News
Man in Topics
On Shin Se-won’s Inviational Exhibition of Works
Shin’s Art Beyond His Biological Age
By CHOI YONG-SU (Publisher, Art News) 「Art News」1990년 제6호 p.134-140
An artist is distinguished in his or her special talent not necessarily by the number of works produced or by the forcefulness exhibited in the work. To wit, no need of the working of a special force to be involved here. An artist may choose a subject, make it look different from others or make a variation of it and this does not make the artist any more distinguished. Art comes into being not by dint of the working of a special force; an artist can be distinguished from other ordinary people on account of the ability to comprehend through perceptions by means of objective expression.
The way artists appreciate Nature has to be cognitive but also to be expressive. An artist can be said expressive on account of his or her work which is tactile and tangible of its material and physical attributes.
The theory of Conrad Fiedler is quite meaningful, providing a working basis for contemporary artists in that while a poet conveys his or her feelings through words, artists should be able to do the same not by means of linguistic concepts but directly through imagery.
In this respect, “Shin Se-won’s Invitional Exhibition of Works”, on view at Kyongin Art Museum in Seoul for August 21-27 has had much to show us. The artist presented more than 50 pieces of his work including two large ones. His works evidently dis-played his sensibility and maturity in reasoning in art far exceeding his biological age. One could strike an emphatic chord with him in that his world of mat-urity in sea-soning, unlike a 17-year-old boy, was clearly beyond an ordinary level. In short, one cannot help but use such praising words, “s genius boy” or “a boy prodigy” in des-cribing his precocity.
What was striking in his work his uncommon reasoning in artistry. It can be related to the choice of his subject matter ; or one can say that his vision, looking at the world, is critical, analytical and quite intuitive sometimes. He was also possessive of explosive sensibilities.
The world of his art may be characterized in three ways : first, his pursuit of the consciousness of subject matter, second, his employment of variegated techniques and third, his own, pure expressivity not in emulation of any other established artists. At any rate, freed form any formalistic constraints, he is exhibiting his freewheeling world.
Accordingly, he is showing off his taste refined to the point of misleading the viewers to see his works as the those by established painters. On this point one may say that his clearcut touch, unhesitating development of lines and his free-for-all vision of looking at world have elevated of looking at the world have elevated him to a level on par with any other established artists for the time being.
His themes are also quite various as indicated by the titles of his works, “Three Dimensions,” “Space of Special Relativity,” “Topology of SPECIAL Relativity,” “Wealth and poverty,” “Four Dimensions,” “Material-first-ism,” or “False Image.”
He has a deep-rooted urge to express, on his own part, what other established artists may find it hard to deal with.
The piece such as “Topology of Special Relativity,” in particular, showing a cubic feeling on the plane, eloquently speaks of his interest in the three- or four-dimensional world. Again, his work entitled “False Image” deals with this worldliness vs. other worldliness or ideal and reality. In this work, a naked woman is embracing a skeleton, in a sense, insinuating a denunciation of words, he puts more stress on his internal feelings even if when he is dealing with certain object in his work.
However, in light or wide-ranged motifs and subject matter in his choice, it is also hard to term him as expressionistic. Not only he chooses his subject matter from ordinary things found around him, he also interested in a wide range of subjects ranging from though, philosophy, universe, science, history, relition and even current affairs of the world.
As such, he also so many thoughts kept in his mind which he aspires to visualize in his work.
Not that he is attempting to visualize in his art even some metaphysical meanings, which are subjects hardly to be adopted for realistic painting, his work are, more or less, symbolic, allegorical and suggestive. At least it seems that there should be nothing which he can not express in his painting.
His flowing intellectual aspirations and urges are depicted with his honest and generous touches and colors. His mature thinking, exceeding his biological age, constantly calls for his intellectual curiosity and this curiosity is depicted in concrete image through the expressive mode that is his painting. Manifestation of his expressive urge in his internal world by means of his mature technique should be, to a certain extent, inevitable on account of the crisscrossing of his intellectual curiosity and his esthetic sensibility. In other words, the candid development of his emotions takes the form of depiction centering around the use of lines for the sake of expression.
Therefore, he spews out images with such swift brush touch with a visible speed. His rapid brush touch carries a sense of forcefulness.
Since he is sure of his will to expressivity, his touch naturally carries the sense of his confidence with it. Thus, he can employ his brush fast, forcefully and clearly as characteristic of his urge gushing from his own emotions.
In some aspect as can be seen in his works, the emotional intensity of the artist seems to increase in proportion to the intensity of primary colors. Therefore, his painting assumes an increasing sense of freshness.
In contemporary art, expressive mode and form are evaluated as highly as subject matter itself. In “A Scene with Poplar Tress” he uses primary colors as in the tube without using the brush or knife while he also painters with his fingers and such an approach shows his attempt to approximate himself as closely as possible to his works.
He knows how to use the primary colors intact as in the tube, with no use of mixed colors, in order to enliven the intense feelings in primary colors depending on the motif on one hand and he attempts at a straight approach to the object by painting, using his fingers when the impression created by the textural feeling of the brush does not satisfy him on the other hand. As such, his experimental spirit has been bolstered by his inborn talent in art.
His mode of technique also seems to be somewhat extraordinary. In his early days he used to draw the basic sketch on the plane and render the coloring in paint according to the sketch but in the recent time he is doing in reverse. As was pointed out earlier, he is depicting his object into imagery almost instantly. When this writer questioned him about possibility that an instant drawing without a long pause of contemplation in spirit and soul would hardly make a good work, he explained about his view on art, saying, “I choose to differ with a view that life is short and life is long. As I see it we should rather say that life is long and art is short because art is created instantly.”
