Exsculptor

Page 1



고백이라 하지만…

Though i am Confessing…

김종구

Kim Jongku


이 세상에서 가장 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까?


How can I Measure the Biggest and Smallest in the World?


백기를 들었어요


I am Holding the White Falg



Contents

8 Exsculptor 46 Lost Iron Bar Sculpture 1997 58 Steel Powder painting 136 Mobile Landscape 174 Grinding 190 Grinding Story 210 White sky 226 Photography Poongkyoung 258 Standing 274 C.V.



exsculptor


前 조각가 K씨

Ex sculptor Mr. K

李知垠 [작가]

Lee Zyeun [Writer]

Kim Jongku is an artist and associate professor of Ehwa Womans Univ.; however, naver(Korea’s No.1 search engine) says he is an ex sculptor and ex professor. At that time, I thought all I got was useless information, but, intriguingly, it unexpectedly reveals difficult truth about the artist. So, I titled this short story Ex sculptor Mr. K and am so pleased that naver gave me the false information.

前 조각가 K씨는 요즈음 개점휴업 중이다. 작품 생산이 활발하지 못해서가 아니라 너무 많은 생각들 때문에 그러하다. K씨는, 원래 자신은 유목민인데 정착을 하면서 간이 콩알만해져서 지금과 같은 상태에 이르렀다고 생각하고 있다. 을 했어요>라는, K씨는, 작품에서 자신의 감정을 배제하고 싶었기 때문에 < 행위에 초점이 맞춰진 작업을 해왔다. 그 중 가장 젊은이다운 패기로(혹은 어리석음으로) 매진했던 작업은 <통쇠를 깎았어요>일 것이다. <통쇠를 깎았어요>는, 설명이 필요 없이 명확한, 그러면서도 불가해한 아름다움을 지닌 작품이었다. 그런데 그는 예기치 않게 그 시리즈를 중단하게 되었다.

These days, Mr. K is in an inactive state. It’s not because of his poor productivity but because of his difficult, seemingly endless, sequestered struggling between his products and himself. By this time, he has done with Did sth series, such as Pooed and Carved out of a single piece of iron, Held the white flag…

작품에 개입하려는 감정은 통제할 수 있었지만 그 외의 것들은 그렇게 하지 못했기 때문이었다(그의 연약한 육체도, 뉴욕 P.S.-1에서의 생활도, 작품의 행방도…). 손가락 마디 하나를 잃고 그것도 모자라 <통쇠를 깎았어요> 세 점을 어이없이 도난 당한 K씨는 그 나머지들을 가지고 작업을 하기 시작한다. 쇳가루

Pooed was his graduation project for Seoul National Univ. At that time, he was so sick of interpreting the nature arbitrarily like deformation on sculpture, so wanted to shut emotions of the artist himself, focus on acting, and discover something beyond his imagination. He got to the point with this project. It was, nevertheless, an isolated case, so he decided to discontinue it. After he graduated Univ., he started to work on Carved out of a single piece of iron series which was full of young spirit and ambitions. The sculpture told its own story and it has impenetrable beauty which comes from the simple pleasure of labor. It seemed that his career as an artist had reached its highest potential with that series. However, an absurd episode changed the fate of Mr. K and his sculpture.

들은 그렇게 시작되었다. 쇳가루로 글씨를 쓰며 들었다 놨다 반복하는 퍼포먼스는, 화를 내지 않을 수 없고 그것을 여과 없이 보여주기에는 화를 내는 자신이 부끄럽고…… 그런 부조리한 상태에 놓인 K씨의

이다.

쇳가루로 글씨를 쓰면서 굳이 수직성을 탐내어, 쇳가루는 흘러내리고, 글씨를 쓰는 사람도, 읽는 사람도, 모두 어려워졌다. 그래서 사람들은 그가 무엇을 썼는지 묻는다. 그는 그것을 말하고 싶지 않아, 단지, “그것은 슬픈 이야기에요.”라고 말해왔다. 그런데 지금은 슬픈 이야기라고 말한 것이 부끄럽고, 심지어 ‘그것이 정말 슬픈 이야기였을까?’라는 생각마저 든다고 한다. 뭐라고 말했다 한들, 선택한 것과 그 나머지 것들 사이에서 혼란에 빠졌을 것이다. 작업을 하는 것도 마찬가지다. 그가 했던 작업이 지금의 그와 꼭 맞지 않는다고 느낀다고 해도, 그것은 그가 그것을 했기 때문에만 느낄 수

During the project, he injured his finger at New York P.S.-1 and he felt it was unsustainable. Nevertheless, Mr. K decided to make another attempt, devoted himself to the project once more, and made three pieces of Carved out of a single piece of iron in a dark and severe heat boiler room somewhere down in the UK. However, somebody took his pieces away from the sculpture garden where he was supposed to exhibit them. It was a very significant loss of the artist, so after the accident, he left to solitude. Then he decided to stop the project. It’s probably because he had his finger cut off or his young spirit was gone. At any rate, the project closed with its mysterious disappearance.

있는 것이다. 그렇기 때문에 K씨는 그러한 혼란을 작품을 통해서 해결하고자 하는 것이다. 그래서 그는 前作의 나머지로 작업을 시작한 것이다. 힘없고, 간이 콩알만하고, 그가 지닌 것이라고는 그의 연약한 육체와 모호한 사회적 지위(김종구를 네이버에서 검색하면, 前 조각가, 前 교수라고 나온다.)와

<통쇠를 깎았어요>의 잔해(쇳가루 120kg), 그리고 불확실한 기억뿐이다. 하지만 지금 그가 하고 있는 작업은 이상하게도 아름답다. 그것은 젊은 날 그가 했던 작업과는 다르다. 젊은 날의 작업이 더 좋다는 의미는 아니다. 그때는 간이 콩알만하지 않은 아름다움이 있었고 지금은 간이 콩알만하지만 간이 콩알만하지 않을 때는 없었던 다른 무언가가 있다.

K씨는 잃어버린

대신, 원하지 않았음에도 찾아온

He was so depressed and angry but tried to keep his temper under discipline in public. For a little while it seemed that it had worked. Yet, as time passed he couldn’t contain himself for anger, had to express it. Thus, he started to work with the rest of the stolen sculpture(When he lost his

으로 작업을 해 결국은

을 다시 마주한다. 지금은 상실한 것이기에 K씨는 이제야 그것이 무엇인지 알게 되었다. 통쇠를 깎은 것도, 백기를 든 것도, 쇳가루로

을 한 것도 모두

K씨이지만, 깎인 쇳덩어리도, 잘려나간 손가락도, 쇳가루 도 모두 K씨와는

10



前 조각가 K씨

Ex sculptor Mr. K

다른 운명을 지닌 독립된 존재로서 각자의 여행을 시작했고, 이제 K씨에게 남은

work, 120kg of iron shavings were left in the boiler room.), by emphasizing its absence, he wanted to show how important it was. Yes; that’s how it all started. Indeed, Iron shavings painting has such an interesting background. It’s a derivative of the loss, a form of death, and going back is life. He wrote calligraphy on canvas with iron shavings of the stolen piece, and presented it with vertical installation, so iron shavings had raced down, and the letters became very hard to read. Sometimes people ask him what all the letters mean. He never really answer the question, just says, “This is a sad story.” In time, the question was raised again, and he asked back himself, ‘Was it a sad story, indeed?’

일은 쇳가루 60kg(도난 당한 세 점의 <통쇠를 깎았어요>의 잔해 중 지금까지 절반 정도를 사용했다.)을 떠나보내는 것이다. K씨에게 그것을 소진해야 할 의무는 없지만 딱히 다른 할 일도 없고 해서, 이렇게 저렇게 남은 쇳가루를 떠나 보내고 있다. 그렇게 K씨는, 개점휴업 상태의 자신의 운명과 그가 떠나 보내고, 언젠가 다가올 또 다른 작품의 운명을 맞이하고 있다.

Saying conclusively is always precarious. It is risky because there is a lot of tension between what is said and what is not. However, by doing so, he could view himself objectively. Even we all don’t know exactly what it means, that does not matter. Above all, it’s a painting not calligraphy, so if people can’t read the letter, it successfully deliver a message as a painting. Furthermore, there is no fixed view and meaning. For that reason, Mr. K presents this object from various points of view. Sometimes, he takes it picture horizontally to show a very poetic landscape of small piles of iron shavings. Perhaps the only thing we can be sure of is change in this work. During this period, he felt he became a cowardly man and thought there’s a contradiction like a ‘nomad settlement’. He is not sure if he should continue this work, but despite the uncertainty, he won’t stop it until will use up all iron shavings(He has only used about half of it.). I cannot tell what may happen in this project. I can only tell that Iron shavings painting is very poetic and has an indescribable charm, yet, it contains unfiltered emotions of the artist himself.

12



Though i am Confessing — The Ball 85ⅹ107cm, digital print 2011


15


Steel Powder painting 810â…š520cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton 2011



<Though i am Confessing> installation view 2011



<Though i am Confessing> installation view 2011



Long Landscape installation view 2011

22



Long Landscape 1500â…š60cm, digital print (steel powder) 2011



<Though i am Confessing> installation view 2011



Fragment Landscape 210â…š80cm, digital print 2011



Though i am Confessing — The Ball 85ⅹ110cm, digital print 2011



<Though i am Confessing> installation view 2011


33


Though i am Confessing — The Ball 85ⅹ110cm, digital print 2011



<Though i am Confessing> installation view 2011



<Though i am Confessing> installation view 2011



<Though i am Confessing> installation view 2011




Steel Powder calligraphy variable size, steel powder, pv glue 2011


<Though i am Confessing> Steel Powder calligraphy installation view 2011

44


45



Lost Iron Bar Sculptor 1997


통 쇠 조각의 분실

Lost Iron Bar Sculpture 1997

쇠 깎는 행위가 더함에 따라 깎여진 쇳가루가 나의 노동 시간을 단위로 증명하듯

I encountered an unexpected surprise during a time of both physical and mental turmoil detailing the amount of my hard labour. The amount of shredded iron dust from the process of grinding iron was proof of my dedication. Unfortunately, I lost the three long iron sculpture pieces to theft while working at an outdoor exhibition named Sculpture Trail in a small city called Lewes in England.

육체와 상대적인 물질임을 경험하고 있을 즈음에 뜻밖의 일을 경험하게 된다. 영국의 조그만 도시 Lewes라는 곳에서 Sculpture Trail에 초대되어 야외 전시를 하는 도중 통쇠를 깎아서 만든 긴 쇠 작업 세 점(H: 310cm, H: 250cm, H:

270cm)을 잃어버렸다. 그 당시 아쉬운 마음으로 작업실에 돌아왔을 때, 작업실 바닥에 깎여져 있는 쇳가루들은 없어진 작품을 대신할 수 있는 그들의 분신으로 보였다. 작업실에 가라앉은 쇳가루들, 그 위의 나의 발자국과 작업중의 부산물들, 신발을 통해 영입된 먼지들, 담배꽁초, 휴지 등이 섞여 있는 쇳가루 방은 마치 전쟁의 포성이쇠를 깎을 때 나는 그라인더 마찰소리-사라진 장소와도 같았다. 잃어버린 작품을 대신하여 쇳가루를 열심히 쓸어모으고, 자석으로 여러 차례에 걸쳐 고르는 과정을 거친다. 그 행위를 통해 모아진 두 개의 덩어리, 즉 순수한 쇳가루 산과 나머지의 먼지 더미의 산은 나의 순수한 노동과 그 외적인 것으로 나누어진 것이다. 순수하게 골라진 쇳가루는 잃어버린 통 쇠 조각을 대신 하여 서예 형식을

When I returned to my workshop with much feelings of loss, I took notice of the scattered iron fillings on the floor. The fallen iron dust, my foot prints engraved on top them, the excess iron pieces, dust from the outside world, the cigarette butts and used tissues, they all structured the room. The room was much like a barren war field now empty of the noise of war—the sound of grinding iron—that once filled it. I took the effort to pile up the dust and to repeatedly filter out iron fillings from it by using a magnet. The two piles I created, one made up of pure iron fillings and the other of dust, were the materialization of my pure internal labour and external pressures.

빌려 글을 쓰게 되었고, 점차로 그 쇳가루라는 단순한 공업용 물질에서 정신적 가치를 부여하는 탈 물질로서 서예의 먹(墨 )이라는 재료와 일맥을 같이한다. 동시에 수직지향적 통 쇠로부터 쇳가루는 수평의 세계로의 전환을 의미하게 된다.

I began to write calligraphy using the pure iron fillings in replacement of the stolen iron sculpture pieces. The iron fillings became one in existence with a material called Muk—an Asian ink stick—in that the two materials evolved from being a simple industrial product to a manifestation of the human mind in the form of calligraphy. The iron fillings represent the conversion from a vertical state of the iron bar to a horizontal state.

Standing [right page] h: 180cm, ø: 63mm, solid steel bar 1997

48


49


vertical =+ horizontal Dieter Kunz [Artist]

Brick walls at the beginning of their decay, half painted white and around five meters high are forming the studio space of Jongku in the cellar. The water supply is leaking; water is partly covering the floors, constantly supplied by a dripping water tap. The little lakes start to move from one side of the studio to the other, unclear where they come from and where they are going. Water occurs everywhere and disappears somewhere at the same time on the floor of his studio. The moving water seems to build rivers in the landscape of dust and rubbish. (Parts of iron, tape, blue tag, newspapers.) The water crates little rivers, crossing the studio floor landscape. The sound produced by the dripping water tap is barely audible but it doesn’t stop. The little lakes and rivers are out of control for Jongku. There is no problem with this working space, his legendary Battersea Studio in London. Here we meet regularly and here we have the toughest discussions about art. Jongku, Richard, and me, three artists, three positions. The smell of damp bricks and earth fills the cellar. It is wet and could.

All of the dust and dirt was mixed up on the floor, covering tables, shelve, the pipes of the water supply, the cables and heating system. A thin layer of evidence of his activities a proof of what he produced and of what happened in his studio. In between still constantly changing paddles of water from that dripping water tap. Like rivers, lakes all dark, sometimes black, like oil or Chinese ink, the water mad its way into the swept rubbish cones in the corners or sometimes in the middle of his studio. Different processes, using different materials, different results and many types of refuse. Not really a control, a constant change and for sure, no break test! That is Jongku`s world here.

Jongku has a second room attached to the larger studio space. All both rooms are accessible by a narrow stairs. A high frequency terrible sound of steel being grinded comes from that small room. It is hard work to grind bars of a thickness of about 5 cm. Jongku is a sculptor. Steel sculptures are becoming realized, but, NO. He stopped talking about the upright placed shining polished sculptures that he produced in Korea before. Human figures wired and spanned between floors and ceilings. In his dark, damp and dusty studio the sculptures seem to have been reduced to a certain point or almost completely reduced to a shining line. Now today in London, Jongku talks about everything, but not about the polished steel bars. Richards insists, expecting an answer, Jongku similes. In the south of England, in the city of Lewes, he made a permanent installation, nearby the river, close to a mountain of white chalk rocks, the British coastline. Unfortunately the work was stolen and thrown into the river, lost forever. That was the last project with these thin human steel bars.

An Englishman run amok in a school in north England firing a gun, killing children and his pregnant wife, that was an the news this week. We are talking about this news. Jongku turns up with some shining iron balls from a bearing and attaches them on top of the last newspaper with horrible title story. He used magnet to keep the iron balls in position, his attempt to keep the newspaper upright and keep things stronger, as if he would like to rescue the situation. The collection of dust and rubbish on the floor became more and more complex. He started to place this evident of actions or working processes onto his studio desk. Using the magnets he is able to analyse the swept cones or small ‘mountains’ of rubbish, as if he would like to see the real thing, the sculpture, the object or just the sense of whatever is. The gravity of each grain of dust or iron filings makes it impossible to create a stable form. However “the mountains are extraordinary, they have no dimension as they could have any size”, Jongku explains. He started to take photos of the rubbish cones in a very high resolution, fixing the position of the dust grains somehow on a film and printing them on paper (without dimension, without time). We are going for a pint of beer now.

