. Through the empty space, she tried to express an abyss that can be felt in the traces of the form, blank, and empty shell. As you can see here, hanji and muk are the limitless subjects of study for Hwang. No matter which method and genre she takes, we can find out why she cannot leave neither of muk and hanji so easily in those aspects.

The variation attempted by Sunsuk Hwang which has started from her wash-and-ink animation breaks the boundary by showing a totally different result with hanji as a medium holding the digital work or as a cast containing the trace of original work. Selecting a bowl to hold a message is sheerly the artist's responsibility. Hwang would never stop expressing the water and muk as media to contain the consciousness of herself as an artist. However, regardless of the transformations of the form and genre, her introspection still keeps its constancy. I already look forward to seeing a change that such a challenge and experiment of Hwang would bring about in her next exhibition.