Meaning of the Beginning Brought by the End (by Yoon, Chae-won, Curator)

Life emitting light in the ocean brightens up darkness and shows a possibility while revealing its existence, will for life and value of its way of life. Light is a possibility of hope and a beginning of expanding the world of others as well as its own. The image of marching forward without stopping in the space hard to assume its height or depth presents a fear of the unknown and an attitude of accepting such truth and overcoming it. Under such circumstances, reality is contemplated in a slightly different way and one’s own world can be created at last.

For Daniel Kyong, the world that imaginary beings stay is like an infinite playground that an artist can have. For a long time, the main characters of the artist have been the ocean revealing darkness as it goes deeper and life shaped in a way to remind of something living in the dark ocean. She has chosen these main characters because of correlation of the ocean with reality. In contrast to the bright sky where the sun rises, the ocean that bears darkness, according to the artist, is similar to conflicts between the ideal and the real and contrasting relations between the two. This generates an intersecting space in which several boundaries mesh with each other. The artist releases imaginary beings in this space, questioning herself about an attitude toward life. That is, she’s trying to newly excite a perspective of life by inducing a shift of a viewpoint on things that one has not believed in their existence. For the artist, the ocean is a place that such imaginary intervention is available and a place to return. This virtual space that reflects admiration as well as a kind of yearning is installed flatways in 2-dimentional output, and 3-dimentional beings vividly alive in the space start to move in the actual space with the virtual setting. They show the shape of living things in the ocean and fluorescent colors reminding of strong neon lights, while the artist’s intention is characterized in their looks. Polymer-clay, a weak and easily transformable material, is chosen for her work and the artist presents the answer of her ‘child-ego’ for such a choice. This concept of child-ego reveals her conviction to be honest to principle and truth of the world as well as herself, expressing her unstoppable march toward sincere goals despite weaknesses and risks.

‘Death,’ the topic of the current exhibition, is in the continuum of the previous topic, “Birth-Promise-Mission.” Death here does not have the conventional negative meaning but it is a concept charged with a mission as an assistant that highlights life and value of will of life. In the course of embracing death as part of life that stays with us in every moment, instead of the last part of life, the artist expands the category of death from simple physical death. The artist experiments an inverse change of viewpoints through three contexts of mind, spirit and emotion. Death, from the artist’s point of view, enlightens us to realize finitude of life, thereby encouraging us to have fulfilling time. Being fearful at the moment of terminating life is a natural instinct and feeling for a mortal human being. The artist emphasizes that living a life standing against such a fear and having an inner conflict in the course of accepting such truth is a real meaning of being strong. And she expresses her emphasis by means of substituting various icons, including life in the ocean, and high heels, columns and chandeliers supporting the life. High heels or columns that signifies both the aspiration of going higher and the anxiety of going down from high point against one’s will show minds that truth of life including death is looked away and that lingering attachment to life couldn’t be banished. However, the inner gate created in such a confusing mind shall herald a possibility of the world that may exist beyond the end of life. A shining chandelier in the scene reminding of “the Last Supper” sends the message that spending meaningful time in life and gladly embracing the end may be the best way to lead an eternal life, as we realize that the end will come one day or other.

The ocean, a space brooding pitch-darkness but breeding new life at the same time, provides countless emotion, contemplation and artistic inspiration for the artist, while acting like a container to put her imagination. Through the ocean, the artist has presented various hidden sides and truth contained in many moments of life, but the final message that Daniel Kyong want to give as an artist is that life with conviction does not give up living in such a space. And a beam of hope is presented through such an image. The message of Daniel Kyong is delivered by such a new point of view providing an explanation about life; being to live alone makes existence fully deserved to be loved and doing so is a way to live and a way to die without remorse.