We often encounter fateful moments of our lives in circumstances that appear neither significant nor extravagant. A good example is a simple roll of the dice. No matter how high or low the stakes are, for one moment in our lives we gamble on the outcome of the roll of a small cube and feel the thrilling, tense anticipation of this outcome.

Among the numerous perspectives of and metaphors for life, Do Min has used dice extensively in his work to portray the apparent cruelty that is innate to our fate, perhaps because dice offer the best analogy of the transient and dynamic aspects of our fortune. Fate is not something that must be obeyed in its given form, but rather an opportunity that is subject to change according to the paths we take and the decisions we make from moment to moment. If we are bound to encounter fate in one way or another, we might as well embrace and enjoy it. It would even be better if we were willing to throw ourselves toward the unknown.

These are my impressions of Do Min's solo exhibition titled Fortune-holic. The work featured in this exhibition conveys an attitude that can best be summed up as "If you can't avoid it, you might as well enjoy it." In terms of his views on life, the artist appears to have gained composure and maturity from his previous work. Whereas the earlier paintings emphasized planar signification by portraying dice and stacked casino chips, the current series of work creates the sense of dynamic motion on the canvas, establishing a fresh foundation for providing a different context. If Do Min focused on the general topic of desire in his art of the past, for this exhibition the artist appears to have been motivated to consistently focus on the nature of life. Overall, the latest paintings emanate a sense of stability that allows the viewer to empathize with the artist's mature thought process. This is not merely because Du depicts dice at the moment that they are tossed into the air; rather, the noticeable maturity comes from the fact that the artist was able to reflect on his previous work, allowing it to evolve to its next phase. While the latest paintings contain much more action and motion, the message has become static and clearer. The artist's intention was not to encapsulate the image of tossed dice, but to express the inner workings of our bizarre yet ordinary lives at particular, fleeting moments in time.

Although a simple object, a tossed die dramatizes a poignant aspect of our lives. While in the air, the die is ruled by mechanisms of chance that cannot possibly be fathomed; when it comes to a rest, the same die affirms the inevitable nature of fate. From this perspective, a roll of dice contains within the action itself a moment of indeterminacy as well as a seed of creation, and the outcome points to an existence chosen by the action of rolling the dice. Therefore, the notion of rolling or tossing a die affirms chance and necessity, as well as the existence of creation that is spurred by the repetition of chances and necessities. This concept of creation is what Gilles Deleuze emphasized after reading Nietzsche for a second time. In this regard, Do's series of paintings for this exhibition makes a tremendous leap from the static signification of his previous works, which realistically portrayed stacks of dice and casino chips as a direct metaphor of modern man's greed (which resembles a game as well). Despite intense semantic representation, most of Do's past works offered little more than stereotypical dramaturgy and unvarnished tension in signification. The step forward in the works presented at this exhibition can be summed up with the thought that Do Min has exceeded the previous limitations of his discourse on human desire, and acquired a more profound perspective of life that is now present in his art. In the works shown as part of Fortune-holic, even the slightest moment depicted by the artist alludes to life, and a philosophy for living, in every sense of the word.

Another compelling note is that the tossed dice land not on solid ground but in the fluid, amorphous form of water. Now, the die that is tossed becomes subject to another variable. As the title of the exhibition suggests, the die has become immersed (holic) in its fate (fortune). Do Min claims that becoming immersed or obsessed signals an escape, which amplifies the ramification of signification. While dice landing in water undoubtedly creates dramatic effects, the image further dramatizes the instance and intensifies the connotation. Since obsession can also mean an intense focus on a particular moment, it appears that the artist wanted to use the rolled dice to emblematize his affirmation of the undetermined and unpredictable life, dramatizing the impulse and excitement of subjecting ourselves to the unknown fate of this world. Furthermore, the realistic representations that enhance the dramatic moments take the elements of the unknown to the next level. Therefore, the series of works titled "Enjoy the Moment" can be understood as the artist's determination to accept and appreciate not only the chances but also the necessities of life; it appears that Do is practicing Nietzsche's aphorism: "to know how to affirm chance is to know how to play." Upon viewing the paintings, Do's son remarked "the dice are playing"—an intuitive perspective of the world as seen through the innocent eyes of a child. This simple and intimate communication between father and son allowed the artist to reflect on his work with a novel view.

