There is white snow everywhere. This winter is different from other winters that were not like winter. A village with a snow-covered hill needs to have fairy tale-like dreams. There aren't many people who can enjoy the very essence of winter. In addition to the cold wave, the foot-and-mouth disease is leading to the suffering of farmhouses as well as many living things. What is more dreadful than the disease itself is the sentence made by people. People's values are based on rules of hygiene and capital. When faced with the possibility of loss, people sentence living things to death. This winter feels even colder with cleanup officials blocking roads and lime that covers the snowy roads like white snow.
Concise form
Along one of these roads is the sculpture studio of Baek Yun-gi. The original path to the studio cannot be used anymore as it is blocked by cleanup officials. Now, a longer route needs to be taken to reach the studio. There is an array of countless sculptures in his studio, filled with a cold breeze. The works embody a sense of warmth. Some of the works are familiar, but what is especially unique about the works that will be displayed at the upcoming exhibition is their conciseness. They are forms without any superfluity and poses that make the audience wear a slight smile. There is no need to engage in deep thought in front of the sculptures, trying to find out the truth about the world.
The standing children have their legs slightly crossed. They are facing down or looking back. Nobody is looking straight with a provocative look. They are like children and are cute, triggering a sense of desire to gently stroke them. One child who has his hands slightly hidden behind him is holding an apple. One can see that this shy child is about to give this apple as a gift to somebody he likes. This image will be remembered by the audience for a long time. The works are extremely concise, but they leave a deep impression. What is the power of the forms that moves one's emotions?
You may say that it is a unique aura that art has. They say we are living in an era of infinite reproduction where one cannot succeed with aura alone. However, it is clearly a virtue for the works of an artist to have a unique atmosphere. His works are engraved in our minds as comfortable forms that immediately come across our minds even after a brief encounter. If you think aura is an exaggeration, then let's say it is a unique feeling that one can't easily erase. What is it? As said by Wolfflin, 'relative clarity' is an appropriate answer. Wolfflin said that Renaissance art had absolute clarity while Baroque art had relative clarity. 'Relative clarity' is not something that is lacking but a factor that generates more passionate emotions. This is the strength of the works of Baek Yun-gi. The works are different from other works that are so clear that they fully expose what they seek to say. They lead us to memories that words cannot describe, and touch our emotions.
Expressions based on omission
What is omitted in these forms? The characters are not talking with their faces. Their eyes, nose, and lips do not clearly communicate their emotions. The muscles do not explain the pose. However, we read the expressions. There is a puppy with a large round face, but without the unique lines of an animal. But we can still read the tension and questioning expression. How can something that discarded clarity gain clear content?
The emotional reverberation of works in this era, where the general public has become tired of the strictness of modernism, is regarded as another lifeline of works. Emphasis on 'expression' rather than description is within this context. The 'philosophy of incidents' that is created by the resonance left behind by a work and its impact, rather than the completeness of the work, effectively explains this context. A work can have an entirely different meaning depending on what roles it plays and in what environment, thus going beyond its own meaning. The strictness of minimalism gave great strength to situational logic at the end of modernism. Likewise, art trends can no longer be defined as having one meaning. The same figure becomes different according to his roles and expressions. It is not surprising to see that a figure becomes a nobody when there are no roles or expressions.
Wit that makes us smile
The wit of Baek Yun-gi is not in the story. It is based on a quiet feeling, where one secretly looks back and wonders if the other will notice. There are many things hidden in the pose of the works that are not exposed at first sight. One discovers a frog or a snail only when he notices the end of the tail of a stretching cat or a child standing in a slightly twisted manner. There is also a horse that is stretching out her long neck and standing with great tension on her back. A slug has taken the place of the horse's mane. Another example is what looks like a twisted dog tail but is actually a frog. The works do not make us convulse with laughter, but deliver a sense of warmth, slightly placing a smile on our faces. They are truly reading the world with great strength.
The artist was once obsessed with reality. The uncompromising fierceness of the times led to great applause. This doesn't mean that the artist has lost his passion. We can see that he is reading the world with a healthier smile and more powerful works. No strong person resents the world. As Nietzsche once said, the sheep may curse the eagle, but the eagle never curses the sheep. The power of reading the world in a warm way… Yes, it is clearly power.
Winter will slowly come to an end. A greater number of people will remember the sculptures of Baek Yun-gi. The idiom that will be clearly communicated by this exhibition will make the world a warmer place.
Choi Hyeong-soon (Art critic)
