Midday Stays in Harmony

Bae Ryeom’s house, the public Hanok in Seoul, presents [GOOD AFTERNOON: The Midday Moon], the first of the showcases [STAY] proposing a new form of an exhibition. Lived not a long life but deeply rooted as a great man in the history of Korean painting, Bae Ryeom played active roles as both a painter and an educator. Among many possible exhibitions that can be arranged in his residence tributing to his life, I am pleased to present the purpose of this group exhibition and the artists participating in the show.

The structure of Hanok designed for sedentary lifestyles helps to embrace the beauty of STAY, the aesthetics to be pursued or secured to appreciate Korean landscape paintings. Especially in this post-COVID-19 era, the regulation limiting the number of people allowed to view the exhibition at one time to prevent epidemics serves on the flip side as a ground spreading the use of personal time and space more in general. As if ironically, the air, that had not gotten better despite the efforts of many environmental organizations and the governments of each country, became finally fresher enough to enjoy a clear landscape after COVID-19, within the crisis, Bae Ryeom’s house found a new way to enjoy the exhibition from the significant feature of Korean architecture, Ondol - the traditional floor heating system.

Perhaps since the air got crisper than before, I once have lost in a brown study in a hectic afternoon while looking up the sky with the midday moon. Today, it becomes hard to get together, and in these somehow lonely days, even with the exchange of voices over the Clubhouse, I assume the people gazing at the moon, like myself, are communing with others without many words. In the post-modern era where we are seeking harmony from deconstruction, we can still stay here and looking at the artistic soul left behind in the house by the Mr. Bae Ryeom – a man no longer here anymore but who had highly influenced the modern times of Korea reflected in the eyes of the Westerners as “The Morning Calm”. Please enjoy the artists’ NOW AND HERE giving diverse shapes to the contemporary Sansuhwa, the Korean landscape paintings.

The exhibition involves the selected artworks of 9 Korean painters and furniture artists, Han Kyoungwon, SOH Meejung, Lee Seunghee, Yu Haekyung, Park Sohyun, Ryu Kapkyu, Kim Keunjung, Cho Eunjung(FURMIN), Kim Hyunhee, focusing on presenting the Sansuwha as an independent genre. It can be one means to understand Sansuwha – the favorite form of painting of Mr. Bae Ryeom - in the contemporary context. Rather than searching for the unerring successor of his style of drawing, here is another opportunity to take delight in enjoying how the Korean landscape painting has expanded its horizon by embracing more diversity in styles since Bae Ryeom.

After Gyeomjae Jeongseon came to the forefront of the Korean landscape painting history with his depiction of scenic beauty in both realistic and emotional approaches, Sansuwha cannot be discussed without considering both transmission and reinterpretation of the traditional ink painting styles of Mr. Bae Ryeom inherited from Yi Sang-Bom by learning. The exhibition links the tradition to a concept HARMONY derived from the world of artworks crossing the line between realistic and abstract, close and distant, planar and non-planar, and traditional and modern media.

Han Kyoungwon opens a new horizon of Sansuwha by inventing a unique method, adapting fire on the traditional ink drawing technique to blacken the painting with soot.

SOH Meejung captures the landscape and draws out the scenes as planar objects with her interest in DMZ and the relationship between humans and nature.

Lee Seunghee substitutes a thin brush with a fine pen to achieve the traditional Korean painting style, turning into a Sansuwha herself through self-examination and the inner healing process.

Yu Haekyung pursues the spiritual view of the world, which is the essence of Sansuwha, by drawing heterotopic places that are close to us yet to be unfamiliar into the imaginative landscape.

Based on her interest in water, Park Sohyun installs the modern Sansuwha and its elements by summoning drops and balls of water floating around the daily landscape.

Ryu Kapkyu delves deeper into drawing glacier falls to study human facing the toughness of Mother Nature, and his fresh attempts to show happenstance through works such as glacier fall assembly drawing is exceptional.

Kim Keunjung represents the motives of traditional Sun, Moon, and Five Peaks as a medium of modern visuals through her reinterpretation of the ten traditional symbols of longevity, titled as Story of Ten.

Cho Eunjung applies folk paintings to her furniture, called FURMIN edition, and the series is beloved by people equally as household hardware and as an art piece.

Kim Hyunhee is recognized as a visual artist questioning paradigm, and she applies modern materials and aesthetics to traditional furniture and its construction methods.

The exhibition could not be accomplished without our friends and supporters: Kim Yongjae, the CEO of Chosun Antique, participated in this show as a spatial director and expertise of antique art; Kwon Doun, the CEO of ABOUTBRAND, contributed to developing a new logo, website, and the VR system for this project; Lee Minhwa, the visual director, put great effort into all the interview images, exhibition photographs, and artwork designs; and more thanks to all beyond words. Seated or lay down, please also take pleasure in treasuring the books and albums selected by the artists while appreciating the Sansuhwa of this present day.

At Bae Ryeom’s house, where paintings, objects, installations, and furniture are in harmony, I hope you enjoy all the 50 minutes within the space. Have wonderful midday appreciating the moment of today’s Sansuwha, reflecting upon oneself, and experiencing the new feels. Good Afternoon!

■Written by Bae Minyoung, The exhibition director of Bae Ryeom’s house museum Translated by Kim Hyo June, The curator of Gong Jang gallery.