In addition to Do's efforts to correlate the pronounced significances of life through dramatic and realistic representations, we must note the fact that the materialization of Do's work is realized based on the artist's constant experimentation with various materials. The context and the compelling nature of Do's work are intensified through the artist's continuous deployment of experimental techniques and willingness to remain open to new materials and techniques, both of which are in line with his emphasis on the chances of life. Do reinterprets conventional materials and likes to experiment with combinations of materials that offer repetitious cycles of chance and necessity, which is very similar to a roll of dice. Do's propensity to venture into new materials is readily apparent in his earlier works: he used traditional Korean mulberry paper to express the rough surface of asphalt, and used actual sand grains for a realistic depiction. These attempts are indicative of his interest in materializing and implementing the concept of space in the content of his work. In another image, Do depicted dice on a canvas using a material similar to that used to make actual dice. He then coated the images with cured resin as the so-called "icing on the cake". To put it more accurately, he placed small drops of the resin and allowed them to disperse; the dispersal of the resin was controllable based on his experiments. Indeed, Do Min's experimentation made possible the unique textures featured in his works, enabling him to have control over the media behind the textures and (from an audience perspective) confirming the relationship between the artist's work and life experiences. Having become accustomed to a number of new and different materials, the artist is able to portray the joy of expression and elevate the level of persuasion for the audience.

Another novel approach employed by Do involves capturing the dice with a digital camera as they are thrown up into the air and modifying the image to be displayed on the canvas. As such, Do manipulates the conventional syntax of painting with a sense of freedom in order to create a canvas with material properties that are uniquely his. Although the act of throwing dice is intentional in nature, the images captured during the action arise from chance, suggesting that the dice portrayed in Do's paintings and the process of creating the image are not very different.

Without a doubt, it is not easy for the artist to constantly embark on new ways of showing something. Do's fierce and unwavering dedication to his art is also conspicuous in his earlier works of photorealism, in which he painstakingly repeated numerous processes to make oil paintings appear as translucent as watercolors. Undergoing the joy and cruelty of painting, the artist eventually learned to overcome himself and escape the constraints of materials. In other words, Do abandoned the obsession and the agony associated with photorealism, and incorporated the circumstances created by chance experiments to pursue a state where even his brush strokes could be free. As suggested by the aphorism "enjoy every moment," Do is now able to enjoy the pleasure of creation as he instills originality in every single piece of his work, rather than face the individual moments that collectively comprise his art activities with pain and suffering. As such, the artist thoroughly identifies his existential life with his artistic work by relentlessly experimenting with new materials and making progress in terms of content. Perhaps Do was able to convey something significant that will influence his future works, which will to some extent approach him by chance because he managed to graft the joy of creation onto each endeavor. In turn, Do was able to readily find his existential self in the process of painting. In addition to the poignant life lessons learned from a dice roll, Do was able to experience the process of becoming a "holic" of the artistic life through strenuous effort. I believe that Do was able to positively embrace life and lead a righteous life in his domain of art because the end of his discipline was directed toward fortune. In this context, Do's sentiments overlap with Nietzsche's concept of the "eternal recurrence," which symbolizes the philosopher's confident affirmation of life.

The artist's affirmation of accidental life also acts as a form of determination with respect to the open possibilities of artistic work. The possibilities are further enhanced by the sincere attitude concerning life that can transform the arduous process of painting into enjoyment and pleasure. To Do, who stresses that the sum of the numbers from a pair of rolled dice is bound to be lucky 7, a roll of the dice is a gesture that signals affirmation of life as well as a challenge caused by a move toward the unknown. For this exhibition, Do further intensified the context of his message using the movements of transient moments and amplified his inclination toward an open life with modes of expression (his artwork) that are clear. In Fortune-holic, the artist willingly wages his fortune for affirmation of life and opens up the positive flow of life that lies in the journey of creating existence and evolving creativity. The numerous different outcomes from this process provide genuine joy and happiness. Tossing the dice is an attempt and a metaphor for the possibilities and variations of the universe, and the paintings that portray the dice reach far beyond the simple logic of recreation and allow viewers to possess the possibility of fortune—a more proactive ethics in life. Do is an artist who constantly wagers on a better life by engaging in fierce artistic activities, which makes us wonder about his next series of work that much more. For sure, Do regarded this exhibition as another form of "crap shoot" that takes on extraordinary significance.

Min Byung Jik (Aesthetics, Director of Arts and Academics at Pohang Museum of Art)