London, Battersea, November 1998 Now here in London he is using the whole space to carry out various investigations, he developed into someone else, may be similar to archaeological researchers he was sweeping up the iron filings in his working space. He stopped half the way down in the process of cleaning up.

50


51


How can I measure the biggest and smallest in the world? performing with steel powder 1999



How can I measure the biggest and smallest in the world? installation view 1999



Two Mountains 120â…š80cm, iris print (steel powder, dust) 1997


57



Steel Powder painting


인터뷰

Interview

예술당대 Art China #1, 2002 윤재갑 [전 아라리오 베이징 디렉터]

藝術當代 Art China #1, 2002 Yun Chea-gab [former Director, Beijing ARARIO]

이 세상에서 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까? 전지구적 차원에서 공시적이고 동시다발적으로 진행되는 탈물질화된 예술의 경향은 엄청난 속도로 순환되는 세계 자본과 디지털 테크놀로지의 발전에 기인한다. ’쇳가루’라는 독특한 매체와 디지털 이미지를 사용하여 물성적 아우라에서 탈피하여 포스트모던의 입장에서의 탈물질성을 추구하고 있는 한국 작가 김종구와의 대담이다. ‘이 세상에서 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까’의 화두를 잡고 오랜 노동의 시간으로서의 행위와 형상과 텍스트의 상호배리 혹은 바라보기를 통해 예기치 못한 심미적 공간성을 보여주고 있는 그의 작품 세계는

‘탈물질’로 대표되는 포스트모던의 입장과 시서화 일치의 동양의 예술이론에서 한 차원 진보한 그만의 변별된 창작의 가능성을 드러내고 있는 것이다.

1 탈물질 윤 최근 선생의 작품은 20세기 문명의 대표 물질인 ‘쇠’를 사용하여 그

How can I measure the biggest and the smallest in the world? The unprecedented rapid circulation of capital and digital technologies in contemporary society spawns a global trend of dematerialization in art. This discourse is based on the interview with a Korean cutting-edge artist, Jong-ku Kim, who pursues the dematerialization of art by using ‘steel filings’ and digital images. Kim’s peculiar employment of art media dismantles the aura of physical material and paves the way to concrete his post-modernistic stance. The irrationally juxtaposed images of laborious steel-filing activities, shapes, and texts are transformed into the illusion of wide-open space through a camera located right above the floor. Kim’s artworks follow the legacy of oriental literary artist painting that pursues harmony between painting and poetry. However, by adding non-materiality to his art-making process, Kim opens up the wide possibilities of plural interpretations. The artist tosses one ironical question; ‘How can I measure the biggest and the smallest in the world?’ This sentence holds a key to the proper appreciation of the artist.

물성을 극소화시키고 탈물질화하는 것이라 할 수 있습니다. 쇳덩이를 깎아서 나온 쇳가루를 가지고 텍스트를 생산해내고 있죠. 사실 텍스트란 것이 포스트모던의 입장에서 얘기하면 ‘작가는 죽었다’ 혹은 ‘작가가 쓰는 모든 텍스트는 차용이다’라고 말할 수 있습니다. 그 어떤 의미나 주제의 고유성을

1 Post-material

부정하고 있는 행위인 것이죠. 먼저, ‘쇠’라는 물질을 깎아내서 쇳가루를 만들고 고유의 물성을 극소화하여 탈물질화하는 행위와 그 쇳가루를 가지고 텍스트를 써나가는 일련의 작업에서 텍스트의 의미는 무엇입니까? 김 나에게 있어 쇳가루는 공업용 통쇠에서 깎여져 나간 가루입니다. 쇳가루를 깎는다는 행위 자체는 텍스트를 전제하고 있지는 않습니다. 보통 텍스트화된 예술의 세계와는 다르다는 것입니다. 공업용 통쇠를 깎아서 내린 쇳가루를 모아 텍스트를 쓴다는 행위 자체가 중요한 것입니다. 이것의 전제가 되는 것은 ‘오랜 시간 쇠를 깎았다’라는 노동과 행위의

Yun From the post-modernistic point of view, we can say, ‘Artists are dead.’ or ‘Every text is the mere adoption of another.’ Any definition and originality is refused here. Your recent works of art seem to be focusing on the process of dematerialization by filing steel, the material considered as the symbol of 21st century civilization. First, you minimize the materiality of steel by grinding, and create the text with steel filings. What is the meaning of the text throughout the whole process of your art making?

시간들에 더 의미가 있습니다. 텍스트 작업을 시작한 것은 98년부터인데, 수년 동안(93년부터 통쇠를 깎기 시작했습니다) 쇳가루를 깎으면서 느꼈던 경험 속에 녹아있는 생각들을 일기를 쓰듯 텍스트로 옮긴 것입니다. 쇳가루를 갈아내는 작업은 시끄러운 공간, 밀폐된 공간 속에서 이루어지는 행위이지요. 산소마스크를 쓰고, 주위에 신경 쓰지 않고 갈아내는 행위만 있을 뿐입니다. 여기에서 제 개인의 감정이 섞이진 않습니다. 19세기 말에서 20세기 모더니즘 조각의 정의에서 벗어나 제 스스로가 주관자가 되지 않고 빠져나가고 싶었습니다. 감정을 배제하겠다는 의미에서 강한 통쇠를 깎는다는 것은 단순한 행위일 뿐입니다. 행위를 중시 여기면서 느껴진 것은 ‘무엇을 할 것인가’의 의문을 제시하는 것이고, 이런 과정을 통해서 ‘이 세상에서 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까’라는 화두를 던지게 된 것입니다. ‘큰 것’과 ‘작은 것’ 이쪽과

Kim My steel filings are the result of laboriously grinded industrial steel. Filing activity itself doesn’t assume any text. My work is far different from text-oriented artworks. What is most count in my work is intangible element such as action or labor. The text and some pile of steel filings speak more than their physical occupation in the space. They are some kinds of mediums to insinuate required time and labor to grind huge steel. I started steel filing work in 1993 and the text-employed work in 1998. The text used in my work is a sort of diary that portrays the feelings and thoughts that I felt during the backbreaking grinding work in noisy and sealed space. There was no personal feeling. There only existed a

60


Steel Powder painting installation view 2005


Interview 藝術當代 Art China #1, 2002

인터뷰 예술당대 Art China #1, 2002

저쪽에 있어서의 간극을 ‘어떻게’ 할 것인가를 텍스트로 차용하고 있다고 할 수 있겠습니다.

2 형상과 텍스트의 긴장 윤 당신의 작업은 모더니즘이 갖는 물성적 유일성에서 탈피하고 비물질적

masked man who immersed himself to the monotonous grinding job. I wanted to escape from the criteria of modernist sculpture by giving up my inherited right to judge, define, and name the result of my behavior. After realizing the importance of the behavior itself, I began to think of what to do. Finally, I came up with ‘How can I measure the biggest and the smallest in the world?’ The question of how to deal with the gap between ‘the biggest’ and ‘the smallest’ is the kernel of the text.

재료로서의 탈물질성을 추구합니다. 그 과정에서 작가의 의도를 부정한 채 끊임없는 오랜 노동에 의한 행위와 그것이 작품으로 남겨진 것 사이에 시간성과 공간성의 긴장관계가 성립되고 있는 것처럼 보여집니다. 이것은 또한 형상과

2 The Tension Between Image and Text

텍스트의 긴장 혹은 대립으로도 기술 될 수 있는데요. 수평으로 바닥에 쓰여진 텍스트와 그것이 수직으로 CC카메라에 반영되어 하나의 형상이 됩니다. 작품에서 드러나는 형상은 ‘쇠’라는 물질적 전제요소와의 연관 관계가 끊어진 이미지(형상)이며, 텍스트는 쇳가루를 쓸어보아 쓴 글씨 혹은 흔적들이지요. 노동의 행위와 그 결과물이 시간과 공간을 축으로 하여 수평과 수직으로 치환되어 텍스트와 이미지로 공존 혹은 대립되고 있는 것으로 보여집니다. 김 이 세상에서 잴 수 있는 도구는 시간과 공간이고, 기본 단위 그래프는 수직과 수평의 좌표입니다. 사실 제 작업의 화두는 해답을 할 수 없는 우문일 수 있습니다. 큰 것과 작은 것을 재는 물음의 시작은 수직입니다. 이 땅을 밟고 서 있다는 내 존재 자체가 큰 것과 작은 것을 재는 기준이지요. 또한 ‘깎는다’는 행위는 수직의 얘기입니다. 그리고 수평은 시간의 얘기입니다. 행위를 요구하는 강한 통쇠에서 깎여져 바닥에 내린 쇳가루의 양은 행위자의 절대시간을

Yun Your work appears to refuse the materialistic originality of modernism and pursue the dematerialized art material. During the grinding work, you even negate your own intention and just leave piles of steel filings. This negation of yourself and dedication to the work seems to create tension between time and space. This can be reiterated as tension or clash between figurative elements and the text. The text on the horizontal space is vertically reflected on the camera near the floor. The picture on the screen shows the image of ‘steel filings’, but it has nothing to do with ‘real steel filings’ of tangible quality. The text on the floor is a gathering of steel filings. By time and space axis, the labor and its result seem to be interchanged into the state that text and image can both coexist and conflict at once.

증명하지요. 많은 노동을 투자하고, 힘을 들인 것이 내려가서 펴진 것입니다. 쇳가루를 쓸어 모으고, 글자를 쓰고 지운 흔적은 일상의 눈높이에서 벗어난 바닥의 시점인 CC카메라를 통해 일부부이 클로즈업되어 형상으로 반영되고 있습니다. 이것은 ‘거대한 존재와의 대면’이지요. 쓸어 모아진 쇳가루들은 산이 되고 강이 되고 때로는 글씨가 되어 의미를 던집니다. 그러나 그 의미는 제가 의도한 의미가 아니죠. 특히 스크린의 화면은 고요하고 신비한 심상의 풍경이 되고, 가상의 자연이 되며, 이미지가 저에게 던지는 미시적 환상의 세계로 바뀌는 것 같습니다. ▶ p. 138

Kim The concept of time and space is the only criterion to measure this world. We can think of the coordinate that consists of the ordinate and the abscissa. The ordinate is the origin of the question about measuring big or small things in the world. Standing man on the ground is the first criterion to measure the size of the world. In addition, the act of ‘filing’ should be understood on the ordinate. On the other hand, the abscissa is about time. The amount of steel filings on the floor speaks loudly of the absolute time that I spent in grinding steel. Panoramic images of gathering steel filings, writing the text and erasing, it are reflected on the ground level camera, which provide a spectator with unreal visual experience. It is ‘the encounter with the gigantic being’. Close-up images of steel filings become mountains, rivers, and words. These images have their own meanings. However, I’ve never intended to give them any definition. Images on the screen, becoming a mystically tranquil landscape and virtually created nature, give me a gate to fantasy world I’ve dreamed. ▶ p. 138

62


performing of calligraphy on Steel Powder painting steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2010


시대의 종합예술

The Total Artwork of the Times

이수균 [대구미술관 학예연구실장]

Lee SooGuyn [Chif Curator, DaeGu Art Museum]

김종구의 조각과 회화 사진의 종합예술 앞에서 문득 파리의 에펠탑이 생각나고

Kim Jongku’s total art involving sculpture, painting, and photograph reminds me of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and then, makes me feel pathetic and alone as if it belongs to a quite different age. The towel was designed and constructed by Alexander-Gustave Eiffel for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889. This 312 meters high steel structure came to be recognized a total artwork that combined high architectural technology and dynamic beauty. Its magnificence and solemnity, and its intelligent and geometrical structure that represented human imagination capable of extending to the infinite were enough to make it a symbol of the new age to come. Soon, cities all over the world began to emulate this monumental landmark and competitively con dehumanization, Kim’s steel structures are now showing themselves with an entirely different look. Steel pillars which supported solid geometrical structures are pulverized into powders and accumulate to form deposits, only to become raw materials for the primeval landscape untrodden by human civilization. Like solitary, detached giants, they are standing majestically before the very fruitlessness of civilization that has been built up by man, and sympathize with the infinity of the pristineness surrounding them.

그와 함께 격세지감의 처연한 감정이 스산하게 가슴을 쓸고 지나간다. 에펠탑은

1889년 만국박람회를 기념하여 에펠에 의해 설계 제작되었다. 312m의 철골 구조물로 첨단의 건축기술과 역학적 조형미가 결합된 종합 예술로 인정을 받게 되었다. 그 웅장함과 장엄함, 그리고 무한히 뻗어나가는 인간의 창조력을 재현한 지적이고 기학학적인 구조는 이 구조물을 앞으로 도래할 새로운 시기의 상징물로 만들었다. 그리고 전 세계의 도시들은 앞 다투어 에펠탑을 닮은 구조물들을 만들어내고 높고 실용적이며 산뜻한 현대식 건축물들을 만들어내는 경쟁을 시작하였다. 그러나 도시화, 산업화, 공업화, 비인간화로 특징되는 지난 세기가 지나자 김종구의 철골 구조물은 완연히 반대의 모습으로 우리에게 다가온다. 단단한 기하학적 구조물의 지주였던 철기둥은 분쇄되고 가루가 되어 퇴적물처럼 쌓이면서 철기 이전, 인간의 문명이 개입하기 이전의 원시 상태의 풍경으로 되돌아가기 위한 원재료가 된다. 그리고 인간은 자신이 쌓아왔던 그 문명의 덧없음 앞에서 외롭고 초련한 거인처럼 우뚝 서서 자신을 둘러싼 태고의 무한과 교감한다. 김종구의 조각과 풍경 속에는 역사와 이야기 그리고 인간이 살아 있다. 그것은 시대에 대한 냉철한 통찰이기도 하면서 문명에 대한 인간적인 신화의 재발견이기도 하다. 그리고 다가올 새로운 시대에 대한 예언이기도 하다. 즉 프로메테우스적인 인간은 불과 철을 사용하여 자연을 정복하였다. 그러나 이제 다시 태어난 인간은 프로메테우스적인 노동의 인간이 아니라 빛과 전파의 날개를 단 이미지와 정보의 인간임을 암시한다. 어린 시절 자석을 가지고 온 마당을 뒤져 모은 쇳가루를 가지고 종이 위에 여러 가지 형상을 그리던 그 글쓰기의 흥분과 창조의 본능이 작가의 쇳가루 제작과 글쓰기 속에 녹아들어 있으며, 그것은 다시 한 차원 성숙한 이미지 시대의 퍼포먼스로 승화하여 개념적이고 형이상학적인 빛의 이미지로 탈바꿈한다. 따라서 김종구의 예술 속에는 개인과 인류의 모든 시기와 세대가 함께 어우러져 있다. 매체의 종합예술이면서 시대의 종합예술이라고 할 만하다.

2 Kim’s sculptures and landscapes are always filled with live and breathing humans, histories, and narratives. They not only provide a sobering insight into the times but a rediscovery of the anthropocentric myth about civilization. Or rather, theses pieces themselves are a prophecy about the new age. In other words, Kim suggests that though the Promethean man of the past conquered nature using fire and iron, the newly born human beings are no longer the man of labor like the ancient Greek Titan but that of image and information with the wings of light and electric waves. The excitement and artistic instinct which led a little boy to search all over the garden to collect iron powders with a magnet and create various forms with them on paper are too embedded in the artist’s iron power works and writing. And once again, they are enhanced to the performance of this age of image, and then, transform into the ideological and metaphysical image of light. In this way, his art takes roots in all ages and generations of each individual and of humankind in general. This is why it truly deserves to be called the total artwork of the media, the total artwork of the times.

