Accumulation of fragments - Lee Ji Hyun Experimental Existence
In the art community of South Korea, Lee ji hyun is called "Books Tearing Author". Tear books to pieces and piece together the torn fragments. He tears the pieces off the book and assemble it again. Books are disassembled by Lee ji hyun, and reborn with fresh vitality and in a new form of existence after undergoing the near death experience. It is not only his book, but also posters and photos are tore to pieces and assembled them again, named afresh and existing in a brand-new form of existence.
The artistic process of tearing up books and piecing them together by Lee ji Hyun appeals to the audience with attractive detonation. The first is object, namely, the wavelength of strong energy produced during metamorphosis of certain existence. A book is the accumulation of information. Whether it has historic significance, expresses emotions, or it is for leisure, no matter what it is for, it is undoubtedly the accumulation of information. In the other hands, books are the mechanism having a bearing on the behavior and thinking of human beings via communication of message. Thanks to the labor-intensive noble action of Lee ji hyun, books are transformed into artistically beautiful arts. Therefore, the works of Lee ji hyun are no longer books communicating message, but exist in the form of arts.
Pure formal existence transcends the use field and has no use value in daily life. However in the surpassing world of the art community, justification for its existence is guaranteed. The art expressed by Lee ji hyun is more than expression of dramatized Katharsis arising from the transformation of existence. The art of Lee ji hyun is related to eras. One era is definitely challenged by the storm of another era. Such storm is usually another name of progress. As we know, practice-polluted train of thought is quite dangerous, and its era is still exhibited incisively and vividly. In our opinion, progress is the right trend; however, it usually tears up previously experienced emotions and memories. The tearing behavior of Lee ji hyun is just like the action of averting calamities for impeding the blow to the past caused by progress or with the passage of time. The noble behavior fighting against the blow of era is the struggle of labor, which is not that kind of means-of-subsistence work by using something or for gaining something, but the effort of driving timeless being to the spotlight through the magic of metamorphosis.
In his childhood, he gained valuable experience in his father's study. Dark yellow age-old books, the putrid smells from the books and the quiet study were important his other self which express his father to him. Right from these articles, he indirectly has a better understanding of his father. In addition, book contain information and reflect times; hence they are the limited existence, which become outdated in the new era. However, private experiences are distilled into art, with the increasing significance, the author's subjective opinions on her father are solid independent existence and guaranteed.
Selection of classics such as the Bible, history books, quotations of great men, just like the above mentioned, is similar to the author's intention to create timeless being. In addition, the portrayal of ordinary images like Mao and Marilyn, shows the author's wish to share his own experience with various groups and the public.
The reason why Walter Benjamin collected the painting "Angelus Novus" by Paul Klee and has pondered its meaning for 20 years is that he was impressed by the portrait of the angel of history, portraying the torn past and the pile of debris growing skyward by progress. Eyes and mouth slightly open, replacing piles of messy wreckage which drive him on the verge of death, all these guide us in our thinking indirectly. The angel would like to make whole what has been smashed, but a storm, which is what we call progress, is blowing so hard, leaving no opportunity for him to stay, that he has to flap his wings nonstop.
From the observation of Walter Benjamin, we know the reason why Lee ji hyun tore all to pieces and pieced them together. As a matter of fact, we can do nothing with the passage of time. Except that we struggle for survival, just like the angel flapping his wings, what we can do is only symbolic resistance, which is the art world Lee ji hyun is stepping into. The effort to constantly highlight and visualize historic images in the course of life & death, birth and extinction is the very essence of the art of Lee ji hyun.
- Lee Jin-myung
, Curator, Gallery ARTSIDE
