Korean minimalistic ink wash painter, Purume Hong received her MFA from National Taiwan Normal University and obtained her PhD in Art Therapy in South Korea. As an artist, she is skilled in interpreting the contemporary natural landscapes and urban scenes through minimalist and abstract images. Also, because of her study in art therapy, whenever she holds an exhibition, she also pays attention to how the visitors respond to artworks and how the artworks affect the viewers.

Hong's solo exhibition at MOCA Studio, is a combination of the aesthetics oriental ink wash painting and various sound and lighting elements usually used in contemporary media art. The two MOCA Studio galleries and its corridor embody the concept of duality, forming a harmonious comparison. Hong uses fragments and entirety, brightness and darkness, the vertical and horizontal, motion and serenity, auditory and olfactory effect to create dialogues between heterogeneous media. Through the intentional arrangement of viewing sequence and triggering different senses, audiences are inspired to discover and experience the changes of the situation and to further contemplate the meaning of Hong’s art.

The main visual of this exhibition is the expansion and variation of Shan-shui (mountain-water) in traditional ink wash painting. In the first gallery, Hong uses a close-up perspective and adds the sound of flowing water, wind and animation to delineate the visual tension of a waterfall in high mountains. The second gallery is relatively dark-toned. The horizontal distant landscapes, collocated with the sunrise/ sunset simulation and natural fragrance, create a poetic space of endless landscape where time passes slowly. Such confronting positions which gradually blend together express the artist's pursuit of ultimate harmony and the epistemology of a cosmos in perpetual dynamic equilibrium.

Walking through the carefully designed, rationally planned yet poetic landscapes created by Purume Hong, the visitors' senses, including visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and vestibular senses will be aroused, just like when we are situated in nature, multiple senses always function simultaneously.

*image(left)
Purume Hong 
Again in his light, 2011
ink on paper, 210X148cm
courtesy of the artist