64


Mobile Landscape [top] variable size, steel powder, cc camera, monitor, light ball 2002 [bottom] partial view

65


Steel Powder painting 480ⅹ240ⅹ6cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2006



Steel Powder painting 662ⅹ235ⅹ6cm, 168ⅹ235ⅹ6cm, 58ⅹ235ⅹ6cm, 366ⅹ235ⅹ6cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2006



Steel Powder painting 662ⅹ235ⅹ6cm, 168ⅹ235ⅹ6cm, 558ⅹ235ⅹ6cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2006



Steel Powder painting partial view 2006


73


Steel Powder painting installation view 2006



Steel Powder painting 720ⅹ320cm, 400ⅹ70cm, ø: 140mm steel bar, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2006



Steel Powder painting installation view 2006



Steel Powder painting installation view 2006

80


81


Steel Powder painting partial view 2006


83


Steel Powder painting 610ⅹ240ⅹ16cm, 190ⅹ50ⅹ16cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2007



Steel Powder painting 190ⅹ50ⅹ16cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2007



Steel Powder painting 190â…š50cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, installation view 2007



Steel Powder painting & Mobile Landscape installation view 2007

90


91


Steel Powder painting partial view 2005



Steel Powder painting [left page] partial view 2005 Steel Powder painting [right page] 120â…š700â…š6cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame 2005

94



Steel Powder painting [left page] working on a steel powder painting Spencer Museum of Art 2010 [right page] a close-up view of steel powder painting process with steel powder

96


97


Steel Powder painting processing view Spencer Museum of Art 2010



Steel Powder painting 1300â…š240cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame Spencer Museum of Art 2010



Steel Powder painting 1300â…š240cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame Spencer Museum of Art 2010


SPELLING OUT A LANDSCAPE

In his canvases, Kim Jongku employs the same charcoal-like powder he uses for drawing on a paper. The canvases, being two dimensional, resemble the look of Mobile Landscape’s calligraphic floor composition; like it, the canvases are at first composed on the floor. Kim completed three large canvases during his two-week stay in Kansas; ostensibly these form a triptych, though all three do not share the same wall in this exhibition. For these and similar pieces, Kim draws a line of calligraphy in the canvases’ upper region. Then, a canvas may be gently raised to cause a portion of the powder to cascade downward as if the writing casts a shadow. In order to have paint, both a pigment and binder are needed. Kim’s steel powder “pigment” is bound to the canvas by flooding the areas thick with powder drawing with diluted polymer glue while the canvas is laid flat. Later, the tableau is propped vertically against a wall. Through use of watery glue applied with a spray bottle and/or addition of more powder, the “shadow” of the text is extended downward with gravity’s help. Like rust stains on outdoor walls created through time and weather, this method evokes the sadness of great weeping or the washing away of spilled blood long since bright red. With wetting, once think and black dust turns rich and varied in color, and a crust coagulates the masses exaggerating the texture. We weren’t sure if the artist intended for viewers to walk through the filings on the floor so we just stood and admired...and watched our feet being projected on the screen above.


Mobile Landscape performance view 2010


We weren’t sure if the artist intended for viewers to walk through the filings on the floor so we just stood and admired...and watched our feet being projected on the screen above.


Steel Powder painting variable size, steel powder, pv glue, cotton 2005



108


Steel Powder painting 1000â…š50cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, monitor 2005

109


Floating Steel Powder painting installation view Grand Jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006



112


Floating Steel Powder painting installation view Grand Jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006



Floating Steel Powder painting installation view Grand Jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006


Steel Powder painting installation view Grand jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006

116


117


Steel Powder painting 130ⅹ200cm, 115ⅹ230cm, 90ⅹ220cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, wooden frame installation view Grand jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006


119



Steel Powder painting 120ⅹ270cm, 115ⅹ270cm, 130ⅹ270cm, steel powder, pv glue, cotton, installation view Grand jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006


Steel Powder painting installation view Grand jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006

122



124


Steel Powder painting installation view Grand jirdin Museum, Jionville, France 2006

125


126


127


Steel Powder painting-Saehando 600â…š270cm, steel powder, roll paper 2005

128


129


Steel Powder painting-Saehando [top: detail] 600â…š270cm, steel powder, roll paper 2005 Saehando [bottom] by Korea Master Kim Jung Hee 1844

130


131


Floating Steel Powder painting [detail] 1400â…š120cm, steel powder, pv glue, paper, wooden frame Loire River, France 2003

132


133



Floating Steel Powder painting 1400â…š120cm, steel powder, pv glue, paper, wooden frame Loire River, France 2003



Mobile Landscape


p. 62 ▶

인터뷰

Interview

예술당대 Art China #1, 2002 윤재갑 [전 아라리오 베이징 디렉터]

藝術當代 Art China #1, 2002 Yun Cheagab [former Director, Beijing ARARIO]

3 작가의 죽음 - 형상, 텍스트, 개입자

3 Death of Artist: Image, Text and Spectator

윤 그렇다면 여기서 재밌는 점이 발견됩니다. 작가는 쇳가루를 깎는 행위를

Yun You emphasized on the act of steel filing itself, and refused to interpret the text from your point of view. This means forsaking the sight from the height of human being, and the employment of camera in stead. Your subjective awareness seems to be excluded and even leaves no sign of labor. The text on the floor and the images in the camera make very heterogeneous space. From the image of steel filing in sealed space in your early work, your work evolved to new form of text and figurative element. I think we need to deepen our discussion regarding text, image, and spectator.

강조하고 있고, 그 행위의 과정에서 생산해 낸 텍스트를 작가 주관의 관점에서 보여주기를 거부하고 있습니다. 즉 인체 사이즈의 눈높이에서 보는 텍스트와 형상이 아닌 CC카메라를 끌여들여 바닥의 시점으로 텍스트를 바라보도록 장치하고 있다는 얘기죠. 이것은 작가의 주관성이 배제되고 작품에서 이탈하여 작가의 행위마저 빠진 느낌이 듭니다. 바닥에 쓰여진 텍스트와 CC카메라에 반영된 형상은 전혀 이질적인 새로운 공간을 창출하고 있는 셈이죠. 선생의 초기 작업에서 통쇠를 깎는 과정을 밀폐된 공간에서 바라보게 한 것에서 출발하여 최근의 작업은 텍스트와 형상만이 남게되는 작업으로 진행되는 것으로 보여지는데, 형상과 텍스트, 그리고 개입자의 문제에 대해 얘기를 해 보죠. 김 지난해 개인전 전시 중에 밀폐된 방에서 295kg의 쇳덩이와 마주치게 되었을 때 그것은 나에게 거대한 존재와의 한판 승부 같은 일이었습니다. 27일에 걸친 쇠깎기는 하루 5시간씩의 노동에 의해 치열한 자국이 남은 175kg의 쇳덩이가 되었고, 많은 양의 쇳가루들은 먼지처럼 공간 속을 부유하고 모두 바닥에 가라앉았습니다. 밀폐공간에서 쇠를 깎는 행위, 즉 매우 액티비티(시끄러운)한 단순한 행위에 의해 바닥에 내려앉는 쇠가루는 바닥에 설치된 CC카메라의 눈으로 밖의 벽면의 모니터에는 수평의 풍경을 연출하지요. 저는 현실적인 쇠를 깎는 행위만을 하고 있습니다. 그러나 제 3의 눈(수평바닥에 설치된

CC카메라)에 의해 형상을 만들고 있지요. 저는 깍여진 쇳가루를 쓸어 모아 텍스트를 썼습니다. 이때 또한 수평의 Spectator가 저의 행위를 쳐다보며 형상을 표현하고 있지요. 바닥의 시점(수평시점)에서 CC카메라가 나의 행위와 쓰여진 텍스트의 일부를 보는 것으로 나의 눈이 아닌 전혀 다른 눈으로 그 텍스트를 읽고 있습니다. 그것은 광활한 심미적 이미지입니다. 그러한 풍경은 물질로서 그려진 것이 아니고(저는 현실적으로 글씨만 썼을 뿐입니다.) 그러기에 만질 수 없는 그림인 셈입니다. 나를 주시하는 제 3의

Kim When I encountered 295kg steel in a sealed room during an exhibition of last year, it was like confrontation against great being. 5-hour daily steel grinding work lasted for 27days. This fierce and strenuous cutting reduced the huge being into 175kg mass. Great amount of steel filings in the air gradually sink to the bottom. Steel grinding activity in sealed space generates steel filings on the floor where an installed CC camera (Cash Check Camera) fabricates horizontal landscape on the outside of the wall. I just grind the steel in front of me. However, ‘the third eye (the installed camera on the floor)’ produces images that I’ve never intended to. Even when I write the text with gathered steel filings, ‘the third eye’watches my performance and regenerates images on the screen. Since the viewpoint of the camera is paralleled with the floor, the image of my activities and the text are exaggeratedly enlarged. This landscape is not material, touchable, and concrete. It is a momentary and intangible image. The camera, ‘the third eye’, and a spectator erase my subjective being.

관객(spectator)에 의해 나 자신은 빠져버리는 것입니다. 윤 제가 보기에 작가와 작품 사이에는 두 개의 타자, 즉 개입자가 등장합니다. 그것은 CC카메라와 관객인데요. CC카메라는 작가의 관점이 아닌 수평, 바닥의 시점에서 거리를 두고 응시하는 제1의 개입자입니다. CC카메라는 물질을 탈 물질화시키고 실제의 거리와 크기를 확대시켜 거대한 풍경을 만들어냅니다. 미시적인 것과 거시적인 것이 공존하는 심미적 공간을 구축하는 매개자인 셈이죠. 작가는 ‘깎는다’ ‘쓸어모으다’ ‘보다’의 행위만을 남긴 채 작품 속에 작가는 없습니다. 작가가 보는 관점은 현실에만 있고 그 너머의 상상과 가상의 눈은 CC카메라의 시점인 것입니다. 실제로 이 세상에서 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있는가의 물음을 던지고 찾으려 하지만, 큰 것과 작은 것을 혼돈하는 개입자에 의해 그 상상의 증폭은 더욱 커지고 있는 것이죠.

Yun In my opinion, there are two meddlers between you and your work. They are a CC camera and spectators. The camera is the first meddler to dematerialize physical material and create huge landscape by shooting close-up shots. The camera is a mediator between microscopic image and macroscopic image. Your work seems to be divided into three stages; ‘filing’, ‘gathering’, and ‘peering’. I think the most important element of ‘filing’ is time and labor. They are intangible elements. In the ‘gathering’ stage, you actually start to make physically touchable pieces of art. During this period, the basic structure and direction are determined. Lastly, in the ‘peering’ phase, you succeed in entering the realm of postmaterial through a camera. Therefore, ‘filing’, ‘gathering’, and ‘peering’

138



Interview 藝術當代 Art China #1, 2002

인터뷰 예술당대 Art China #1, 2002

만질 수 없는 그림의 스크린 속에 또 다른 개입자가 침입합니다. 수평에 놓아진 텍스트가 수직의 스크린에 이미지로 떠오릅니다. 그 작품 속으로 관객이 들어와

can respectively match with meditative space, material space, and postmaterial space.

이미지를 덮어 버리기도 하고 혹은 또 다른 이미지로 간섭되기도 하는 것이죠. 작품 내에서의 텍스트와 형상은 수직과 수평으로 나뉘지만 관객의 그림자의 간섭으로 인해 그 긴장이 와해되기도 하고 관계가 이어지고 하는 새로운 형상이 생성되는 것이기도 합니다.

4 시서화의 상호배리와 바라보기 윤 당신의 쇳가루 그림 혹은 글씨는 표의문자로 대표되는 한자문화권의

calligraphy와 비교할 수 있을 것 같습니다. 동양에서는 시서화가 일치됩니다. ‘시(詩)’와 ‘서(書)’는 ‘의미’이며 ‘화(畵)’는 형상입니다. ‘시’와 ‘서’를 설명하는 것이 ‘화’인 셈이고, 의미와 형상이 공존하는 것이지요. 이런 동양의 예술 이론을 바탕으로 당신의 작품을 해석하다면 그 공통점과 차이점이 있을 것 같습니다. 동양의 회화가 먹이란 재료를 쓴 것이라면 당신은 쇠를 재료로 글을 쓰고

4 Irrational Juxtaposition of Literary Artist Painting (文人畵) & Peering

Yun Your painting or words with steel filings can be compared with the calligraphy of pictographs. In oriental culture, the harmony among poetry, calligraphy, and painting is very important. ‘Poetry(詩)’ and ‘calligraphy(書)’ contain meanings while ‘painting(畵)’ holds shape. ‘Painting’ also explains ‘poetry’ and ‘calligraphy’, and vice versa. Meaning and image coexist in literary artist painting. I think if we interpret your works of art based on this oriental art theory, we can easily analyze similarity and difference between two parts. While oriental painting uses Chinese ink you appropriate steel to draw the calligraphic text.

있습니다. 김 쇠를 깎는 과정은 먹물을 얻는 과정에 비유할 수 있습니다. 글과 그림을 그리기 위해 그 재료를 얻는 과정은 결과를 도출하기 위한 정신적 산물로 화(化)하게 하는 준비작업이라 할 수 있습니다.. 쇳가루라는 물질을 깎고 모아 쓴 텍스트는 어쩌면 동양의 예술정신, 즉 물질을 정신성으로 표현하는데 가장 적절하게 이용하였던 전통과 상통하는 부분이 아닐까 합니다. 동양의 시, 서, 화 즉 그림을 그리고 그 그림의 여백에 글을 남기어 그림의 의미들을 보다 극대화한다고 말할 수 있지요. 나의 쇳가루 작업 또한 글을 쓰고(이 세상에서 가장 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까?) 그 글씨를 통해 글의 의미와 부합되는 그림을 연출하지요. ‘이 세상에서 가장 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까?’ 라는 질문에 답을 하듯 그림은 광활한 공간을 연출합니다. 나는 일차적으로 3m ×

4m 바닥공간 쇳가루로 글을 썼습니다. 이는 현실적인 행위입니다. 이에 반하여 글씨에 의해 연출되는 그림은 4km × 5km 공간의 느낌을 보여 주고 있지요. 대형 스크린 연출되는 그림은 인간의 보편한 시점(life size view)에서 벗어난 인간에게 익숙하지 않은 낮은 시점 (수평의 시점)으로 보여짐으로서 그것들은 현실적인 그림이 아닌 보다 심미적인 공간을 연출하지요. 거리로서의 깊이에 대한 ‘멀리보기’입니다. ‘시’와 ‘서’에 의해 만들어진 刊 ‘형상’인 ‘화’는 스크린에 투사되어 만질 수 없는 그림이며 물질로서 볼 수 없는 그림입니다. 벽에 걸 수 없는 그림이며 이동할 수 없는 그림이란 뜻이죠. 이러한 일시성은 현실적인 공간이 아닌 심리적인 공간을 연출하는 원동력이 됩니다. 제 작품의 화두인 ‘이 세상에서 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까’ 라는 글은 문장의 단어적 의미뿐만 아니라 ‘이’ ‘세상’,‘잴’ 글자 하나 하나 즉 개체 또한 중요합니다. 쓴 글씨 하나 혹은 두 글자, 세 글자를 쓸어 모아 쇳가루를 뭉치면 미세한 쇳가루의 알갱이가

Kim The process of making steel filings can be compared to that of producing Chinese ink. This process to get art materials is a sacred road to meditate, question, and appreciate the meaning of creating art before actually working on it. Since steel filings require tireless patience and long meditative time, the text made of them seems to best explore the spirit of oriental art. In literary artist painting, poetry and calligraphy are added to maximize the meaning of painting. My steel filings are also gathered to create the sentence, ‘How can I measure the biggest and the smallest in the world?’ This sentence steers the direction of my painting. Answering the text, ‘How can I measure the biggest and the smallest in the world?’ the image on the screen generates wide-open space. Firstly, I draw with steel filings on the 3mX4m square. It is a real action in real space. However, the image on the screen makes that small space look like the 4kmX5km square. Absurdly enlarged images on the screen are off from the common viewpoint of human being. They are the results of ‘ground level viewpoint’ from a camera installed above the floor. You can encounter the concept of the relative depth and distance within the same space. I would like to call this theory ‘Distancing View’; the lower the height and the more limited our visual field, the deeper the distance becomes. However, it should maintain overlapped images to maximize the effect. Human spatial awareness is inclined to exaggerate the size and amount, when it meets incalculable and vague objects. Projected image can’t be hung on the wall, because it is intangible and non-material

140


Mobile Landscape Variable Size, Steel Powder, CC Camera, LCD Projector, Roll Paper, Screen, 2005


Interview 藝術當代 Art China #1, 2002

인터뷰 예술당대 Art China #1, 2002

하나의 큰 구가됩니다.

painting. This ephemeral quality of the image is a major catalyst to create emotional space instead of realistic one. Besides the literal meaning of ‘How can I measure the biggest and the smallest in the world?’ each word like ‘How’, ‘biggest’, and ‘world’ has its own value. I put together one or more words and make ball-like lumps. Incalculable fine grains of steel filings are transformed into sphere-like masses that have their own weight and significance in space.

