Perception, Body, and Revolt Against "the Dead Idea"

Yoon, Jin-Sup
(Fine Art Critic/Professor at Honam University)

Hwang Sun-Tae is the artist who makes an effort to observe things or objects that influence his existence. Through this body of work Hwang displays a new interpretation of what he observes.

Hwang's hard work and dedication is reflected by his glass work series that he started in 2005. His own interpretation of life and his surroundings makes the glass work series one of Hwang's most unique reflections of his own style and skills.
His glass works are excellent in terms of distinctiveness of concept and execution. These glass works are made with utter delicacy and perfection which suits his efforts and reputation.

Fascinated by Hwang's unique idea of making books from glass, first seen at the KIAF exhibition several years ago, got the attention of many. His exhibition showed fine workmanship as it stood out because of the moderation by which it was made. The perfect finished end product on exhibition was what really made the shift to a conceptual approach to Hwang's art.

Sun-Tae Hwang's lived in Germany for ten years from 2000. This gave him the opportunity to fully come to ground with his own potential as an artist. Hwang's social and financial circumstances at this time in Germany played a tremendous role in the development of Hwang's art.

His understanding of Germany and foreign cultures has broadened Hwang's perspective as he opened up to people with different backgrounds. Through human observation, Hwang has been inspired to create objects of immaculate quality. In that respect, an artist is not only the interpreter of his existence of objects but also a phenomenologist.
His installation works that he created during his study in Germany are tantamount to the exploration of the existence of objects that he looked from the standpoint of scientist, and thus, they invite us to rethink about the objects and phenomenons. One of the examples is the house that he rented, which he remodeled by tilting the entire room structure by three degrees to provide the experience with the new perception for the audiences. Those series of experiment with object begin with his intensive interest in objects.

According to him,"My interest in objects focuses largely on two themes when creating artworks. First, it is the story about the existence of object. I deal with this theme mostly through photo drawing or glass drawing. The theme about existence sometimes leads to the glass installation later.

Secondly is the analysis of object. In other words, the story about the object unfolds through the detailed analyses on the external factors such as the shape or color of objects and the notions about objects like their relationship with the surrounding environment and history, and so forth. Those analyses have been carried out mainly through three-dimensional works (Glass books) or installation works."
- Hwang Seon-Tae, excerpted from the artist's notebook -

His encounter with glass in 2005 led him to adopt a new approach to the media. He acquired the knowledge and experience related to the glass while he majored in glass handicraft again, and by doing so, he developed his own world of art with his present style. It is no exaggeration to say that the distinctive artistic identity of Hwang Sun-Tae is built around his glass book. That is founded on the unique style of his artworks. That is related to overthrowing or breaking the mold of stereotyped concept of the book. Because making books from glass, instead of paper, invites us to adopt new perspective toward objects. In that way, the artist serves the role of catalyst for promoting the fact that the fixed concept can be overthrown anytime depending on the perspective.

His glass works imply that the objects stay where they are, whether they are books themselves or take the image of object. As it can be seen clearly, his glass books are nothing but the objects which lost their purpose as books. They are the books that cannot be read by thumbing through the pages. In other words, they are the objects that lost its function.

We can find that his glass books are aesthetic objects and represent a splendid achievement in interpreting the existence from new angle through in-depth consideration of the characteristics of objects, rather than being the sort of human creation which acquired cultural and historic value through long process of civilization.
"All objects in my two-dimensional works are blurry. And their detailed characteristics are left out. The objects in the painting conceal their trivial stories and experiences and are left where they are. Thus, the objects in the painting try to make their presence more clear. The characteristics of object are expressed more intensively and their trivial stories are liberated from the existence of object itself, making our ideas molded in the straightjacket of certain special prejudice, when more information about the object is available in detail."

- Hwang Seon-Tae, excerpted from the artist's notebook -

The procession of images and letters are concealing themselves in the environment which seems to be floating, being confined to the blurry milky-white box like polished glass. The extraordinary perception which is stimulated here provides new aesthetic experience to the audiences. That is reminiscent of the shock that one may experience when he or she finds something looks blurry all of sudden. This shock arising from failure in the perceptive organ causes the paradox that solidifies the presence of the objects in the painting though they are left where they are.
Here, we can eventually find that his works are associated with the phenomenological explanation about relationship between subject and object. His comment of the liberation from objects in the preceding phrase, namely his assertion for the escape from the special stereotype, is directly linked with such a phenomenological explanation.

Having lost its function, his glass book has the ontological status that cannot but put an added emphasis on the characteristics of body. His glass book is another body, a different body and solid body which cannot be read by leafing through the pages but only has to be looked at.

That represents a bold attempt to overthrow the concept of the book which is nothing but the reservoir of dead ideas and the deposit of civilization and culture, and constitutes a challenge against the meaning of museum which he expressed by using the glass cover case that is the symbol of museum.