“It seems that art is short so long as life is concerned. The master painter of the world Picasso has left so many works behind him but I take a different view of him. His life was quite lengthy and his art was rather short. His works can be found everywhere in this world but in number, how many could they be? … A mere one tens of millionth of the population of the whole world…”
The writer, who has been confined in convention-ridden though and theories, found it quite unexpected to see such courage and audacity piled up in the heart of the 17-year-old painter and I could not manage to look into his eyes straightly. The passion burning in his immaculate eyes, the energy emanating from his sturdy physique, the philosophical reasoning coming from his untainted spirit… Such have been well exemplified in his intuitive expression coming straight from his perceptions, as in the words of Conrad Fiedler.
The writer looks forward to his next homecoming two years later after he has studied more arduously as he promised he would.
화제의 인물 신세원
순수한 미적 감정을 뜨겁게 표현
우주의 섭리, 인간의 한계, 현실고발 등 불교를 밑바탕에
1990년 [Art News] 제6호 p.126-146
“나의 그림은 나의 배설물입니다. 저의 철학과 정신이 들어있기 때문입니다. 제 나이에 맞게 순수한 감정을 표현하려 노력하고 설사 비난을 받는다 해도 필요에 따라서는 모방도 하겠습니다. 인간이 생각하고 있는 감정을 그림으로 표현하고 싶습니다.” 신세원은 자신의 예술론을 꽤나 당차게 밝히고 있다.
17세란 나이가 몸에 맞지 않는 옷처럼 그에겐 어울리지 않는다.
자신의 그림 이야기를 하는 모습을 보면 기성작가 못지 않게 어른스러운 모습을 발견할 수 있기 때문이다. 하지만 수줍게 얘기하는 말투나 웃는 모습에서 아직은 정형화되지 않은 소년 같은 모습이 발견되기도 하고 언뜻언뜻 때묻지 않은 순진한 심성이 고스란히 전해지기도 한다.
86년 조선일보가 주최한 제22회 소년미술대회에서 금상을 수상, 한일아동미술대회인 동경전에서 특선, 그 밖에 문공부장관상, 문교부장관상, 각급 공모전의 최고상을 받으면서 미술계에 서서히 자기 이름을 내놓기 시작했다. 86년 최고상을 받던 그 해 미국으로 유학했던 신군은 미국생활에서 느낀 감정을 쏟아 부은 최근작 50여 점을 지난 8월 경인미술관에서 조심스레 내보였다. 그 곳에 전시된 것은 조현실적인 추상으로부터 사실주의적 구상에 이르기까지 다양한 유화작품들.
“미국이란 낯선 땅에서 참 여러 가지 감정을 가졌습니다. 또 사춘기였잖습니까. 걷잡을 수 없이 쏟아져 나오는 느낌을 놓칠까봐 그림을 그렸고 그걸 마무리하고 싶어서 전시회를 생각했습니다. 어린 나이에 감히 전시회를 연다는 비판도 있었지만 그림은 작가 자신의 만족을 위해서 그리는거라 생각합니다.”
그의 작품은 참으로 어른스럽다.
우주의 섭리나 인간의 한계성, 현실고발 등 불교가 밑바탕에 깔려 있다. 금강경, 반야심경 등 불경을 통해 세상의 이치에 대해 생각하고 유신론과 무신론이 공존하는 세상을 그림으로 표현하고 싶어한다.
화가 이육록씨는 “아직은 어떤 통일성은 없지만 어른들이 생각할 수 없는 순박성과 소년으로서 보는 사회상에서 느껴지는 감정을 그림으로 표현하려 합니다. 어릴때부터 읽은 불경에서 잉태된 작품을 많이 그립니다. 어느 누구에게도 지도받지 않고 혼자 공부했기 때문에 독창성이 있고 개성과 고집스러움이 있습니다. 이는 그림 그리는 사람들의 절대적 중요성이라 생각합니다.”
신군은 하루에 6~7시간 그림 작업에 몰두한다. 한번 붓을 들었다 하면 놓지 않는 스타일. 영감이 떠오르는 순간을 놓지지 않는다. 정신없이 작업에 임하다 코피를 쏟을 때면 일종의 희열마저 느낀다. 이것은 열심히 했다, 는 가장 진한 증거이자 표시이니까.
이런 성격 때문인지 피빛의 강렬함을 좋아한다. 마음은 불덩이같이 뜨거운데 그 표현이 제대로 되지 않는 안타까움을 색으로나마 표현하려 한다.
어린 나이에 보여주는 비구상작업에 대해 주변에서는 너무 이른 것이 아니냐는 우려도 있다.
이에 대해 “데생과 구상을 단단히 해야 기초가 튼튼해 진다고 하지만 제 생각은 다릅니다. 물론 데생연습을 통해 조형의 기본을 닦을 수 있겠지만 사람마다 구상에 강할 수도 있고 비구상에 강할 수도 있는데 일률적으로 데생훈련을 강요하는 한국의 미술교육은 오히려 창조력을 죽이는 결과를 빚는다고 생각합니다. 작가는 개성이 중요하기 때문에 장르와 기법이야 어떻든 자신만의 독특한 표현세계를 이루어야 한다고 생각합니다. 미국에서의 미술수업은 데생과 구상 등 기초적 테크닉 보다 개성을 자유분방하게 표현하는데 중점을 두고 있습니다.”라고 자기 설명이 명확하다.
자기의 길을 개척해 나간다는 것, 그것은 작가의 내면세계를 자유자재로 움직여줘야 한다는 이야기다.
불경을 통해 내면적인 수련을 단단히 다져 놓아 자기 세계의 개척에 게으르지 않는 성실파. 유난히 욕심이 많고
형상화할 사고가 많은 그가 죽순처럼 부쩍부쩍 커갈 것을 기대한다.
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