윤 단순히 ‘먹’과 ‘쇳가루’라는 재료적 측면 뿐만 아니라 정신성과 물질성이공존하며 시서화의 일치라는 동양의 예술론에서 벗어난 시서화의 상호배리 혹은 시, 서의 의미가 미끄러져 전혀 새로운 형상이 되는 점을 발견하게 됩니다. 전통 수묵화의 경우 풍경은 첩첩 산중의 중첩된 거리가 실재를 더욱 실재처럼 보이게 하는 공간성을 드러내는 것이라면 당신의 스크린 이미지 속의 풍경은 바닥에 놓인 쇳가루의 간격을 수평적 시점을 통해 무한하게 확장시킴으로써 엄청난 공간의 확장을 보이고 있습니다. 텍스트의 의미가 단어적 의미가 아닌 해체적 의미의 시와 서가 되어 움직입니다. 쇳가루라는 물질은 비물질적 요소로 환원되어 고유한 정신성을 낳게 하고, 의미와 형상은 미끄러져 긴장과 분리를 계속하면서 미지의 가상의 현실을 창조하고 있다고 하겠습니다.

Yun Not to speak of materialistic aspect of ‘Chinese ink’ and ‘steel filings’, cherishing spirituality and materiality together, your works of art seem to evade the principle of literary artist painting. Irrationally juxtaposed ‘poetry’, ‘calligraphy’, and ‘painting’ create new images on your screen. While traditional landscape painting seeks its realistic effect by depicting overlapped mountains, your work makes exaggerated reality by shooting miniature-size steel mountains from ‘ground level perspective’. The meaning of the text is lost and dismantled in your work. Only your dematerialized steel filings and their innate spiritualities are absorbed into space and keep creating virtual reality where tension, separation, and fusion between material and post-material coexist.

142


Mobile Landscape Variable Size, Steel Powder, CC Camera, LCD Projector, Roll Paper, Screen, 2005


â–ś

Artist Statement Kim Jongku

Landscape: microscopic cosmos and horizontal point of view My work develops around two forces of ongoing interest. On the one hand it starts with grinding solid steel and giving shape to a vertical form (or object). On the other hand, my interest is born from the concern over the trace of steel powder that has been accumulated on the ground during this process. The crossing point of this interest is a space where a verticality (world of objects) meets a horizontal world of non-objects. This passage also implies a process of transformation from an objective world of objects into a subjective realm of imagination, or in other words, from reality to the imaginary. The layer of steel powder sitting on the ground, pushed around sometimes by my footsteps and sometimes by the movement of the floor sweeper, eventually takes the form of hills of various heights (never very high!). These in turn have induced me to surrender my everyday perspective by inviting me to lower the level of my eye-line to the horizon of the floor, and thus is born a world where the horizontal gaze reigns. The CC camera, substituting my eyes, is set up with a horizontal angle. Its monitor transmits a landscape, calm and mysterious.

processes are both quite tiresome, and they are purely a preparation stage for the material. Nonetheless, this stage of pure physical labor, when acknowledged as an indispensable rout to the ensuing metal or metaphysical creative process of painting or writing (calligraphy), enable us to appreciate more the wisdom of the Oriental tradition which attaches so much significance to Muk and the ritual of grinding it.

How can I measure the largest and the smallest in the world? The act of grinding solid steel can be considered as a way of posing this particular question to myself. For this question, the mass of solid steel and the tiny particles of steel powder become the maximum and minimum units in the scale of things. The question is then put into question again through the process of writing with the steel powder in the form of calligraphy, a process in which the act of grinding, the material (solid steel, powder), and the expression of theme come together as a whole. How can I measure the largest and smallest in the world?

It is unlikely (although there is no absolute guarantee) this landscape would exist anywhere in this world except in the imaginary; for instance that intangible space inside myself, a micro cosmos built by, perhaps, that same stuff which dreams are made of. These landscapes illuminate a clear contrast to the immense amount of activity—the usage of an oxygen mask, the toleration of the mechanical noise of the grinder, and the offering of intense physical labor—required in order to grind the solid pole of steel in our reality.

Oriental Painting: Chinese-Ink landscape produced with steel powder The steel powder produced in this manner comes to obtain a somewhat metaphorical aspect: clearly it comes to stand for, to an amazingly precise degree, the amount of time and energy consumed in the process of grinding the steel pole. Subsequently, the powder is carefully separated into two piles by a magnet; one consisting of pure steel and the other consisting of dust. The process of grinding the solid steel and filtering the powder by magnet can be compared to the process of grinding the Muk (a solid bar of Chinese Ink) in traditional Oriental painting; The two

144


145


The Liminality of Mobility: Kim Jongku’s <Mobile Landscape> Joan Kee [Professor, Michigan University]

Perhaps the greatest travesty of what we readily call globalization is that we take too much for granted the privilege of mobility. At turns celebrated, and at others reviled, what is commonly forgotten is the fact that mobility constitutes a victory of sorts over the formidable obstacles of time and space, as well as those of categories and expectations. In Kim Jongku’s <Mobile Landscape>, the barriers that all acts of mobility must confront are displayed with a lyricism at once understated, but compelling. Here, accumulated piles of metal filings poured onto a blank sheet of paper comprise the words “How can I measure the biggest and the smallest in the world?” When projected onto a large-scale screen, these piles are magnified into mountains, the contours of which are perhaps the perfect encapsulation of the trajectory that mobile beings today must pass. “The mountain,” states Kim, “is emblematic of air travel, for its slopes mirror the path of takeoff, transit, and finally, arrival.” The pyramidical shape of the mountain denotes both commencement and conclusion. To some extent, the mountain is also emblematic of Kim’s rupture of categories and classifiers. Although trained as a sculptor, his works encompass both sculpture and painting, performance and installation. The metal filings poured onto the flatness of the paper resemble the fluid strokes of a painter, as well as the gravitas of the architectural landmark. Going further, the act of creating these “mountains,” of playing God, so to speak, are performances of an epic kind. Moreover, the mountain elicits the index of emotions which surround all varieties of struggle. Ascending the mountain evokes pain and desire, while reaching its peak is frequently a moment of joy and pride. The descent that follows may be filled with pathos, but may also be a point of satisfaction, knowing that one has conquered fear and doubt. In this work, the successive reiterations of the mountainous form suggest Kim’s success at overcoming the confines of geography and genre, but also of the ordinary individual.

Yet <Mobile Landscape> is not simply about the positive side of mobility, for mobility is hardly ever a simple equation. It also attests to its impossibility. By impossibility, I refer to the obstacles that mobility cannot overcome. In contrast to previous versions of this work, this manifestation contains an English translation of a question originally posed in Kim’s native language of Korean. The inclusion of this translation is a direct reflection of the places in which variations of this work have been shown (Seoul, Gwangju, and now, New York). This is a result of Kim’s deep engagement with the notion of site-specificity insofar as it facilitates the process of community building, however disparate the potential members of such a community may be. As he asserts, “I am interested in transmitting my message in as direct a way as possible.” The bi-linguality of <Mobile Landscape>, however, strongly implies that such community building is hampered by the frustrating, yet intriguing problem of translation. The rhetorical question of whether maxima and minima may be gauged is made ironic by the fact that it cannot even be worded in exactly the same way as the Korean original. This problem of translation is something which will accompany all acts of mobility, no matter how finely tuned one’s ear may be to the nuance of language. Overcoming this problem becomes even more impossible according to the words of Kim: “we live in a digitized world, but function in analog mode.” There is an irreconciliable abyss that separates the two. Although we may desperately want to convey direct meaning, that is, to synchronize ourselves to the digitized context, Kim implies that we are fated to non-synchronicity. This non-synchronicity is vividly elucidated by the disjuncture between the painterly, calligraphic strokes of the letters and the commercial flatness of the projector screen. We dutifully gaze at the delicate letters on the screen, but there may very well be an undercurrent of discontent inlaid with nostalgic desire. Somehow, we might feel, it would be more satisfying to view Kim’s singular text exclusive of the distractions of the projection screen. We desire intimacy, and thus purity of experience free from the polluting influences of digital chaos.

146


Through this digitization of what is fundamentally a work premised on analog modes of operation, Kim insinuates that perfect mobility can never be achieved. The fault lines dividing our inexorable analog-ness and the digitized context are too severe, too sharply serrated to be comfortably bridged. But maybe perfect mobility isn’t the point. It seems that the artist is much more interested in the process of becoming mobile. This may be evidenced by his other works. Frequently leaving them outdoors, he lets the elements of wind and rain run their tempestuous course. The impact of process is made clear as the inevitably rust, thus giving them an archaeological feel. Although <Mobile Landscape> is situated indoors, the idea of process is also significant in the fact that the poured metal filings are similarly left unfixed, and vulnerable to the vagaries of the physical world. In turn, because of this susceptibility, “the metal filings are like particles of terrain that we travel.� From this last comment then, we can say that these metal filings are the grains of terrain that comprise both the goal and the obstacle of mobility, which is, in a word, the notion of place. Humble as these grains of terrain may be, Kim draws our attention to their importance. Indeed, it is the very point of <Mobile Landscape>, which makes visible the crucial significance of real, material earth and earth-bound elements that so often remain too deeply buried within the rhetoric of globalization and of the globe.

147

Notes All quotations taken from an interview with the artist in Seoul, Korea on May 11 and 16, 2002.


Mobile Landscape variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector, roll paper, screen 2005



Mobile Landscape variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector, roll paper 2005



Mobile Landscape [connect to cotainer house] variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector Gwangju Biennale 2006



Mobile Landscape variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector, screen P.S.-1, New York 2003



Mobile Landscape variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector, screen le lieu unique, scène nationale de Nantes, France 2003



Mobile Landscape [detail] variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector, screen le lieu unique, scène nationale de Nantes, France 2003



Mobile Landscape [detail] variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector, screen le lieu unique, scène nationale de Nantes, France 2003

160


161


Mobile Landscape [right page] performing with steel powder Walsll Museum, UK 2009

162


163




166


167


Mobile Landscape variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector, screen Hawaii 2003



Mobile Landscape variable size, steel powder, cc camera, lcd projector 2002



Mobile Landscape New York 2003




Grinding


artist ▶ statement

강함에 대한

A Project of Resistance

순진한 저항이자 도전이다

The resistance in the project does not involve the challenge to any typical force of oppression but is one of dedication to the self-imposed challenge of the physical act of grinding steel.

저항의 도전은 상대적 폭력으로써의 저항이 아닌, 스스로의 육체적 노동행위의 자기헌신이다. 철은 여러 다른 물질과 달리 인간문명에 직간접적으로 막대한 영향을 주워 왔다. 철의 도구 이후, 인간에게는 보다 적극적인 전쟁과 그에 파생되는 힘의 주도권으로 지금의 인류역사를 만들어 왔다. 한 인간의 욕망에 도구(무기?)가 주워 졌고 그것이 ‘철’이었다. 인간들은 끝없이 앞으로만 달리고, 높이

Steel has been the backbone of the modern development of warfare and commercial development. Mankind’s constant desire for progress has led to a vertical system of thinking with its consequent hierarchies.

올라가려고 하는 수직적 질서(사고)를 만들어 왔다. 통쇠를 깎는 행위는 작금의 시대성을 반추하는 자그만 한 인간의 온전한 저항이며, 인간의 형식적 관념의 태도에서 벗어나 보다 근원의 물음을 던지는

The artist’s act of methodically and persistently grinding down the large steel rod is a meditative act of self-reflection to liberate oneself from this vertical modern system.

것이다.

176


Grinding Space 2000


artist ▶ statement

The Grinding Process

깎는 행위

강철의 통쇠는 그라인더(Grinder) 기계에 의해 깎여진다. 숯돌 날로 만들어진 그라인더의 디스크 날은 일정한 빠르기의 회전을 가하여 쇠에 마찰을 일으키면서 통쇠로 부터 쇳가루를 갈아낸다.

The act of grinding the steel rod is accomplished with a composite disc causing friction with the steel. The blade spins at a consistent speed so it is easy to measure the amount of steel powder created over any given time.

산소를 공급받는 특수 작업복을 착용하고 쇠를 깎는 작업 공간 속으로 들어 가는 순간, 행위자는 거의 무아지경 상태가 되어 오직 깎는 일에만 몰두하며, 인간이 만들어낸 이성적, 형식적 사고나 개념 들에서 벗어나 순수한 행위자가 된다. 이는 인간본연의 심상으로의 순응자세이다

A specially designed work suit supplies oxygen to the worker inside the sound proof room. The moment the artist enters this space, he becomes ensconced in this environment where the noise is deafening and grinding is the primary act. Because of this harsh environment and the constant repetition of the act, the artist is unencumbered by formal reason and enters a meditative state. It is a transcendental return to a more pure state of being.

178


Grinding Project 2000


artist ▶ statement

The Sound Proof Space

방음방

The specially designed room is completely sound proof. There is a concave glass window through which the viewer may observe the activity inside the room. Due to the concave nature of the glass, however, the subject inside the room appear much smaller than reality.

통쇠를 갈아내는 공간은 존재론적 의미를 부여하는 장치를 구가하게 된다. 이 공간은 방음공간이다. 밖에서 볼 때 안으로 갈수록 작게 보이는 사다리꼴의 창(오목유리 설치)이 바로 그것이다. 안에서는 통쇠를 갈고 깎는 치열한 전장의 공간이다. 불꽃과 파열음이 난무하는 어지러운 격전의 매 순간을 이 공간 밖에서 바라보는 관객은 고요하게만 느낀다. 너무나 강렬한 순간이 언뜻 보기에 고요하게 느껴지기 때문에 관객은 초현실적인 어지러움을 느끼게 된다. 우리가 응당 당연하게만 생각하는 현존의 문명개념의 무감각에 타격을 가해

The process of grinding steel creates a fierce environment—full of flames, sparks and screeching sounds—that is in complete contracts to the serenity outside of the sound proof space. The double walls that separate the space between the actual performance and the viewing area alludes to the condition of co-existence of different worlds; the here and there.

