Flower in Shadow

The delicate layering of oil paint upon rice paper, of artist, Kyung Jin Jae, is sensitive to the passage of time that it embodies. His work fuses the opposing ends of time: the contemporary and traditional, and presents a stunning melee of elements that surpasses time barriers to today's eye. In Jae's paintings, Petal 1 and Petal 2, the two time frames interact in a gentle balance. The rice paper background denotes its traditional Korean influences and the security in its roots. There is also a sense of fragile, precious beauty supplemented by the thin rice paper sheets which in turn suggest that the splendor f history and tradition must also be treated gently and reverence.

제경진_a petal_캔버스에 혼합재료_70×150cm_2008

제경진_a petal_캔버스에 혼합재료_70×150cm_2008

제경진_a petal_캔버스에 혼합재료_70×150cm_2008

제경진_a petal_캔버스에 혼합재료_70×150cm_2008

제경진_a petal_캔버스에 혼합재료_70×150cm_2008

제경진_a petal_캔버스에 혼합재료_35×110cm_2008

The clashing colors juxtaposed side to side in such a direct and simple manner brings the element of the contemporary into the realm. The contemporary aesthetics seem to frame the traditional elements of each of the paintings. The oil paint and collaged layers allude to both the past and the present. These top layers are of traditional images yet they are put in place by the contemporary method of collage. The contemporary artist, Kyung Jin Jae, has framed the rich Korean elements from ges past and exhibits them into the context understandable and pleasing to the modern eye. ■ 문은명

Vol.20090220d | 제경진展 / JAEKYUNGJIN / 諸炅震 / painting