Hong Offers New Perspective in Sidescape
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
As the only painter invited to participate in last year's SITE Santa Fe Biennale in New Mexico in the United States, Hong Soun attracted significant attention for his delicate paintings.
``Artists were seen like celebrities there. At the Biennale, I was the only painter, which was big news. People actually asked to take pictures with me. This is very different from the way I'm treated in Korea. Here, people hardly recognize me on the street,'' Hong told The Korea Times at Ssazmie Space, in Changjeong-dong, Mapo.
``Sidescape,'' his solo exhibition at Ssamzie Space, includes works he presented during the biennale, as well as new ones. The Santa Fe Biennale, the only international biennale in the United States, focused on showing experimental art organizations and selected artists in a bid to emphasize the art community's spirit.
Hong's oil paintings are mainly landscapes, but not of the typical scenic variety. With its muted tones, the paintings appear gently out-of-focus and incomplete, inspired by images he selected from thousands of news photographs from different Web sites, including Reuters and Yonhap News.
``There are millions of images to choose from, since over 1,000 new photos are uploaded every day on the Internet. What's unique about my work is that I only paint a small section from an image, hence the title of the exhibition, `Sidescape.' In choosing a section, I eliminate the section that is seen as the most vital, the most obvious part of the whole image. I try to focus on sections that are deemed less important, such as a small corner of a photograph. In doing so, I try to provide a perspective that deviates from the conventional,'' explained Hong.
Many of the original news photographs depicted war, accidents and terrorism, as well as fashion and culture, but Hong's paintings offer only fragments of these images. .
For example, a delicate landscape looks similar to a traditional Oriental painting, but it was actually taken from a photograph of war in Afghanistan. He eliminated the images of the soldiers, focusing only on the view of the mountains. The serenity of Hong's landscape is in direct contrast to the reality of war.
Hong only selects photographs taken by photojournalists, but aside from that, he doesn't have any select criteria in choosing photographs.
``If I did have such criterion, my paintings would be repetitive and become very dull over time. I definitely don't want that to happen. I just expose myself to new photos every day and try to find something new and unique in each of them,'' he said.
The 50-year-old artist does not necessarily believe the photojournalist's perspective is very objective. ``When the journalist takes news photos, he takes them according to his personal values and tastes. This is inevitable. However, the minute these photos are uploaded on the Internet, it no longer presents the private. All these personal elements are removed from the photo and it becomes representative of the public,'' he said.
Also shown at the exhibition is ``First Collection,'' featuring works by middle-school students from New Mexico and Hwasung City, Gyeonggi Province. Hong gave an art workshop in which students were asked to draw images based on his fragment paintings. In exchange for the students' art works, Hong gave them his paintings.
``I wanted it to be an occasion for the students to learn about art and possess my art works… I'd be happy if one student was inspired by that experience,'' he said.
``Sidescape" runs through March 15. To get there, get off at Sinchon Station, Subway Line 2, Exit 7. Take the 8 or 9 green bus and get off at Post Theater. Ssamzie Space is located behind the theater. Call (02) 3142-1693.