철의 결과물인 현재의 문명개념의 본질을 일깨우는 시련의 장이 바로 이 존재론적 공간이다.

One’s “normal” concept of civilization is assaulted by the fierceness of what happens in the room.

180


Grinding Space 2000

181


Grinding Project variable size, steel powder, monitor 2001

182


183




Grinding Project detail view 2000

186


187


Grinding Project detail view 2000




Grinding Story


Year of 1990, early spring… purchased an iron bar from a junk shop owner at GwaCheon Studio. The long iron bar lay untouched in the corner of the studio for a period of time. waited in anticipation of the form the iron bar would take. Year of 1990, early summer… worked away at the iron bar using a grinder. revealed the shapes of a face, a body, an arm, and a leg hidden within the iron bar. Year of 1990, winter… held a private exhibition with 33 pieces of the iron bar at Arrko Gallery in DongSoon dong. named them The Standings. Year of 1993… wrote a scholarly monograph (a study of sculpture through self-experience) on the iron bar. Year of 1995, spring… left to study abroad in England.

Year of 1997, summer… sent three pieces of the iron bar for display in the ’97 Lewes Sculpture Trail exhibition held at the small city of Lewes in southern England. received news that the three pieces were stolen during the exhibition. collected the iron dust scattered across the studio floor in Battersea to replace the stolen pieces. then made two mountains using a magnet to filter out the iron fillings. There was the pure iron powder and the dust. The original three pieces were never found. Year of 1997, winter… wrote calligraphy on the floor using the iron powder in replacement of the stolen pieces. composed the question that lingered within my heart for a while. “Are we able to measure the biggest and the smallest of this world?” Year of 1999, winter… began to regularly grind away at the iron bar at Ssamzie Space in Seoul. This was my first grinding project. abraded off 120 kilograms of iron within 27 days. stored the remaining iron bar away.

192


Year of 2002, summer… got invited to the P.S-1 International Studio in New York. prepared for the second grinding project there. However, faced setbacks due to funding difficulties.

Year of 2003, early march... officially started The Grindings project in New York P.S-1. requested a sound proof room from my Japanese friend Mr. S, whom is a sculptor and an art project director got to know in New York. The construction lasted well over a month. A lot of time was wasted obtaining sound proof material and installing ventilation. grew more anxious for had to visit my family in London during this period when was pressured by time.

Year of 2002, winter… met Mr. P, the newly appointed director of Korean culture. explained to him about the project, The Grindings. He expressed great interest in the project and promised to provide support in acquiring the necessary funds. Year of 2003, January… completed the proposal for The Grindings by receiving Mr. M’s help from New York on the English documentation. Mr. P distributed the proposals everywhere and searched high and low for a sponsor. sought the CEO of New York based P Company for support. He too showed signs of interest but refused funding due to the company’s situation. received a call from Mr. P after some time has passed. The Korean Ministry of Cultural Sports and Tourism agreed to support 20,000 USD thanks to Mr. P’s efforts. decided to push on with the project despite the reduction from an estimated 50,000 USD budget to a 20,000 USD budget.

193


Year of 2003, mid March... The grindery room was mostly completed apart from the front part of the room. waited for the 400kg iron bar to arrive. The iron bar arrived with much anticipation at the P.S-1 basement the day after my arrival from London. started moving the iron bar with Mr. S in the early morning. felt the expected weight of it all. We used a trolley equipped with small wheels to transfer the iron bar up to the studio on the second floor. We paused for a minute when we encountered a small raise on our way. The 400kg iron bar slipped on to the floor when Mr. S pulled the trolley by the front handles and pushed from the back. Although managed to quickly remove my hand, my forefinger unfortunately got cut. Everything came to a halt. waited for the ambulance to arrive at the entrance of P.S-1 while firmly clasped my right forefinger with my left hand. received emergency treatment at the E Hospital in New York. The doctor announced that reattaching the forefinger was impossible because the detached joint was too severely damaged. The suture surgery was scheduled the week after, so left with a minor treatment. Unable to return to sleeping at the P.S-1 Studio, decided to rest at Mr. S’s house. received intensive care from Mr. S. still thank him for his hospitality to this day. The days felt longer than usual. went to the hospital after a week to receive final treatment. The discrepancy between New York P.S-1 and the Korean Cultural Arts Committee’s liable responsibility drove me to leave for Korea without the final treatment.

Year of 2003, end of April... returned to Seoul with much effort. registered into S Hospital in Seoul straight away. received an extended 10 day in-care because of an infection caused by a prolonged delay in treatment. Associates from Cultural Arts Committee came and went during my stay at the hospital. Year of 2003, mid-May... left S Hospital. received two additional weeks of post-treatment. pondered the ways to restart The Grindings project back in New York P.S-1 during my dull stay in Seoul. wrote a letter of responsibility to the Korean Ministry of Cultural Sports and Tourism detailing my failure to complete The Grindings project.

194


Year of 2003, end of May... returned to the memory filled grounds of New York. met with my friend Mr. S who has been a tremendous support. Mr. S and disassembled the grindery room and cleaned up the unfinished project. walked around the streets of New York without an aim.

Year of 2005, early summer... visited China for the first time. once again thought about the incompletion of The Grindings at P.S-1 during my stay in Beijing.

Year of 2003, end of August... returned to Seoul from New York. put ‘them’ all away. recalled the locked away memories of P.S-1 and prepared an exhibition. Year of 2004, end of August... Although was to open an exhibition at present Arrko Art Gallery, held it at GoYang Studio. The project had been working on for a year at P.S-1 was to be displayed, but due to its incompletion, created a new work titled Rising Up of the White Flag. hung a self-portrayal photo of myself holding up a white flag on one side of the exhibition hall and played grinding noise on the opposite end.

Year of 2006, spring... travelled around the middle and northern parts of China with my Chinese friend Mr. Y. wrote calligraphy the following words with iron fillings, “ confess with my voice inside the Mongolian soil in deep appreciation of the vast northern Inner Mongolia ’ve witnessed during my travel.” The deafened sound of my shout within the soil, and the sound of grinding the iron bar that flew with sparks faintly echoed in my ears. Those sounds were confessions. then decided to restart the unfinished The Grindings project from New York P.S-1 in Beijing while visited Beijing several times more after. planned to start in Beijing with a shovel, then to continue with a pickaxe in a town in Europe, and to end with a trident tearing away the unfulfilled iron bar in New York P.S-1.

195


Year of 2006, early spring... acquired a studio in Beijing. built a stage there and photographed multiple sceneries using iron fillings for over an year. The iron fillings gathered during the 27 days of grinding at Seoul SsamJi Space that replaced the stolen iron bar figures in England were the core materials for the sceneries. showed The Grindings project’s iron fillings were used to capture the beauty of scenery by opening an exhibition containing photos and landscape mobile installations titled Scenery at One & J Gallery in Seoul.

Year of 2008, early spring... The opening of the summer Olympics in Beijing gave me worry. took into consideration that The Grindings project might come off as some sort of a monkey show at a zoo because of the natural characteristics of the project. returned to my home in Seoul contemplating if had focused my thoughts in Beijing too much on the exterior appearance rather than on the true ideals wished to convey to the general public. Year of 2008...

Year of 2006, spring... repeatedly visited China in search for an adapt place for The Grindings project with Mr. P from One & J Gallery. Year of 2007, summer... With the help of Mr. K, a curator in Beijing, an offer was made by S Museum, but had to reject the offer due to time and space restraint. still faced difficulties acquiring proper funding to see The Grindings project come into full realization. Year of 2007, winter... established two locations while revisiting Beijing with Mr. P. reviewed over a few days the many possible characteristics the project could take in place, space, and time.

killed time reviewing the overall project once more. Year of 2010, early summer... met with Mr. F. from art consultant L Company. They offered an outdoor space at S Gallery in England. sought S Company in Seoul to gain material funding. However, the pitch by Won & J’s Mr. P. and was conclusively unsuccessful. Year of 2011, end of November... held a showcase for the first time in four years at One & J Art Gallery with a work titled Confession. called the past times of grinding iron Confession. wanted to announce to the public of The Grindings project through this showcase. The Grindings project went through numerous changes over the past eight years.

196


Year of 2012, mid-January... planned to transform my house in Booam-dong into a private workshop unrestrained by time and space by reducing the physical volume of The Grindings project. named my home as the ‘Grinding House’. (Located Booam-dong Seoul, Korea) devised a schedule for the next three years to carve out each shape of the three essential tools of life per year; a shovel; a pick axe; and a trident. Year of 2012, early February... met Mr. B from England with the help from Mr. L from the art consulting L Company. introduced The Grindings project to him in great detail. The project was explained as two separate processes. First was the process of grinding out the three tools. The second process was my dream to grind away on a damaged tank in a war zone possibly isolated in the middle of the desert unapproachable by the public.

Year of 2012, February... Whanki Art Museum offered to incorporate Grinding House in its 20th anniversary show Booamdong art project. planned to showcase Grinding House at Whanki Art Museum. Year of 2012, mid-March... started the process of displaying the past eight years of The Grindings project’s history using carbon paper on the wall of the Whanki Art Museum. am currently finishing up the process in anticipation that one day The Grindings project ‘s part of grinding away a tank in a war-ridden barren desert become true in the next four or five years.

197


Grinding Story installation view 2012

198


199


Grinding Story ingraving grinding story of letter with carbon paper on the wall Whangi Museum, China 2012

200


201


Heavy Weight Steel Powder painting 130â…š170cm, steel powder, cotton, pv glue 2012 [right page-partial view]

202


203


Grinding Story ingraving grinding story of letter with carbon paper on the wall Whangi Museum, China 2012

204


205


Year of 2012, mid-January... planned to transform my house in Booam-dong into a private workshop unrestrained by time and space by reducing the physical volume of The Grindings project. named my home as the ‘Grinding House’. (Located Booam-dong Seoul, Korea) devised a schedule for the next three years to carve out each shape of the three essential tools of life per year; a shovel; a pick axe; and a trident. Year of 2012, February... Whanki Art Museum offered to incorporate Grinding House in its 20th anniversary show Booam- dong art project. planned to showcase Grinding House at Whanki Art Museum. Year of 2012, mid-March... started the process of displaying the past eight years of The Grindings project’s history using carbon paper on the wall of the Whanki Art Museum. am currently finishing up the process in anticipation that one day The Grindings project ‘s part of grinding away a tank in a war-ridden barren desert become true in the next four or five years.

Grinding House view Booam-dong, Seoul 2012

206


207


Steel & calligraphy 400ⅹ70cm, ø: 140mm, steel, steel powder 2010




White Sky



White Sky variable size, cotton, wooden frame, telescope Joinville, France 2006


White Sky 510ⅹ150ⅹ10cm, cotton, wooden frame, telescope Joinville, France 2006



White Sky installation view Joinville, France 2006

216


217


White Sky installation view Joinville, France 2006

218


219



White Sky 520ⅹ140ⅹ10cm, 510ⅹ150ⅹ10cm, 540ⅹ130ⅹ10cm, cotton, wooden frame Joinville, France 2006







Photography Poongkyoung


poongkyoung—풍경 installation view 2007



poongkyoung—풍경 2400ⅹ1200cm, c-print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

230


231


poongkyoung—풍경 2400ⅹ560cm, c-print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

232


233


poongkyoung—풍경 installation view 2007



poongkyoung—풍경 230ⅹ120cm, digital print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

236


237


poongkyoung—풍경 120ⅹ130cm, digital print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

238


poongkyoung—풍경 230ⅹ110cm, digital print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

239


poongkyoung—풍경 230ⅹ50cm, digital print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

240


241


poongkyoung—풍경 140ⅹ75cm, digital print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007


243


poongkyoung—풍경 110ⅹ110cm, c-print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

244


poongkyoung—풍경 140ⅹ75cm, c-print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

245


poongkyoung—풍경 210ⅹ140cm, c-print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007


247


poongkyoung—풍경 110ⅹ110cm, c-print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007

248


249




poongkyoung—풍경 65ⅹ160cm, digital print (steel powder, magnetic) Edition 6 2007



poongkyoung—풍경 220ⅹ110cm, c-print (steel powder, magnetic) 2013

254


255


poongkyoung—풍경 installation view 2007

256


257



Standing


쇠붙이 조각가

A Sculptor as Sorcerer of Goblins:

김종구의 신선한 새로운 조각 작품들을 보면서

Viewing the Surprising and New Pieces of Sculpture by Kim Jongku Hong Kai [former Professor of Art philosophy at M.I.T]

홍가이 [전 M.I.T 교수, 예술철학]

구전으로 전해 내려오는 옛날 얘기 중에는 도깨비에 관계되는 것이 꽤 많다. 아주 어릴 때 들은 것이어서 이제는 어렴풋한 기억에 불과하지만, 다음과 같이 기억나는 것이 하나 있다. 옛날, 아주 옛날 옛적에 한 시골 할아버지가 인가도 없는 산길을 걷다가 밤이 되어 어둠 속에서 나무 밑 바위를 등지고 잠이 들었단다. 한참 곤하게 자는데 갑자기 산천을 뒤흔드는 듯한 말발굽 소리와 함께 수천 명의 병마들이 고함을 지르며 달려들어 창과 칼이 요란하게 부딪히는 전쟁이 터진 것 같아, 소스라쳐 일어나 바위 밑에 바짝 엎드려 나무 사이로 바라보니, 광솔불이 휘황하게 비추며, 갑옷 차림의 병사들이 혼전중인 전쟁이 바로 불과 몇 백보 앞 산밑에서 일어나고 있었단다. 꿈인지 생신지 이승인지 저승인지 의식이 몽롱한 상태에서 부들부들 떨며 전쟁장면을 바라보고 있는데, 한참 칼싸움을 하던 병사 하나가 갑자기 광솔 불을 한 손에 높이 들고 또 다른 손에는 피로 얼룩진 긴칼을 겨누어 세워 바윗돌 밑에 숨어 있는 할아버지를 향해 무서운 눈을 부라리며 달려들더라는 것이다. 그 할아버지는 그 순간에 의식을 잃고 저승길로 간다고 생각했음은 물론이다. 얼마가 지난 다음에 그 할아버지가 다시 의식을 회복했을 때 무의식적으로 그 무서운 병사가 그 큰칼에 쳐내려 까물치게 했던 머리 부위를 만져봤다. 아직도 그 부근이 아프긴 하지만 의외로 피가 낭자하지도 머리가 깨진 것 같지도 않았다. 분명히 날카로운 칼날에 맞아 죽었는데, 이상하다고 생각하며, 좌우를 돌아보니 이미 날이 밝아 환한데 자신은 엎드려 있던 바위에서 몇 십보 질질 끌려 와 어떤 오래 전에 폐허가 된 넓은 절터 부근에 버려져 있었더란다. 그 오래된 빈 절터에는 썩다 남은 지팡이, 빗자루, 삽자루, 나뭇가지, 깨진 종의 파편들, 기왓장 등등이 어지럽게 널려있더란다. 그 이야기 끝에 그 할머니는 그 촌 할아버지가 그 날밤에 목격한 것은 도깨비들의 전쟁놀이였다고 설명한다. 어린 나이에 궁금증을 못 참고 “그러면 그 도깨비들은 도대체 어디서 왔다가 전쟁놀이 끝나고 어디로 갔느냐” 소리치듯 질문했더니, 그 할머니는 껄껄 웃으며 바로 빈 절터에 널려있던 지팡이, 삽자루, 기와조각, 도자기 파편들, 빗자루 등등 이런 것들이었다고 한다. 어린 나는 그 설명이 뭔가 석연치 않고 불만스러웠었다. 아니 지금 나이가 사십이 되고, 박사에 교수가 된 다음에도

Among the Folk tales Passed down by way of mouth, many concern goblins, Although they are a faint memory now since I was very young when I heard these stories, I can still reoall the following, Once upon a time, an old man from the countryside was walking along a small road in the mountains. It was a desolate place with no signs of human habitation nearby. When night fell, the old man sat against a rock beneath a tree evelopped in darkness and fell asleep. He was fast asleep when suddenly, with sounds of horse hooves loud enough to shake the whole mountain, thousands of soldiers appeared shouting and brandishing spears and swords. It seemed as if a fieroe battle had eruped. The old man was startled awake and then immediately lay fiat beneath the rock. Peering through the threes, he saw that a battle was indeed raging between soldiers olad in armour and holding flames of fire which shone brightly only a few hundred steps below the mounlain from where he was. So dazed that he couldn’t tell where it was a dream or really happening or whether he had died and gone to the other world, he just numbly stared at the sight, trembling all voer. Then one soldier who been brandishing a sword held the flames aloft in one hand, amd a long bloody kinife in the other, and suddenly with fierece eyes began to charge towards the old man hiding beneath the rock. The old man lost his senses then, and of couse he was certain it would be the end of him. After a while when the old man regained his senses, he automatically felt for his head which the eoldier had struck with the big sword and caused him to faint. Although it still felt sore, surprisingly there was nelther blood nor was his head broken. Strange, He should have been dead considering he had been struck with a sharp knife, He look right and left and saw it was already broad daylight and realized he had been dragged several dozen steps from the rock he had been lying on, and dumped near a broad temple site that had long since been in ruins.

