akive

Search by
facebook


On An Gyung-Soo’s Drawings
 
Choosing one after looking at the works of many other people in a short time depends on an instant judgment. In case of An Gyung-Soo, it was his little drawings. According to the artist, the drawings were made by combing and casting objects bought at the flea market in Germany in frottage method. The drawings stood out because of its consistency in method and attitude even though objects had a dim sense of presence.
An Gyung-Soo’s drawings are, in a way, not drawings. They appear as drawings merely because they are missing colors as they are descriptions of monochrome. Usually, the artist’s bare face is revealed in drawings however, An Gyung-Soo conceals it. Actually, either he had no intention of showing it or substitutes it with objects he draws rather than concealing it. Even in the little drawings which the artist says shows himself relatively well and had begun in Germany.
The drawings merely project objects which are made in state frottage, that is, the surface. Other works are also not much different. He draws lines of drawings using the carbon paper. Lines drawn with carbon paper look as though they are printed but the feeling of hand-drawing is also kept alive. That is, it is twofold. This is similar to the blot method - drawing with ink on a smooth paper and coloring it by printing it with highly absorbent paper - used in Andy Warhol’s illustrations. It is an attempt to make it appear as though it is not drawn, yet it is drawn with his own hands.
What is behind such attempt? It may be the intended to locate works in a neutral place, between the objects, the world and the artist as an individual. That is, the place where one’s self cannot be erased, yet can be hidden so that it cannot be revealed. And such attitudes are frequently shown among young artists recently. Artists seems to have revealed themselves because, in a glimpse, from drawings to paintings and installation, the degree of completion is high and they have mastered the grammar of art well, but there are many cases in which in fact, they are backing off. Drawings, above all, seem to possess the characteristics of somewhat describing excessively, precise degree of completion and filling the scene.
The interesting part of An Gyung-Soo’s drawings is the tension among the artist’s attitude which tries to project himself on objects, the drawn objects, object coming out of the surface to exclaim its presence. Or it may be that the artist is trying to push the objects out of the surface for them. Anyway, I hope that the tension will not stop but continue.
 
By Kang Hong-Goo
 
facebook
Quick Page Up