Art of Dansaekhwa / Now Here in Blue Park Daa Won

 Art of Dansaekhwa /Now Here / Park Daa Won

Art of Dansaekhwa /Now Here / Park Daa Won

Art of Dansaekhwa /Now Here / Park Daa Won

tansaekhwa - Resonance by Brush Touches

Tansaekhwa

Resonance by Brush Touches

Yoon Jin Sup

Art of Tansaekhwa

Now here - Becoming   PARK DAA WON

Art of Tansaekhwa

Now here - PARK DAA WON

 Understanding of Park Daa Won's recent works of art should premised on comprehension of her early works in advance. The reason is because when there are not so few artists who show the world of calligraphic abstraction, it should be explained what are Park Daa Won's artistic characteristics which form her paintings' basis in order for her works to be differentiated from others.

   Then where do the line drawings like the current ones of her --dashing off with one stroke of a brush--originate from First of all I would like to note its origin from her series of works she drew in the late 1990s, for drawings titled Interface which associate juvenile pictures show the world of play through free brush lines. 

Art of Tansaekhwa

Now here - PARK DAA WON

 They are not smuch the results of her will power to express or describe something obviously as the outcomes of revealing purposelessness of actions itself, which shows that the cardinal point of her drawings is play spirit. 

 Johan Huizinga, a Dutch historian of culture, coined a term Homo Ludens and noticed that this playfulness is a characteristic which is the basis of all cultures of human kind. Even she persisted that play was a concept which preceded culture and tried to prove that play was the most basic behavior of humans.

   Park Daa Won paid attention to playfulness in paintings through a series of works she produced in the late 1990s. Her paintings of those days, which reminded appreciators of juvenile paintings, attempted to explore the origin of her mental states through drawings by free lines, episodes lying behind the unconscious, and random behaviors which associate cave paintings. 

 The series of paintings she attempted in the early 2000s are the results of paying attention to brush lines originating from her early works, except for backgrounds. 

 From this period, she changed her direction into providing line drawings by handwriting. They consist of single colors such as black, diluted black, or yellow. 

 That way her canvases became clearer and more bright. On the canvases of single colors, her spirit sorely concentrated on  modeling through performances and formation to be created by traces of performances. And it unfolded in the way of finding out an answer for a basic question of what a picture is, which is similar to a question asked by artists with a tendency of calligraphic abstraction.

Art of Tansaekhwa

Now here in Blue  - PARK DAA WON

   Her aesthetic traits in her paintings around that time are related with effects that appear when spontaneous touches are done on canvases. Such effects contain different looks according to the depths of colors ; for example, spreading effects associating dying of materials for colored cloth, or parting effects of the tip of a brush in the use of thick Chinese ink are representative. The atmosphere of calligraphic abstraction in her works is closely related with her personal background when she was a child and a youth. Her parents had a lot of interest in collecting works of art and books on the art, so she spent her youth surrounded by Western paintings and books on art. 

 Her parents' collections include many great masters' pieces like Seo Byung Oh (1862-1935), who is a prominent figure in Yeongnam paintings in literary artists' styles, and Seo Dong Gyun. She was taught by Seo Dong Gyun  according to her mother's will, even though it lasted for a brief time period. At the time she engraved in her mind his teaching that lines are drawn by one's heart. However, this artist considers that more direct beginning of drawing such pictures was the shock she felt when she appreciated Sehando by Kim Jeong Hui in her college years. When she encountered this painting, she thought certain sort of thrill came in contact with some temperament inherent in her mind.

     What do her spontaneous lines which she draw at one moment mean Lines drawn by an artist have their own meanings and looks. Evaluating a painting's grace, qualitative values, or artistry is up to professional interpreters like critics. It is true for judgment of aesthetic values. Then, what can judgement of her works be made based on First of all, I would like to pay attention to liberated aspects of lines which appear in relaxed consciousness.

    This means that she started to pursue the state of clear mind--that is to say, nothing in Buddhism--beyond playful characteristics which had dominated her ; doesn't this mean the state of Nirvana while emptying one's mind.

Art of Tansaekhwa

Now here - Becoming  PARK DAA WON

    What is Nirvana According to one explanation, Nirvana is there is nothing with silence and so there is no form among the nature of Buddha. Because there is no form, there is nothing to do and there is no agony of living and dying, so it is pleasant. Nirvana is neither living nor dying. 

Because living things did not remove anxiety, they are born with good bodies due to good Karma of doing good work and born with bad bodies due to bad Karma of doing bad work. Whereas they undergo continuous pain while living and dying again and again, Buddha does not live nor die. So Buddha said Nirvana is pleasant.   

    Her works pursue states as they are, without any discrimination. As if performing self-discipline before drawing a painting in order to reveal the state of indiscrimination, she calms herself and fall into meditation. Her lines are free from the world's complicated judgments. So the lines she draw exist independently on a single, transparent background.

     Park Daa Won noted, I hope humans' time, history, and lives can be expressed between lines. Here if the time and history she mentioned means some universal beginning in humans' lives, the lines she drew would be some condensed analogy of them. For, as some stated, whereas a history is individual, the art like poetry or pictures are universal.

