Navigating a New Horizon of Painting

 

 Kim Noam

 

How complex has the world become? Today, painting is not confined to a part of art. It can be roughly perceived only by examining the spectrum of painting from a holistic point of view that encompasses the whole culture. Painting repeats a movement resembling a wave that oscillates between condensation and expansion, from simplicity to complexity and back and forth. Our life and daily life have become all too complicated and chaotic for artists to express themselves through new ideas. We anticipate receiving inspiration filled with amazing insight and imaginary images through the artists' composure, but it is uncertain whether such expectations will be met. Nevertheless, many artists and art lovers in the past have not given up hope and have dreamed of new artistic creations and experiences. What do we expect from contemporary art today?

 

One person's lifetime is too short to reveal the full picture of a painting. The secrets of painting have been revealed little by little through the fierce competition and cooperation of many artist communities, friendship and consideration, and over a long period of time and generations. Paintings share the birth and origin of mankind and capture the consciousness and unconsciousness of the people of the time. The images of the oldest petroglyphs and the recently created modern paintings also contain a common attitude, aspect, and values that transcend the gap of time. Paintings are constantly changing. Human beings have comprehended unique information and culture as a complex of reason and emotion. The spirits of literary people and military people, intellectuals and morons, the heart of a poet, the meticulousness of a hunter, and the robustness of a farmer are expressed through osmosis. On the one hand, painting gives us a noble and elegant aura, and on the other hand, it fills us with worldly and sensual pleasures to the fullest. In different times, regions, and the history of painting, the ups and downs and entanglement of emotion and reason led to a storm of immaculately clear sentiments and terrifying emotions. We inherited from our predecessors the deep and delicate world of painting that was achieved through individual aspirations and devotion. And as the protagonist of events that will disappear from everyone's memory, the artist will happily step into the world of human oblivion.

 

An image is formed between infinity and finiteness. Whether it is a difference in existence or a difference in movement, it is that difference that clarifies the gap and boundary, allowing a stain to form between them. Artists who want to embrace both the infinity and the finite constantly seek and confirm that boundary. An image of a painting or painterly form assumes its own frame between the inside and the outside depending on the presence or absence of boundaries. The whole and the part correspond to each other and trace their aesthetic origins. Since ancient times, an artist, immersed in colors, shade, and forms, has been the whole and the parts that reflect the memory of the entire mankind and the world image like a hologram. In the world of the hunter and that of the farmer, the metaphysics and the physical science of a dreamer possessed by the stars were blended into a poetic consciousness. 

 

If a painting image seeks to pursue a certain direction, we can see it, but cannot approach it. Like a star embedded in the sky, it is clearly perceived by the eye, but in order to approach it, it takes aeons of time that have already passed or have to pass in the future. A finite point actually contains an infinity. That infinity contains another infinity. Our imagination freely moves back and forth between the infinite and the finite. Finiteness and infinity are not a matter of size, but rather a matter of the existence or non-existence of boundaries. Therefore, the finite embracing infinity or infinity embracing the infinite series are always possible. Infinity and finiteness are mixed in the various shapes, forms, and colors that form a painting's image. It is a mixture of finite lines bundled up with infinite dots, and planes composed of infinite lines. Moreover, in a single painting, there exist numerous experiences and temporality that mankind has been through. The beginning and the end of eternity are in contact with a fleeting moment. We can experience both the finite and the infinite movement along with the flow of countless times while looking at one painting. Of course such experience is only possible through a strong desire for new experience and imagination.