그 도깨비 이야기는 불만스럽다. 도대체 그런 이미 용기(INSTRUMENT)로서의 역할(FUNCTION)을 더 이상 못하게 된 물체의 잔형들을 누가 무슨 요술을 써서 실감나는 전쟁놀이를 할 수 있는 배우들로 둔갑시켰느냐? 그 물체들이 도깨비로 둔갑되어 전쟁놀이를 한 것인가? 아니면 도깨비가 그 물체들을 잠시동안 생명력을 불러 넣어 배우로 쓰며 전쟁놀이를 연출한 것이었나? 내가 그 옛날 도깨비 전쟁놀이 이야기를 들려준 그 할머니를 다시 만나게 되면 이번에 이런 질문들을 퍼부어 좀더 도깨비의 실체를 밝혀 낼텐데, 아무튼 요술이라는 건 재미있는 그 무엇으로 인류역사상 계속 인간의 흥미를 발동시킬 뿐만 아니라 요술사가 되고 싶어한다. 현대 과학이나 테크놀리지도 바로 요술사로서의 욕망을 충족시켜보자는 의지가 아닌가?

At the anclent temple site were a rotting cane, broom, spade handle, twigs, broken porcelain pieces, tiles, etc strewn dizzily about. At the end of the story, the old lady who recounted it explained that what the old man had witnessed that night was a warrior game among goblins, Unable to curb curiosity at such a young age, I asked, almost shouting, “Then just where did the goblins come, from, and where did they go after the game?” And he old lady just laughed and said that the walking stick, the spade, the broken pieces of tiles and porcelain, and the broom, etc were in fact the goblin. As a young child, I did not find the explanation satisfactory or convincing. Come to think of it, even now after all these years when I

260


Standing h: 180 cm, Ă˜: 63mm, Solid Steel Bar, 1993


쇠붙이 조각가

A Sculptor as Sorcerer of Goblins:

김종구의 신선한 새로운 조각 작품들을 보면서

Viewing the Surprising and New Pieces of Sculpture by Kim Jongku

미술, 조각, 지금에 와서는 영화와 사진 그리고 컴퓨터 그래픽스가 모두 요술의 경지에 대한 동경과 야심의 발로가 아닌가. 전산공학분야의 인공지능, 생명공학, 로보틱스 등도 물론 요술사가 되고픈 인간의 욕망을 충족시키자는 의지의 발로이다. 김종구의 최신 조각 작품을 논하면서 이렇게 도깨비 요술이야기로 시작하는 데는 나 나름대로의 이유가 있다. 결국은 나는 내가 보고 느낀 것이 그의 작품에 대한 내 글의 제일 중요한 일차적인 자료가 될 수밖에 없기 때문이다. 나는 김종구씨의 작품을 많이 보지 못했다. 몇 주일 전까지만 해도, 김종구의 존재도 모르고 있었다. 아무튼 몇 주일전 비오는 일요일 오전 나는 조각가 강은엽 선생님과 함께 김종구씨의 과천 근처의 스튜디오를 처음으로 찾았다. 그 스튜디오는 축농가의 우사로 지어 쓰이던 건물이었다. 말하자면 우사의 폐허 같은 창고였다. 장마 비로 어두운 조명아래 그 폐허를 가득 채우며 발닥서있는 길다란 지팡이나 장승형의 물체들은 도깨비로 둔갑되어 무슨 도깨비 놀이를 벌리기 일보직전 같은 어떤 요사스런 분위기를 형성하고 있었다. 더욱이 나의 이런 느낌을 확인(?)해 주는 증거(?)는 또 있었다. 그 헛간 바닥에 우뚝 우뚝 서 있는 길다란 물체들은 모두 새로 단장을 한 듯이

am forty and a professor with a doctoral degree, I still find the story of the goblins unsatisfactory. Just who could wield magic on those useless wreckage of object that could no longer carry out their function as instruments and turn them into objects that could realistically wiagein a game oh war? Did those object turn into goblins by themselves and fight a battle? Or did goblins blow a spark of life into those objects for a whlle and used them as actors, putting on a performance? If I could meet the old lady who told me that story of the war game played by goblins once upon a time, I would bombard her with these questions and try to find out more about the indentity of those goblins. Anylow, magic is a fascinating thing, and in the course of the history of mankind, it has always evoked interest and not only that, but instilled in man the desire to become magicians, Ins’t modern science or thchnology in a way the will and intent to fulfill this desire to become magloians? Art, sculptures, and nowadays movies, photographs and computer graphics; are they not the outlets for the longing and wish to enter the realm of magic? Artifioial intelligence in computer science, life science, and robotics are of course also the outlets for the will to fulfill man’s desire to become sorcerers.

반짝 반짝 요사스런 광을 어둠 속에 내고 있었는데, 아직 폐허의 잔재라는 것을 증명하기 위해서인지 길게 누워있는 물체가 하나있었다. 불그시커머케 녹 쓸어 시간이 되면, 아마도 제일 큰 장수나 왕으로 둔갑할 이 물체는 거물답게 다른 조무래기 부하들이 다 일어서 기립하기 전까지는 거드름피우며 누워있겠다는 것일께다. 그래야 도깨비 수장의 품위에 맞지 않겠는가. 나는 그 날 거기서 도깨비놀이는 구경한 기억이 없다. 아무리 장마비가 쏟아지고 안이 어둠침침하다고는 하더라도 그 때는 대낮이었으니까. 아무리 요사스럽고 주책스런 도깨비들이라도 대 낮부터 도깨비놀이를 벌리겠는가. 그러나 그러한 나와 김종구의 조각 작품들의 최초의 만남은 필연적으로 나의 그의 작품들에 대한 접근의 중요한 실마리가 될 수밖에 없었다. 서양의 연금술사들은 보통의 광물질에서 순금을 합성하려고 하는데 그쳤지만, 동양의 요술사는 서양 연금술사의 역할은 물론 도깨비 요술까지 부릴 줄 안다. 서양의 금속재료를 쓰는 조각가들이 연금술사들의 후예라면, 그리고 많은 김종구의 전 세대에 해당되는 근 · 현대 조각가들이 한갓 서양 조각가들의 근 · 현대 조각 개념과 이상 및 방법을 고스란히 한국에서 재생하였다면, 김종구는 서양조각가나 그이 한국 선배 세대 조각가들과는 달리 동양식 요술사를 뒤돌아보며 그의 후예를 자처한다고 보고싶다. 그리고 바로 이 중요한 차이점서양 연금술과 동양 요술-은 김종구 조각의 새로운 추구와 더불어 새 세대 한국 조각의 가능성을 엿보여 준다고 생각한다. 다음과 같은 간단한 설명이 가능하지 않을까 생각한다.

I have my own reasons for beginning with this story of the magic wielded by goblins in discussing Kim Jongku’s latest pieces of sculpture. For, ultimately what I saw and felt cannot but be the most important basic material in my writing about his work. I have not seen many of Kim Jongku’s work. In fact, until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t even been aware of Kim Jongku’s existence. Anyway, few weeks ago on a rainy Sunday morning, I visited for the first time Kim Jongku’s studio near Kwachon with Mr. Kang Unyuyp, another soulptor. The was originally built as a cowhouse on a dairy farm, In short, It was a warehouse built to house cows and it was almost falling apart. Due to the heavy monsoon rain, and it was quite dark and under the light, I could see the dilapidated barn was completely filled with long sticks, or totem poles standing erect. The atmosphere was quite uncanny and cerie as if the long totem pole lookalike objects were just on the verge of turning into goblins and start to engage in some sort of a game. There was yet another evidence(?) which confirmed(?) such feelings. The objects standing here and there erect on the barn floor glitered in the dark as if they had been dressed up in new clothers, but as if to prove it was the remains of ancient wreokage, there was a single objectlying on the floor, reddish-brown and all rusty. This object; which in due time would probably turn into the strongest warrior a king, perhaps was lying there arrogantly until all his subordinates

262


Standing installation view 1993


쇠붙이 조각가

A Sculptor as Sorcerer of Goblins:

김종구의 신선한 새로운 조각 작품들을 보면서

Viewing the Surprising and New Pieces of Sculpture by Kim Jongku

대부분의 쇠붙이 조각(Metal Sculpture)이 석고의 직조에 대한 Bronze

Casting작업이나 철판 등을 이용한 brazing, 용접 또는 주물 붓기 작업인데, 이번 작품 전에는 모두 통쇠를 마치 대리석 덩어리처럼 간주하여 그 통쇠에서 형상을 조각해낸다. 엄밀히 따져보면, 통쇠나 대리석덩어리나 화강암 덩어리나 다 넓은 의미로 같은 종류의 물질이다. 광석이건, 돌덩어리건 다 같이 지열이라는 용광로를 통해서 용해, 합성되어 나온 것이 아닌가. 무형의 돌덩어리에서 그 물체가 물체로서 안고 있는 본성에 맞게 유형의 무엇이 조각가의 chisel을 통해 살아 나온다는 조각의 개념은 좀더 우리 한국인의

respectfully stood at attention, which the important person that he was, fully deserved. Wouldn’t that befit the dignity of the lord of goblins? I have no recollection of witnessing any goblin games games that day. For, no matter how hard it rained and dark it was inside, it still was daylight. No matter how caprioious and aunning the goblins were, they wouldn’t start their games in broad daylight. But my first such encounter with Kim Jongku’s sculpture could only become an important clue in my approach to his work.

심성에 가까운 것이 아닐까. 우리의 고유한 미륵사상은 조각되어 서 있는 석고상의 부처가 돌의 차가움과 물질성의 감옥에서 해방되어 기운이 감도는 생명체로 환생(또는 둔갑)될 때 이 사바세계의 모든 부조리를 정리하고 극락의 세계가 열린다고 하지 않는가. 그래서 우리의 조각가는 화강암 속에 또는 통쇠에 유형의 재현적 부여를 조각의 궁극의 목적으로 삼지 않는다. 거기에 요술의 힘을 빌려, 아니 조각가 자신이 요술사가 되어, 생명력 있고 영력이 있는 그 무엇, 다시 말하자면 또 다른 고차원의 생명체를 무형의 한갓 물질로부터 창조(둔갑)시켜 보고자 하는 것이다. 김종구의 조각작품들은 얼핏보면 장승의 형태가 어렴풋이 암시되는, 그러나 아직은 어떤 뚜렷한 아이덴티티가 주어지지 않은 그런 모습들을 하고 있다. 그것은 그럴 수밖에 없는 것이, 이들의 뚜렷한 아이덴티티는 도깨비로 둔갑되어 도깨비 놀이가 시작될 때야 분명해 질 테니까. 또 다른 면에서 이번 김종구의 전시회는 진보적이다. 소위 말하는 Installation Art는 회화를 하던 사람들이 회화의 연장으로, 아니 회화 개념의 연장의 측면에서 작업에 임해왔었는데,

The Western archemists usually stopped at trying to synthesize pure gold from common minerals, but the Oriental sorcerers not only carried out the role of Western archemists, but also wieded goblin witchoraft. If then sculptors using metal, the material of the west, can be called the descendants of those alchemists, and if many of the modern sculptors of the generation before Kim Jongku can be said to have invariably recreated the concepts, ideals and methods of modern sculpture of the West in Korea, then Kim Jongku, unlike western sculptors or his senior Korean collegues can be called a descendant of Oriental magic who looks Back on its history. And this important difference between Western alohemy and Oriental magic reveals high possibilities for a new generation of Korean sculptors as well as Kim Jongku’s works in pursuit of something wholly new. I think it might be possible to come up with the following simple explanation.

김종구는 조각가로서 새로운 Installation Art의 영역확장은 물론이고 더 중요하게는 Installation Art에 대한 예리한 개념적인 문제제기까지 하고 있다고 간주할 수 있다. Installation Art의 중요성은 무엇보다도 전통적으로 통용되어 오던 “예술 작품”에 대한 개념적 이해에 대한 문제 제기 내지 콤멤트라고 볼 수 있을 텐데, 엄밀히 따져보면 지난 10년간에 성행한 Installation 작업들은 본래의 혁신적 문제 제기에 못 미치는 결과뿐이 나오지 않았다고 진단할 수 있을 것이다. 회화(Easel Painting)에서의 “예술 작품”은 사실 르네상스 시대에 이미 정리된 퍼스펠티브에서 하나의 눈(Eyes)으로 축소도니 주체의 응시(와 감상)의 대상이 됨으로써 많은 부분이 정의되었다고 볼 수 있다. 특히 회화적 예술 작품은 그 전체가 한꺼번에 관람자라는 주체의(응시)시선 속에 들어온다는 것이다. 바로 이 점을 Installation Art작업은 거부한다. 관람자 주체의 외부적

Most of metal sculptures are made by bronze castings, brazing using iron plates, welding or castings in contrast to direct sculpturing of plaster. But in Kim Jongku’s exhibitions, whole metal has been regarded almost as slabs of marble, and forms are sculptured from the whole metal. Metal is cut away as if paring away at a stone. Strictly speaking, whole metal or slabs of marble or granite are the same kind of material in a broad sense. Be it mineral or stone, didn’t they all melt in a furnace called earth subterranean heat and synthesized into different forms anyway? Isn’t the concept of sculpturing which is that something definite and synthesized into different forms anyway?

