“Sculpture World as Aesthetics of Providence” : Man-ho Jung > Review

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“Sculpture World as Aesthetics of Providence”

I coincidentally came across the work of artist Young-churl Shim. While we were having a conversation through a few short stories, I got a strange feeling when I realized that the scope of the artist's work was fresh and contained a strong message. To me, having majored in laser holograms and conducting research in the natural sciences, it gave me a very close feeling, and the feeling of the whole work made me feel like I was looking at a single hologram. This may have been the motivation for me, not being deeply related to the field of sculpture, wanting to express her world of work in writing. Sculpture is probably the oldest art activity of human beings. The form of sculpture already existed in the distant era of mankind, when people made tools for life through the process of shaping and polishing by hand using stones, wood, and soil scattered around them. More specifically, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, so he must be the first sculptor. The realm of sculpture, which has existed since the beginning, is broadly classified as spatial art. The traces of sculpture that fill the universe are preserved as traces of creation contained in light, wind and sound rather than as fragmentary sculptures. 

In the passage of time, all things in the universe make a deep impression on the human psyche and form the ultimate frame of human life. In recent years, human dignity, created in the process of destruction and pollution of nature, is facing an extremely dangerous challenge. Accordingly, it is fortunate that attempts to preserve the environment and restore the aesthetics of creation are appearing in the field of art, including environmental sculpture. 

The subject matter of the artist Young-churl Shim's works is truly diverse. While she uses universal natural materials such as stone and wood, she also attempts visual expression through lighting and silhouettes. In particular, kinetic sculptures that combine electronic and mechanical parts with cutting-edge technology are also noteworthy, reflecting the artist's diverse experimental spirit and strong expressive abilities. Her work is characterized by the diversity of her materials and the vastness of scale, as well as the strong message that her artist intends to convey. In particular, in a situation in which it is urgently required to deliver a message that is being lost, the artist is fulfilling this desire. 

The vitality of the sculpture lies in the representation of the three-dimensional object. The embodied three-dimensional sculpture gives a strong feeling in the artist's work space within a given space. Her work essentially has a three-dimensional space. More precisely, it makes the audience feel the true meaning of three-dimensional space. When the viewer stands at a point in the space of the work, their eyes are focused on the three-dimensional space art expressed in the work. This fact has a very unique and important meaning. In general, three-dimensional sculptures that exist in three-dimensional space are clearly distinguished from the displayed space. It means that you can see the three-dimensional world and have windows and doors that allow you to enter the world. However, the window of these works does not end with the role of a window that simply sees the three-dimensional world, but comes as a concrete and main sculpture. While viewing the work that is magnificently displayed in front, the audience finds a window that exists somewhere and sees the work that exists deep within. This contains the fundamental principle of a hologram, which means a complete three-dimensional space. A hologram is a three-dimensional object space recorded on a photographic film using a laser, and the recorded three-dimensional object is reproduced by illuminating the hologram with light. The hologram becomes the window of a work, and the real object of the work is revived with light. There is a small universe in it, and objects that were coldly dead are revived as the reality of life by the light of salvation. The real thing that exists in the window of her work is the artist's message, as if revealing the artist's inner world. 

Such attempt began to materialize in her 1992 work, 'You are in control of life and death', and it is developing into a work that expresses the reality of the cross through a window in a part of the wall, which is rough cut out of a huge tree. A few years earlier, her work in the '89s and '90s expressed her strong desire to convey the artist's message, and her series of works, 'Message', is a representative example of herself. The artist's attempt to deliver a message is embodied in the example of her sincere work. 

The artist's message expresses Christian salvation and judgment, life and death. These themes are expressed in silhouettes and concrete realities in ‘The meaning of the dragon in the Book of Revelation’ and ‘Those who are left behind,’ and various light sources are used in the material of the work. 

In addition, in order to realize true kinetic sculpture, she expands the scope of her work by giving strong messages and using holograms. The works exhibited this time were produced under the theme of 'providence' and are characterized by incorporating them into holographic works. Her work has already structurally expressed a holographic, unusual three-dimensional image before, but this time, she is expanding the scope of her artist by incorporating a hologram into her work. The great attraction of holograms is that they contain a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional film plane. A hologram can be said to be a closed window in the dark. The window is opened by the light and the hologram, which shows a three-dimensional world with amazingly beautiful colors, goes well with the three-dimensional sculpture art. The audience realizes the longing for the real thing and the 'providence of light' through the sculpture of an illusion that exists in harmony with the artist's real sculpture. You experience harmony through the resurrection of life in the human world buried in the darkness of despair and longing. 

A hologram can express different messages on a single plane as a world of harmony rather than an antagonistic world. This is realized by the technique of multiple exposure, and can connect the disconnected worlds of the past, present and future with a stereo technique. In particular, the rainbow hologram can express a clearer and more colorful 3D image by gradually narrowing the width of the window and allowing the light to enter through the window gap. Just as the symbol of the rainbow is a 'promise', her sculpture, which adorns a small window in a huge work with a rainbow hologram, seems to suggest a strong providence of God for the future. In harmony with the surrounding kinetic sculptures that express the flow of time, life and death in the creative space are drawn to the great power of providence and appear as a world of ultimate harmony.