Artist An Bong-kyun, who deals with tactile texts and images, will hold his 20th solo exhibition at the Kumho Museum of Art from the 26th to the 6th of next month.
The theme of this solo exhibition is "Monument." An borrowed images of archaeological inscriptions densely engraved with letters, like Rosé, focusing on the visual weight and sculptural forms while concentrating on reinterpreting this into a pictorial format.
He pays attention to the resonance that the letter images, bearing the traces of time like ancient inscriptions or stone carvings, give. Although worn out and blurred in shape, he discovered that these letters convey the narratives of humanity and history and incorporated them as elements of painting.
His work adopts a labor-intensive painting method executed meticulously by hand. He applied modeling compound, a material that expresses three-dimensional textures, onto the canvas, stacked letter shapes like ancient inscriptions, and repeated the process of layering multiple coats of color and carving them back down. He realized the letters much like the excavation work of archaeologists.
The small life forms appearing above contrast with the letters on the screen, depicting a fictional scene where civilization and nature coexist. It is designed not only to be seen but also to be experienced through tactile sensations. Viewers can feel a sense traversing between memory and oblivion within the images of letterboards that emerge and disappear from the screen.
An's new works address the relationship between images and text through a combination of Eastern calligraphy, the art of carving characters known as "seogak," and engraving seals or stamps known as "jeongak" on a single canvas. It conveys unique aesthetic beauty and a new visual experience to the audience. This exhibition will focus on large-scale works, particularly those of size 150.