노원희 개인전
3-A Gallery, CICA Museum
May 25 – 29, 2022
2022.05.25-29
Blue Fantasia
I believe that nature is fundamentally a series of dualities, including creation and destruction as well as change and circulation.
To express the fundamental properties of nature, the “Balmok” Technique, a unique system of ink-and-wash painting is applied to my paintings.
The “Balmok” Technique helps me recompose certain portions of nature, allowing my paintings to adopt a free-spirited aura and a rich expression.
On Korean Hanji paper, lines and small stains created by the penetration and drying of ink and pigment are intertwined.
In my art, the smooth flowing of water and the solid traces of ink stains, seemingly incompatible, become consistent. This expresses “Chaosmos”: the harmony between coincidence and fate.
When contemplating the fundamental principles of nature, I recognize that even waterfalls and rocks go through a series of difficult, lengthy cycles.
In human relationships, the contradictions and conflicts we experience arise from different perspectives and personalities. It is very difficult to understand and accept other’s differences, but every human goes through the process of thinking and understanding others. In that way, we are parts of nature.
The fundamental properties of nature also dictate the contour of our lives, and by expressing that in my art I hope to make real my dream of a world of coexistence and harmony.
The Universe Examined According to the Intrinsic Properties Of Nature, And About Humanity.
A review by Seunghoon Lee.
Wonhee Noh’s subtle yet distinct artistic style can be attributed to the “Balmok” Technique, a unique system of ink-and-wash painting that allows her paintings to adopt a refined yet free-spirited aura. Some of her paintings include shapes resembling Korean “moon jars”; others show abstract figures that resemble the passage of clouds and the layers of the Earth. However, although it might not seem like it at first glance, says Noh, all her art is inspired by nature. Not the material aspects of nature, but its “intrinsic properties”. These perceived “intrinsic properties” are the foundation of Noh’s philosophy towards her work.
Consistent with Noh’s belief in “intrinsic properties of nature”, Noh’s artworks attempt to depict the ever-present dualities of nature: creation and destruction, sudden change and gradual evolution, intention and un-intention. These complex and multilayered concepts are far more difficult to portray than any one material object, and it was Noh’s determination to explore these dualities underpinning the natural world that led her to prefer the “Balmok” ink-and-wash technique, a method of painting suitable for the expression of abstract philosophical concepts. In the “Balmok” technique, both ink and paint are sprayed freely on a canvas. The resulting artwork varies depending on intentional choices, such as the type of paper utilized and the angle the artist decides to spray at, and unintentional happenings, such as the weather outside or the humidity of the room. It is a process in which the intentional and unintentional mix. Noh sees the “Balmok” technique as a microcosm of nature itself, where intentional and unintentional have eternally coexisted, and as such uses it often.
This harmony between the intentional and the unintentional, coincidence and fate, chaos and order, is something that Noh has dubbed “Chaosmos”. It is a recurring theme in her work. Noh’s belief in the dynamic coexistence of chaos and order in both nature and the universe has led her to attempt to imbue her art with a certain “flow”.
Her works-abstract by definition, but in some ways similar to landscapes-feature shapes resembling clouds in the sky and layers in the ground. The shapes are repeated over and over on the canvas, but upon closer inspection small differences and unpredicted imperfections suddenly appear. The aura flows as smoothly as water and air. However, the painting is dynamic, filled with an energy that hints at abrupt and revolutionary change just beneath the surface. Noh sometimes draws coherent items, such as Korean moon jars, on this “flow”. She does this by marking the outline of the object and painting outside of the outline; the object itself remains the same color as the background. Rather than focusing on material objects, entities that we may regard as “real”, Wonhee Noh works in a way that captures and visualizes the dynamic “flow” that seems to exist in the realm outside of the visible world.
She acknowledges that the visible phenomena of nature and the universe are just manifestations of something more fundamental; there is a latent energy inside all things.
Correspondingly, the “nature” that Noh wants to express is different from what we see in our daily life. It is a manifestation of the latent energy, the “flow”, that binds the natural world together. This “flow” is only revealed when an unintentional happening is combined with Noh’s intentional artistic choices.
In her many artworks, Noh attempts to convey that seemingly incompatible concepts, such as chaos and order and creation and destruction, are in actuality extraordinarily intertwined. However, while doing so, Noh asserts that humanity is nothing more than an extension of the natural world.
“The ‘intrinsic properties of nature’ also dictate the contour of our lives, and by expressing that in my art I hope to make real my dream of a world of coexistence and harmony.” says Noh.
Humans, who live their lives in an unabashedly material world, tend to be distracted by material objects. Noh has tried to eliminate that distraction by eliminating the material world in her art, suggesting a deeper and more meaningful world beyond it.
True coexistence and harmony will be possible when one transcends, rather than embraces, the “real”. Noh wants to portray this transcendence in her work.