시선에 한꺼번에 들어오는 대상이 됨을 거부하여 동시에 전통적 의미의 예술작품이 되기를 거부하는 결과를 유도한다. 그래서 Installation Art작업은 관람의 대상이 아니라 관람의 환경을 조성하여 그 안(Interior)으로 관람의 주체를 끌어 들여 하나의 눈으로 축소된 주체로서가 아니라 몸통이 있고 따라서 감정도 개인적 편견도 많은 whole being으로서

Isn’t the concept of sculpturing which is that something definite and concrete approprlate to the innate quality of the formless stone comes to life by the sculptor’s chisel close to the heart of Korean people? Doesn’t Korean’s native thinking of Maitreya say that all the absurdity of the world will be resolved and the world of Sukkavoti, or paradise opens when

264


Standing h: 279cm, ø: 53mm, solid steel bar 1993


쇠붙이 조각가

A Sculptor as Sorcerer of Goblins:

김종구의 신선한 새로운 조각 작품들을 보면서

Viewing the Surprising and New Pieces of Sculpture by Kim Jongku

걸어다니며 경험하여 새로운 차원의 순전한 시각적 경험에만 국한되지 않은 미적-예술적 경험을 유발, 재정리하려는 의도였다. 그러나 전시장이나 미술관에 설치된 이런 Installation 작업의 결과는 역시 새로운 또 하나의 재현적

simulacrum의 추구일 뿐이다. (다만 이번에는 3차원에서의 씨물라크륨이라는 것이 다르다면 다를 뿐이다. ) 대상성을 갖춘 작품적 개념화가 전통적 이해의 “미술세계”라는 제도적 장치와 필수불가불의 밀접한 관계가 있다는 점을 간과(소홀히)하고 아직도 기존의 제도적 전시공간에 “설치”하여 전통적 의미의

a stature of Buddha is liberated from the coldness of stone and the prison of materialism to be reborn(or transformed) as a living entity with a spirit of its own? And that’s why Korean sculptors don’t consider endowing a concrete form to granits or whole metal as the ultimate purpose of sculpturing. Rather, Borrowing from the strength of magic, the sculptor actually becomes a sorcerer and tries to create(or transform into) a higher entlty with a spirit form ordinary formless material.

“작품”이라는 개념적 문제 제기가 제대로 될 리가 없는 것이다. (바로 이런 점에서 많은 소위 자칭 아방가르드 작업들이 위선적으로 카뷜이 이미 20년전에 말한 “사기성”까지 갖게 되는 것이다. 전통예술 작품의 개념을 거부한다며 구호 외치는 식의 전위를 떠들면서도 전통예술 작품의 자연스런 고향이던 기존의 전시 공간으로 들어가서 전통적 예술작품을 추구하던 예술가들의 모든 구습적 이익을 고스란히 차지하자는 태도는 그들이 즐겨 외치는 정치 · 문화적 진보성내지 혁명성의 위선을 고스란히 보여준다.) 이런 설치 미술의 자가당착적 개념적 혼동에 대비되는 것이 이번 김종구의 전시이다. 설치 미술가들처럼 요란한 “전위”의 제스처 없이 소박하게 전통적인 의미의 조각작업을 하며 전통적인 전시 공간에 display하여 “설치”미술가들 이상의 진정한 의미에서의 대상성의 작품에 대한 개념적 문제제기를 한다. 그리고 그것도 동양, 아니 한국적인 모티브에서 시작하여. 다시 부연하자면, 그는 설치미술가들이나 또 다른 사이비 전위작가들처럼 어거지로 인위적인 문제제기를 이율배반적으로 하는 것이 아닌가, 그런 일제의 “체”함 없이 지존의 세계의 조형어법속이 한정하는 규범 속에서 작품을 제작, 설치, 전시하면서도 좀더 당위성을 갖은 근본적인 문제제기를 기존의 어법내부적으로 자연스럽게 유도한다. 진정한 의미의 문제제기는 내부로부터의 개념, 철학적 논리갈등을 지적함으로 시작되어야지, 외부로부터 그냥 반대를 위한 반대의 뚝심으로 밀어붙이는 스타일의 공격만으로 유도될 수 있는 것이 아니다. 나는 김종구의 소박성을 중요시한다. 많은 그의 나이 또래 또는 그의 선배들처럼 뉴욕이나 피리의 또는 뒤셀도르프의 최근 유행을 따라 잡아 “세련성”을 과시하는 알맹이 없는 빤질빤질한 “후기 근대”의 장사꾼으로서의 예술가가 아니라는 것이 특히 돋보인다. 통쇠를 깎는 소박하나 기초적인 작업으로 신선한 개념적 문제제기까지 유도하는 김종구에게 파리의 세련미를 청담동과 압구정동의 번지르함을 부러워하지 말고 소신껏 한국 조각가로서 굳건히 뿌리박고 소박한 작업을 계속하길 빌 뿐이다. 지금 이 시대의 한국 문화상황에서는 소박성이 곧 진지성을 의미한다. 바로 이런 등식은 민족, 민중 진영에서도 서양유행에 경도되어 있는 가짜들에게서도

When one casually glances at Kim Jongku’s work, the form of totem poles are vaguely hinted at, but not yet clearly defined with a definite identity, which is only natural since a definite identity can only be manlfested when they are transformed into goblins and begin to play their game. And in other aspects, Kim Jongku’s exhibition can be said to be progressive. The people devoting themselves to the so-called installation art usually viewed it as an extension of easel painting, no, actually as an extension of the concept of easel painting, but Kim Jongku, as a sculptor, not only expands the realm of new installation art, but more importantly, also bring up sharp questions on the concept of installation art itself. The importance of installation art can be olted as, above all, posing Questions or comments on the conceptual understanding of the “art works” that has been traditionally accepted. But strictly speaking, one can diagnose the installation works that have been popular for the last decade as not quite having succeeded in posing revolutionary questions as it should have done. The “art works” of easel painting are actually objects of eorutiny (and appreciation) from a subject reduced to having only one pair of eyes and nothing else. And many aspects of easel painting have already been consolidated and organized from an established perspective since the Renaissance Age. Partioularly, in the art works of easel painting, the whole picture is absorbed into the gaze of the subject, or the observer all at once. And this is the very aspect that installation art rejects. It refuses to become an object that is seen only externally at a glance from the observer or the subject, and therefore refusing to be an art work in the traditional sense. Thus, the purpose of installation art work was to induce aesthetic purely to optical experience by not begin an object of inspection, but by creation an atmosphere of observation and dragging the observer into its interior. And here, the subject in not a reduced one with just eyes, but with a whole body and therefore with emotions and personal prejudlces who walk and experiences. But the installation art works displayed at art galleries or exhibitions do not accomplish this purpose and ended up as just another quest for simulacrum(the only

266


Standing h: 610cm, ø: 63mm, solid steel bar 1993


쇠붙이 조각가

A Sculptor as Sorcerer of Goblins:

김종구의 신선한 새로운 조각 작품들을 보면서

Viewing the Surprising and New Pieces of Sculpture by Kim Jongku

다같이 찾아보기 힘들었다. 둘 다 다 같이 나름대로의 이데올로기적 세련성을 획일적으로 추구한 때문이다. 마지막으로 한 가지 더 덧붙이고 싶은 것은 김종구의 재료다. 장승이라던가 미륵불은 과거 한국의 경우 화강암으로 깎아 만들었었다. 김종구는 통쇠라는 재료 면에서는 전통적 재료와 완전히 손 끊고 있다. 과거의 한국의 도깨비 놀이는 재래식 기기들의 파편들을 둔갑시켜서 가능했다. 그러나 지금 현대 산업화된 한국에서는 금속물체를 갖고 도깨비 놀이를 해야될 것이다. 왜냐하면 21세기의 한국의 운명은 모든 면에서 (예술분야를 포함하여서) 새로운 물체를 둔갑시켜 하는 도깨비 놀이를 어떻게 잘 연출, 공연하느냐에 달렸기 때문이다.

difference this time is that it’s a simulacrum of the third dimension.) when these artiste woverlook the inseparable and close relationship the traditional conceptualization of art works as objects, shares with the institutional equipment, or the traditional understanding of the “art world”, and then “install” their works at the existing institutional exhibitions, then of course it’s only natural conceptual questions on the “art works” in a traditional sense are not brought up properly.) And it is in this respect that many of the so-called avant-garde works are hypocritical and “fraudulent” on which Kaville has already commented twenty years ago. Loudly proclaiming to refuse to accept the concept of traditional art works, and then turning around to enter the exhibitions, or the natural home for traditional works of art, all the while still trying to hand onto the old interests of artists who pursued traditional art, they starkly, reveal the hypocrisy in the political and cultural revolution or progressiveness they like to champion. In contrast to this confusion of self-contradicting concepts of installation art it the recent exhibition of Kim Jongku. Without trying to be an “avantgarde” lice installation artists, he bring up conceptual questions on the art works of objects in the truest sense of the word, surpassing the “installation” artists by displaying simple and traditional pieces of sculpture in a traditional exhibiting site. And on top of it, beginning with an Oriental, no, Korean motive. To Further ampllfy, Kim Jongku, unlike installation artists or other pseudo avant-garde artists, doesn’t pose artificial problems that are contradictory, but naturally induces internally the essential problems that have more legltimacy by manufacturing, installing and exhibiting works within the bounderies of norms which the forms of existing art world has set without putting on any grand “airs”. Bringing up questions in a real sense must begin with pointing out the conflict of philosophical logic and the concept internally, and this is something that cannot he induced just by attacking externally in an aggressive style, pushing ahead for the sake of opposition. I place high importance on Kim Jongku’s simplicity. It is espectally notable that he’s not like many sculptors of his generation or his seniors who follow the latest trend of New York or Paris or Dusseldorf and boat “sophistication” without having any real content and who also piths for “postmodernism”. With the simple but basic work of cutting away at the

268


Standing & poongkyoung installation view 2010


A Sculptor as Sorcerer of Goblins: Viewing the Surprising and New Pieces of Sculpture by Kim Jongku

metal, he induces refreshing conceptual questions, and I can only ask of Kim Jongku not to be evious of the sophistication of Paris or the glitter of Chongdam Dong and Akkujong Dong, and continue his artless and simple works by putting roots down firmly as a Korean sculptor. For in the present oultural circumstances of Korea, simplicity can also equals orediblity, and this equation is seldeom seen anymore in the pseudo wrapped up in western trends or even in the national oriented and popular circles. For they uniformly pursue ideological sophistication of their own. One last thing I with to mention is the material Kim Jongku uses. In Korea, totem poles or Buddha statues used to be made by cutting granite. Kim Jongku, by using metal wishes to server the ties completely from the traditional material. In the past, games of goblins had been possible by transforming fragments of traditional instruments. But now in the modern industrialized Korea, one must play games of the goblins with metallic objects. For the fate of Korea in the 21st contury all aspects in all aspects (including art) depends on how well one can play and act out games of the goblins; in other words how well we can turn out transform new objects.

270


271


1987 —

1993 —

272


2002 —

273


약력 ▶

金鍾九

충남 생, 1963

Made in Korea - Magic Moment: Korea Express, 하노버 메쎄, 독일

현) 이화여자대학교 재직

Re-lmagining Asia, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, 영국 Mutiscape, 3.15 ART CENTER, 마산

1996

Chelsea College of Art & Design, M.A., 졸업, 런던

1993

서울대학교 대학원 조각 전공 졸업, 서울

Re-Imaging ASIA, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 베를린

1988

서울대학교 미술대학 조소과 졸업, 서울

KIAF 2008, 원앤제이 갤러리, 코엑스, 서울

2008

Hong Kong International Art Fair, 홍콩

양주 조각아카데미 개관전, 양주 조각스튜디오, 양주 인사미술제, 아트사이드 갤러리, 서울

주요 개인전

2011

The Ball-Though I am confessing, 원앤제이 갤러리, 서울

2010

Mobile Landscape: Kim Jongku, 스펜서미술관, 미국

2009

조각과 풍경, Curiosity Gallery, 서울

2007

풍경, ONE AND J 갤러리, 서울

Arco Trace Root_Unfolding Korean Strories, Madrid, 스페인

2004

백기를 들었어요 - P.S.1 보고 전시회, 국립 고양스튜디오 갤러리, 서울

Slow Miki Wiki Comtemporary Art, Zurich, 스위스

2002

Mobile Landscape Art Resources Transfer, 뉴욕

문자와 미술, 서울시립미술관, 서울

남한강 풍경, 국립청주박물관, 청주

문자로 그리는 미술-시조 창 쇳가루 퍼포먼스, 이화여대박물관, 서울

2000

이 세상에서 가장 큰 것과 작은 것을 잴 수 있을까?, 쌈지 스페이스, 서울

창원 아시아 페스티발 복숭아꽃 살구꽃, 창원성산문화회관, 창원

1999

Sweep it Up, Clapham Art Centre, 런던

1997

Bedford Hill Gallery, 런던

1994

표화랑,서울

Simply Beautiful, Pasquart, Biel, Swiss / Grand Jardin, 프랑스

떠 있는 것 설치전, 서울미술관 기획초대, 갤러리 드 서울, 서울

광주 비엔날레 열풍 변주곡, 광주

서 있는 것 설치전, 문예진흥원 미술회관, 서울

Oriental Metaphor, 루프, 서울

1993

부산 비엔날레-바다 미술제, 부산 문자와 미술, 서울시립미술관, 서울

2007

Between Art, Nature and Landscape, Grand Jardin, 프랑스

공동경계, 국립현대미술관, 과천

2006

Stadt und Sterne, LVG, Munich, 독일

김세중 조각상 창립 20 주년 기념전, 성곡미술관, 서울 부드러움, 소마미술관, 서울

주요 국내전

2012

KOREA – TOMMORROW2012, 예술의 전당, 서울

한국미술 100년전, 국립현대미술관, 과천

ENCOUNTER Royal Academy in Asia, Institute of Contemporary Arts,

땅, 길, 선, / 한 · 몽 현대미술교류전, 모란미술관, 서울

싱가폴

한국의 향기, 대구시립미술관, 대구

하늘을 보다, 카이스트, 대전

Simply Beautiful, 토탈미술관, 서울

예술정원, 한전아트센터 갤러리, 서울

신라전, 국립경주박물관, 경주

Here and There, 아미 미술관, 당진

2005

Fishing Project 2005 Korea, 아트사이드 갤러리, 서울

여수 국제아트페스티벌, 여수엑스포, 여수

시간을 넘어선 울림, 이화여자대학박물관, 서울

3개의 방, 관훈 갤러리, 서울

리메이크 코리아전, SpaceC, 서울

부암동 아트 프로젝트, 환기 미술관, 서울

hub, 고양 스튜디오, 고양

청심평화월드센터 개관기념 아트프로젝트, 청심평화월드센터, 가평

2011

Very Successful, 국민대학교 갤러리, 서울

3인전, 보다갤러리, 서울

2004

Falling into Abstractionism, 수호갤러리, 성남 2010

2009

Koln Art Fair, PAIK and beyond, Koln messe, Koln, 독일

포항 스틸아트 페스티벌, 포항시립미술관, 포항

Officina Asia 2004, Pallazzo dell Arengo, Rimini, 이탈리아 평화를 위한 세계 100인 미술가, 국립현대미술관, 과천

The art of writing, ING사옥, 서울

화가의 여행, 서울대학교 박물관, 서울

만레이와 그의 후예들, 서울시립미술관, 서울

문자향, 김종영 미술관, 서울

언어놀이전, 성곡미술관, 서울

Stranger than Paradise, 토탈미술관, 서울

Here & There. The World In Motion, 센양, 베이징

니르바나, 생과 사의 경계에서, 모란미술관, 서울

City-net Asia 2009, 서울시립미술관, 서울

국립 고양 미술스튜디오 개관 기념전, 고양스튜디오갤러리, 고양

서울무지개, 문화일보갤러리, 서울

三月展-관훈미술관 기획초대, 관훈미술관, 서울

A Fortuitous Meeting of the Day, 갤러리더케이, 서울

아트 캡슐 오늘을 담다, 연세대학교 박물관, 서울

274


성서와 문화, 김옥길기념관, 서울

2003

연극의 해 기념전, 문화부주최, 국립극장, 서울

Hawaii-Korea Cross 2003, UH Gallery, Hawaii, 미국

서울-삿뽀르전, 서울시립미술관, 서울

The 8th International Shoebox Sculpture, Kaohsiung Museum of Art,

1991

대만 / UH Gallery, 하와이

2002

현대미술의 기수전, 갤러리아미술관, 서울

Breaking Away, P.S 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, 미국

비무장지대-예술 문화 운동전, 예술의 전당, 서울

OPENED STUDIO, P.S 1 International Studio, New York, 미국

서울조각회전, 예술의 전당, 서울

East of the Yellow Sea, ddm Gallery, Shanghi, 중국

1990

ORIENT- EXTREME, Le Lien Unique, Nantes, 프랑스 Post-Material, Nandan Gallery / Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 인디아