    As the subject of her work now and here implies the overlapping of two chances of here we step on and now when we are breathing, she is opening the horizon from her existential and independent position. 

    Her paintings are statements of resonance revealed by touches of brushes. How are touches of brushes resonant Is it possible to introduce this word which shows auditory effects to modeling When a brush passes the surface of a plane and finally parts with it, even though the brush does not leave its trace, its aftereffect remains on the plane. It is as if the same kind of aftereffect has disappeared but wanders about remaining somewhere. 

 A silent event which occurred now and here--hic et nunc--causes a silent echo like a wavelength of a wave. A dot placed and a line drawn on the canvas brings about silent wavelengths. Her paintings are statement of resonances by touches of brushes that appear when dots and lines are done on the space of a canvas. 

The Movement In Stillness

The Movement In Stillness

                                                               

Kim, Chong Keun

There may be two viewpoints in appreciating paintings. Some draw our eyes and some attract our mind. We can’t say which is better because each has its unique property and value. What are the paintings we enjoy appreciating through our eyes? 

The purpose of those paintings is to convey visual messages or give a pictorial weight on visible things. Included among them are the paintings of realism and impressionism. 

They are somewhat contrary to the paintings appreciated by mind. Then, what are those? They emphasize immanent concepts rather than the visible forms or colors of the object. The paintings of the postmodern style using languages may belong to them.

There are Park, Daa Won`s paintings accomplished by some uncommon but familiar touches. The natural brushes without any order and restraint make the profound and unique painting. Water soaks in and gets extremely washy, and finally only the vague images of the traces remain on the canvas. 

But the images remind us of some hidden shape strongly. It is the whole impression of Park, Daa Won’s recent paintings of that style as the transition from lyric abstract, and I read the fresh facets of oriental arts gained by long contemplation.

I had an interest in the unique simplicity and brevity expressed in the swift touch and orderly brush just as she refined her sprit and drew at a breath. Continuously reviewing her paintings with endless artistic passion, she just passes by somewhat gorgeous, static, and poetic paintings with lyric images. So, now we meet the silent world fully filled with more concise and elliptical languages.

In the refined silence gained at a breath, we can see a flash of sensitivity and experience the vividness of play which is free like a poem with inner rhythm.

Park doesn’t give the visual pleasure of the visible object she demands us to imagine and conceive through her extremely temperate paintings. She proposes to see and also think when we appreciate artworks.

With all the intemperate images of kitsches in the world, her paintings are very calm as if she meditates on visual things. She allows only a little visual pleasure that she scatters the shade of color well in the order to adequately control the whole space of painting and makes full use of blank space.

But her space is not trivial because it is the significant space where tense speed survives. A feeling of stillness spreads out and uncontrollably opens to both extremities. She defines arts as play. 

To the artist, painting is the play of life with which humans enjoy. So, it is not the goal but the expression of humans created by play.

Therefore, she shows free brushes by destroying the formality and basic rules of painting, which confuse but refresh us.

Especially her recent paintings are very laconic and she lays most stresses on the elegant but even dry mono tone. Those abstract paintings seem drawings or unfinished paintings. 

She expresses the pure spirit of mono tone style considered to absolutely unify the universe from the era of 六朝(sic kimdoms). 

And Park uses such a unique technique as she describes the object by only a few pictorial elements. Her art style is close to the oriental thought of arts. 郭熙(Gwak-Hee) and 蘇軾(So-Sik), art theorists of the era of 北宋(Northern Song), noticed how artists revealed the object. 蘇軾(So-Sik) emphasized the propositions of 成竹在胸 and 身與竹化 in arts. 

It means that the images should be in the mind of artists before the artists first. That is, the bamboo is achieved by 執筆 and 熟視. Park, Daa Won’s paintings are contiguous to that concept. Park says in the preface of her own writing as follws.

Something to deserve the gestation of life

The revival of rhythm and the amusement of free play

Of the border

To be out of the border

Let it flow

Like water, like wind

Don’t be bound

By a thing to be

As Park regards her art world as thought and ply, her painting is infinitely still. We can see both sides of her life as a seeker after truth and an artist. It is the movement in stillness. We are accustomed to the paintings which draw our eyes, but now we meet the it is a fortunate encounter in appreciating paintings, isn’t it?

The Energy of Meditational Thought Wave - Becoming

The Energy of Meditational 

Thought Wave - Becoming

DaaWon Park’s art world provides a clear impression and relationship between peoples of various backgrounds. 

Her brush effectively breathes life onto the empty background of her canvasses.  

The quick, precise stroke movement she uses can only be mastered once she obtains the internal calm which is inspired within her heart and spirit through meditation and thought.

As a result of this effort, her well-organized brush strokes reveal insight into her unique art world.   

Her art work looks like a simple language; however it contains an infinite variety of energies. The concepts of her images unintentionally appear to combine Korean traditional painting with that of Western Expressionism.   

Through continuous expression of energy, her meditation and deep thought provide the inclination to acquire good luck.   

The potential for DaWon Park’s future painting is bright.
She is developing and opening a new creative ways.