The word ‘KOOISM’ is the combination of the name of the artist, as well as the word meaning of ideology. Through KOO Bon A’s artwork, we can see that she not only uses a different angle to view the world, but also interprets the world and her surroundings in a unique way. KOO Bon A is good at ink wash painting on Korean paper. She creates her artwork by tearing the painting into small pieces and sticking them on a Korean paper. By tearing the painting into small pieces, maybe the artist would like to present her work in an indirect way by showing the torn parts of the painting, or maybe the artist wants her artwork to be more stereoscopic. However, one thing we are sure about is that KOO Bon A has spent a lot of effort on creating her art piece.
KOO Bon A keeps on exploring different ways to enhance her technique by using Korean paper. In Year 2008 to 2010, her collection, “Physical Object”, has applied mosaics technique in designing the butterflies, trees, and landscape in a stone-like shape. From her artwork, we can see how lively the butterflies, trees and landscape are. Her artwork provokes us to think deeply about our life. Although all the things around us are beautiful, they will not last forever. Similarly, none of us can enjoy eternity, no matter how wonderful our life is. In Year 2011, KOO Bon A created her series, called “Pinion of Time. Pinion is the important part of getting a watch started. From her artwork, we can see that pinions are connected with each other sophisticatedly. On the pinions, we can see different designs of trees and animals. In Year 2012, KOO Bon A will combine the elements of both of her previous series. From her ink wash painting, we can see that butterflies, trees and landscape are connected with each other through pinions. Maybe what Koo Bon A wants to us through her artwork is that the connections in our life.
Note of the artist (KOO Bona)
In my Artwork, the four cycles of Full and Empty, as well as Nature and Civilization are presented by a medium called pinion. In Korean’s Chinese literature, pinion is written as embryo （unborn child）. Being pregnant means giving birth to a new life. Similarly, watch can only get started with a pinion. During summer time, peach blooms, spreading the seeds everywhere and leaving the unneeded parts to become dry. At this moment, Wind is responsible for ‘giving birth’ to the nature. If time is the unit of all beings in the world, then pinion will be the ‘heart’ of all beings as it keeps time moving.
In the end, all things will be extinguished. No matter it is our alarm clock, 63-floor high building, Kheng Hock Keong Temple (Chinese: 庆福宫, pinyin: Qingfu Gong), the castle at the seaside or the dog of our neighbor, they all have the same destiny --- will be lost one day. Therefore, the existence of all things in the world is limited.
Wrinkles, withered flowers and our houses which are being demolished symbolize that the time has passed. The collapse of building is the best way to measure how our time has passed. Just like the disappearance of the island in the ocean, the Alps of Switzerland has become part of River Rhine, and lava has cooled down, they will happen as time goes by.
If the pinion can move in anti-clockwise, why can’t time do the same? Why landfills cannot have self-recovery? Why elderly can’t be a child again? At first, I believe that in our nature, past and future are the same.
However, I got the answer after realizing the isolation that helps keeping the harmony between the nature and civilization. The beauty of the isolation comes with time. It requires a period of tolerance. Once this kind of isolation has won upon time, we called this moment as Perfect.