1989

1999

July전, 갤러리 한, 서울 1988

형성-PROCESS전, 토탈미술관, 서울

Real Interface, space-imA, 서울

1987

판상전, 관훈미술관, 서울

The First Urban Art in Meeting - Caracas, 베네쥬엘라 Artspectrum2001, 삼성 미술관, 서울

주요 수상 및

탈물질-3인전, 아트사이드, 서울

Scholarship

디아나의 노래, 미술회관, 서울

2002

수, 목, 금, 토-생, 인사아트센터, 서울

1990

김세중 청년 조각상 대한민국 미술대전 대상, 국립현대미술관, 과천

디지탈 아트 네트워크, 테크노마트, 서울

중앙미술대전 특선, 호암갤러리, 서울

예술의 힘, 청년작가전, 서울 미술관, 서울

서울 현대조각 공모전 특선, 서울갤러리, 서울

1989

중앙미술대전 특선, 호암갤러리, 서울

The Old News, PS 122 Gallery, New York, 미국

1987

Art Omi Residency Open Studio, Omi, 미국

2008

한국 문화예술위원회 중국 전시 지원

백제로의 여행-공주박물관 특별기획전, 공주박물관, 공주

2007

프랑스 문부성 초청 Residence Art Center / Le Grand Jardin

Neighbours, Kim Jongku , Dieter Kunz, 26k Gallery, Leipzig, 독일

2006

한국 문화예술위원회 독일 전시 지원

Art for Design, Clampham Art Centre, 런던 1998

로고스와 파토스, 관훈미술관, 서울

광주비엔날레 Project-3, 광주

성서와 문화, 김옥길기념관, 서울

2000

지금-일곱전, 토갤러리, 서울

Massage-90, 자하문갤러리, 서울

풍경, 포스코 미술관, 서울

2001

청동물고기전, 토아트스페이스

2002 - 2005

International Young Art, Art Link-Sotheby, 텔아비브, 시카고, 이스라엘,

2005

전국대학미전 대상, 국립현대미술관, 과천

한국 문화예술위원회 전시 지원 예술원 우수예술인 지원 수상

미국

Snow Show, Gallery Focus, 런던 1997

레지던스

‘97 Lewes Sculpture Trail, 루이스, 영국

2002 - 2003

Korean Young Artist in London, Sackvill Gallery, London, 영국 1996

OGOGAGO-3인전, Sacvill Gallery, London, 영국

1995

화랑 미술제-표화랑, 예술의 전당, 서울

1994

갤러리2000 개관기념전, 갤러리2000, 서울

2000 2004 - 2005 2007 - 2010

우사전, 토아트 스페이스, 서울

작품 소장

P.S.-1 International Studio Program(MoMA) 참가, 뉴욕 Art Omi Residence Program 참가, 오마이, 미국 국립 고양 미술스튜디오, 한국 양주시 조각 스튜디오, 한국

국립현대미술관 / 스펜서미술관 / 서울시립미술관 / 한국문예진흥원 /

새로운 전망전, 갤러리 미건, 서울

장흥조각공원 / 광안리해수욕장 / 부산올림픽조각공원 / 당진화력발전소 /

새로운 지평-9인전, 갤러리 미건, 서울

싱가폴비즈니스센터 / 인천송도국제도시 / 대림피에스타 / 농협하나로빌딩 /

다다갤러리 개관 4주년 기념전 NOW 1994 MADE IN KOREA, 부산

고잔역사벽화제작 / 김해금옥교제작 / 경기도미술관

한 · 일 현대작가, 실크갤러리, 일본문화원, 서울 부산 국제 심포지움, 부산 올림픽 조각공원

1993

物-존재와공간전, 예술의전당, 서울

1992

조각과 색전, 새갤러리

한국 현대미술의 단면, 표 갤러리, 서울

물-존재와 공간전, 예술의 전당, 서울

275


C.V. â–ś

Kim Jongku

Born in Seoul, 1963

2010

Man Rays Photography & His Heritage, Seoul Museum of Art Seoul,

Currently living and working in Seoul

Korea

Professor of Fine Arts, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea

Linguistic Morphology: Art in Context, Sungkok Museum of Art Seoul, Korea Here & There. The World In Motion, Shenyang / Pekin / Busan / Seoul

Education 1996

MFA, Chelse a College of Art & Design London, UK

1993

MFA, Seoul National University Seoul, Korea

1988

BFA, Seoul National University Seoul, Korea

The art of writing, ING, Seoul 2009

City-net Asia 2009, Seoul Museum of Art Seoul, Korea Seoul Rainbow, Munhwailbo Gallery Seoul, Korea A Fortuitous Meeting of the Day, Gallery the K, Seoul, Korea Made in Korea - Magic Moment: Korea Express, Hannover Messe

Solo Exhibitions 2011

The Ball-Though i am confessing, ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2009 Hannover, Germany

Re-lmagining Asia, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK

2010

Mobile Landscape: Kim Jongku, Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas, USA

2009

Sculpture & Poongkyung, Curiosity Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2007

Poongkyoung, ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2004

I Am Holding the White Flag, National Arts Studio Gallery Seoul,

Collection Reconstructed, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art,

Korea

Gyeonggi, Korea

Mobile Landscape, Art Resources Transfer, New York, USA

Expenditure, Busan Biennale 2008, Busan, Korea

2002

2000

Multiscape, 3.15 ART CENTER Masan, Korea 2008

Re-view, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Gyeongnam, Korea

When Artist Sympathize with the Jung-Won, Culture Chung-ju

Between the Beauty and the Grotesque, Gallery ARTSIDE, Seoul,

National Museum Chung ju, Korea

Korea

How Can I Measure the Biggest and the Smallest in the World?,

Trace, ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Ssamzie Space, Seoul, Korea

Re-lmagining Asia, HAUS DER KULTUREN DER WELT, Berlin, Germany

1999

Sweep It Up, Clapham Art Centre London, UK

1997

Bedford Hill Gallery, London, UK

Peach Flower, Apricot Flower Changwon Asia Festival, Changwon,

1994

Pyo Gallery, Seoul, Korea

Korea

1993

2007

Writing Paintings, Painting Words Seoul Museum of Art Seoul, Korea

Floating, Gallery de Seoul, Seoul, Korea

Con-terminal - The 5th Anniversary Art Studio Changdong &

Standing, Arts Council Korea

Goyang, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea Trace Root: Unfolding Korean Stories, Alcala 31(Special Exhibit to ARCO 2007), Madrid, Spain

Selected Group Exhibitions 2012

Nature et Paysage (Between Art, Nature and Landscape)-SOSSA, Chateau de Grand Jardin , Joinville, France

Korea-Tommorrow2012, Seoul Arts Center, Korea Encounter Royal Academy in Asia, Institute of Contemporary Arts,

2006

Singapol

Oriental Metaphor, Gallery LOOP, Seoul, Korea

Look up the Sky, Kaist ki F1, Korea

Stade Und Sterne, LVG, Munich, Germany

Art Garden, Kepco Artcenter Gallery, Korea

Simply Beautiful, Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland/ Grand Jardin, France

Here and There, Ami museum, Korea

Softness, SOMA Museum, Seoul, Korea

Pohang Steel Art Festival, Pohang museum of Steel Art, Korea

100 Years of Korean Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art,

Yeosu International Art Festival, Yeosu Expo, Korea

Gwacheon, Korea

the Three Artists room, Kwanhoon Gallery, Korea

2005

Buam-dong Art project, whanki museum, Seoul, Korea

Remake Korea, Space C, Seoul, Korea Echo Beyond Time: The Traditional and The Modern, Ewha Womans University Museum, Seoul, Korea

CheongShim World Center Inaugural Art Project, CheongShim World Center, Korea 2011

Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea

2004

Artists on Journey, Seoul National Museum of Contemporary Art,

Falling into Abstractionism, Soohoh Gallery

Seoul, Korea

three man show, Boda Gallery, Korea

The 100 Artists for Peace, The National Museum of Contemporary

276


Art, Seoul, Korea

1991

DMZ Art & Culture Movement, Seoul Art Centre, Seoul

Officina Asia, Pallazzo dell Arengo, Bologna, Italy

1990

Massage-90, Jahamoon Gallery, Seoul

Stranger than Paradise, Total Museum, Seoul, Korea

Now-Seven man, Tho Gallery, Seoul

Nirvana, at The Boundary Between Life and Death, The Moran

1989

Museum Arts, Seoul, Korea 2003

Goyang Arts National Studio, Goyang Arts National Gallery, Gyeonggi, Korea

2002

Future Sculpture, Cosmos Gallery, Seoul 1988

Balance and Gradual Progress, The third Gallery,Seoul

Hawaii-Korea Cross, University of Hawaii Gallery, Hawaii, USA

Formation-Process, Total Gallery, Seoul

Breaking Away, PS 1. Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA

Space as experience & Consciousness, Tho Gallery, Seoul

Open Studio, PS 1. International Studio, New York, USA Awards

Museum of Art, Taipei, Taiwan

2002

Kim Se-Jung Memorial Prize for Yong Artists

East of the Yellow Sea, ddm Warehouse, Shanghai, China

1990

Korea National Grand Art Competition, Grand Prize Joong-Ang Grand Art Exhibition, Special Selection

Oriental Extreme, Le Lien Unique, Nantes, France

Seoul Contemporary Sclpture Competition, Special Selection

Project-3, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea 2000

1999

‘88, Rising Artists, Young Gallery, Seoul

The Scent of Characters, Kim Chong Young Museum, Seoul, Korea

The 8th International Shoebox Sculpture Exihibition, Kaoshung

2001

Logos & pathos, kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul July, Han Gallery, Seoul

Art Spectrum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

1989

Joong-Ang Grand Art Exhibition, Special Selection

The Strength of Art, Young Artists, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

1987

National Competition of Art School, Grand Prize

The Old News, Ps 122 Gallery, New York, USA

2008

Scholarship Art Council Korea

Art Omi Residency open Studio, Omo, U.S.A

2007

ministry of culture, France

Time Traval to BackJe, Gonju National Museum, Gonju

2006

Scholarship Art Council Korea

2002-2005

Scholarship Art Council Korea

Dianas Song, Art Center, Seoul, Korea Art for Design, Clapham North Art Centre, London

2005

Scholarship The National Academy of Arts

Neighbors (Jongku Kim and Dieter Kunz), 26K Gallery, Leipzing, Germany 1998

1997

Residencies

Internation Young Art, Art Link-Sotheby, Telabibu / Chicago

2007

Chateau de Grand Jardin

Snow Show, Gallery Focus, London

2004

Goyang Art Studio Program

‘97 Lewes Sculpture Trail, Lewes

2002

PS 1 International Studio Program

Korean Youn artists in London, Sackvill, London

2000

Art Omi Residence Program

1996

OGOGAGO (Three Person Exhibition), Sacvill Gallery, London, UK

1995

‘95 Seoul Art Fair, Seoul Art Centre, Seoul

Collections &

National Museum Contemporary of Arts, Korea / Art Council Korea /

Exhibition of Artists exchanged between Korea&Japan, Silk Gallery,

Commissions

Busan Olympic Sculpture Park, Korea / Dang Jin Fire Power Station,

1994

1993

Seoul

Korea / Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art / Busan Gwanri Beach, Busan /

U-SA, Tho Gallery, Seoul

Mapletree Business Centre, Singapore / Seoul Museum of Art / Spencer

Pu-San International Sculpture Symposium, Olimpic park, Pusan

Museum, USA / Daelim ‘Fiesta’, Korea / Gimhea ‘Gumok Bridge’, Korea

Now-Made in Korea, Dada Gallery, Pusan

/ Songdo International City, Korea / Jang Heung Art Park, Korea /

Cross Section of Contemporary Korea Art, Pyo Gallery, Seoul

NongHyup Hanaro Building, Korea

The Show of Six Sculptors, The Korean Culture and Art Foundation Art Centre, Seoul Daejeon Expo93 Beyond of the Future, Daejeon 1992

The Year of the Drama Commendation Show, National Theatre, Seoul Seoul-Sapporo, Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seoul Sculpture and Color, Sea Gallery, Seoul

277


김종구(1963-)는 쇳가루 풍경화로 잘 알려진 작가이다. 그의 작품은 조각가로서의 작업에 초점이 맞추어져있으나 어느 특정 매체로 한정지워지지는 않는다. 다양한 매체로 표현되는 그의 작품들은 긴밀하게 연결되어 있는데, 쇠를 깎는 작업은 그 모든 작업들의 출발점이다. 거대한 쇠를 깎아 쇳가루를 만들고 이 쇳가루로 글을 쓰고 이를 CC카메라로 촬영하여 스크린에 투사하고 사진으로 촬영하는 그의 작품에는 인간이 이루어놓은 현대 물질문명에 대한 반성이 담겨있다. 발전과 성장만을 위해 달려온 현대사회를 의미하는 쇠는 수직적 사고와 질서를 대표한다.

Kim Jongku(1963-present) is an established artist known for his iron dust landscape. Although his works are focused around the perspective of a sculptor, the works themselves are not fixed within a particular medium. His works expressed through various medium are faintly but surely connected; they all start from the process of grinding iron. His work— expressed through the process of photographing a display on screen filmed by a CC camera of the iron dust lettering converted from a pile of iron fillings gathered during the process of grinding iron—contains a selfreflection on the current materialistic era that mankind has created.

이 쇠를 바닥에 수평으로 쌓이는 쇳가루로 변형시킴으로써 작가는 오늘날의 사회에 대한 문제의식을 시각화하는 한편 수평적 사고와 질서로 환원시키려는 의도를 전달한다.

The steel, symbolizing the progressive drive of society to move forward, represents a vertical cogitation and order. By transforming the vertical iron into an iron dust on the horizon of the floor, the artist wishes to address the current issues of society and to bring change towards a horizontal cogitation and order.

278



Exsculptor

총괄 김종구 후원 이화여자대학교, 원앤제이갤러리, (주)수호림 기획 김종구 사진 김종구, 새논 라이언, 크리스 브론슨, 라이언 웨고너, 권오열, 이종명, 김상태 어시스턴트 김영민 디자인 안아라 발행처

(주)경향아트 서울특별시 중구 정동 22 경향신문사 본관 16층 [100-702] 발행일

2013. 2. 28 인쇄

(주)금명문화

연락처

jkukim1028@gmail.com 서울특별시 서대문구 대현동 11-1 이화여자대학교 조형관 104-1호 [120-750]

©김종구 본 도록에 실린 글과 사진 및 도판은 김종구의 동의없이 무단 전재할 수 없습니다.


Exsculptor

Directed by Kim Jongku Supported by Ewha womans University, One & J. Gallery, SooHoh Leem Co. Edited by Kim Jongku Photography Kim Jongku, Shannon Ryan, Chris Bronson, Ryan Waggoner, Kwon Oyeol, Lee Jongmyong, Kim Sangtae Assistant Kim Youngmin Design Ara Ahn Published by KhyungHyangArt Co. 16Fl., Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea [100-702] Date of Publishing 2013. 2. 28 Printing Kyummyung Print Co. Contact jkukim1028@gmail.com Arts & Design Bullding A Room #104-1, EWHA Womans university, 11-1, Daehyun-dong, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul, Korea [120-750] ŠKim Jongku No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without the written permission from Kim Jongku.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.