Dots scattered like star fragments… Encounter the abyss of the universe (Park Mi-ran’s whispering paintings)

◆Halftone of the universe

Thinking about the universe is like the process of becoming a dot. Realizing myself as a coordinate that is slightly shaking in the middle of infinity, but also as dust with a mysteriously clear mind. The imagination of the void outside the blue of the air turns all shapes we have never seen into geometry. As you look into the distance, the faint stars of the middle of the night form a huge river, and before you know it, they become their own shining territories. In a way that is no different from a line drawn by gathering dots that progresses toward area and then shows the illusion of volume.

If you shake your head to follow the scattered dots under the lines that shine like a meteor shower, afterimage-like colors follow. Ji Geun-wook’s (39) paintings, which were completed by dotting droplets of paint on a screen prepared by drawing dense straight lines with colored pencil on a color field composed of halftone dots, are presented as if to suggest a different panorama of the universe. Like a ring of light created by the fragments of a star being attracted to each other, the remains of the broken material the moment it touches the screen create different shapes on the blank space. His lines sometimes resemble the appearance of a very distant galaxy, and at other times, they remind us of the inside of life as seen as deeply as possible. The gaze that seeks to gaze endlessly into the distance always eventually returns to the nearest inner universe.

Ji Geun-wook held two solo exhibitions simultaneously. ‘Qua-o-ar’, which opened at the Sungkok Art Museum on the 7th of this month, and ‘Glass’, which opened at WWNN on the 15th, showcase the universe of the far and near views he painted, respectively, and are both held in December. It lasts until the 8th. After graduating from the Department of Printmaking at Hongik University, Ji Geun-wook received a Master’s degree in Art & Science from Central Saint Martins in London, England, and a Doctorate in Painting from Hongik University. He held solo exhibitions at Hakgojae (2023), A Lounge (2021), and Noblesse Collection (2020), and at Hakgojae (2022; 2021), Drawing Room (2022), Every Art (2022), Chosun Ilbo Art Museum (2021), and Ilwoo Space (2021). Participated in group exhibitions held by Unit London (2020) and Unit London (2016, UK).

◆Quoa: Illusion of Rings

The solo exhibition ‘Quaoa’ presented at the Sungkok Art Museum is centered around large-scale paintings reminiscent of the vast night sky. In front of the vast screen of the ‘Space Engine – Dust’ (2024) series that fills the high ceiling, searching eyes become black blurred dots. The screen as a form that captures part of a larger scene is closely related to the physical scale of the place where it is located. The traces of lines stacked on top of each other suggest expansion into the blank space beyond the outline of the canvas. The category of vision also changes depending on the area of ​​blank space.

Quaoa is the name of a dwarf planet that orbits around Neptune and a small celestial body with rings like Saturn. It is a mysterious object because the distance between the planet and the ring is so far that it is unknown what kind of gravity maintains its shape. At the beginning of the exhibition, there was a mezzotint print depicting the actually observed Quaoa, but because it was so far away, only a fragmented outline was revealed. The faintly shining existence of the abyss, the great reality that has crossed the universe and become a point, is clearly there.

The rings of the planet have never actually been rings themselves. It is just a large number of particles, thousands of points, moving along orbits while maintaining a certain space within a given gravitational field. The ‘Space Engine – Disk’ (2024) series contains the illusion of a disk-shaped ring created by the overlap of countless halftone dots and lines. The long canvas was created to fit perfectly into both ends of the wall, creating an unfamiliar visual experience. The screen reorganizes the ordinary field of view, resembling a virtual universe that has infiltrated the wall of reality. An unfamiliar illusion is born at each point where lines, dots, and colors intersect.

◆Glass: Curtain of sight

Another solo exhibition held at WWNN, ‘Glass’, presents a series of paintings based on the theme of the imperfection and fluidity of looking, such as the gaze refracted through a glass membrane. In the ‘Cross-Form Screen’ (2024) series, horizontal lines drawn in short bursts are arranged to form a vertical band without deviating from a narrow section. Scattered dots also move only within their own vertical areas, leaving an empty layer adjacent to them where only the color field of smooth halftone dots is revealed.

While the works in the previous exhibitions extend the illusion of lines outside the screen, the works shown in ‘Glass’ segment them in detail within the screen. Vertical strips that have been intentionally cleared out gain an unspoken volume and weight. Just as forgetting is a necessary condition for memory, the unfinished blank space makes the gesture of filling more visible. In the ‘Cross-Form Square’ (2024) series, the erased blind spot is covered again with a film of translucent acrylic medium. Like a foggy, vague protective shield, like our reality that is as solid as it is hazy.

The ‘Cross-Form Lens’ (2024) series contains a light-like void at the center. The circular trajectory formed by the repetition of colorful lines suddenly looks like multiple eyes. The pupil, which absorbs all light but does not emit it like a black hole in space, adjusts vision according to the relaxation and contraction of the iris. The movement of light, which infinitely condenses or disperses further, opens the visual world through the retina of life. Again, the person who imagines the universe soon becomes a shining dot. As a small body shaking in an infinite void, the only thing that is clear is the mind. The eyes that gaze at the world with refracted gaze float stars in their respective universes. As such, it is a valid half-dot, a blinking soul.

Miran Park Curator, Art Theory and Criticism

(ⓒ Segye Ilbo & Segye.com, unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited)