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| Jung Myung-taek's "Maru" (2021), made up of Hanok (traditional Korean house) floorboards, steel and rubber, on display at The Page Gallery in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul / Courtesy of The Page Gallery |
By Park Han-sol
"Western architecture tends to raise walls to distinguish clearly between inner and outer spaces. But such boundary becomes unclear in Korea's traditional buildings as they are supported mainly by pillars. (The definition of inner or outer space can also be changed at will) by opening or closing the sliding doors," designer Jung Myung-taek writes in the artist's note.
This possibility of an ever-changing concept of space within the country's traditional architecture has inspired his works of natural "art furniture" for years, both in form and content.
His latest pieces that continue to explore the fundamental relationship between architectural objects and space are on display at his solo exhibition "Reinterpretations of Muwi: Resurgence of Hermitic Objects" at The Page Gallery in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul.
Jung is one of the pioneering figures when it comes to the concept of art furniture in Korea, which, as the name indicates, conceptually marries furniture's functionality with aesthetic beauty.
The main philosophical themes that the 50-year-old artist aims to reinterpret through his art furniture are absence of three states: activity ("muwi"), mind or desire ("mushim") and shape ("muhyung").
His works laying in silence represent the state of "muwi," which he defines as "the act of preserving quiet peace by going beyond my own judgment and diminishing the energy released from my body and mind." In other words, he concentrates on the natural, autogenous spirit that exudes from the object itself without forcefully intervening in the process with his human presence.
Jung's "Maru" is a series of benches made up of 140 wooden floorboards taken from Hanok, or traditional Korean houses, that can no longer serve their original function, while "Dumbung-jucho 2102" is a set of stools borne from the natural cornerstone that supports the house's building structure.
He minimizes his own self and consciousness from these works of furniture, instead leaving them to fill the energy of the space. Viewers, upon entering the gallery, can then hear the whispering spirits from these objects that withstood centuries of history.
The exhibition runs through Sept. 17 at The Page Gallery.
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| Installation view of the exhibition "Reinterpretations of Muwi: Resurgence of Hermitic Objects" / Courtesy of The Page Gallery |
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