MARIA AH HYUN STRACKE

WRITTEN BY EMILY SCHOLLENBERGER

Subtle and large, delicate and strong, complex and simple – Maria Ah Hyun Stracke’s work unites opposites. Her materials, including the Korean mulberry paper hanji and silk, contain rich histories of both functional and decorative uses. Used to make household objects and to repair manuscripts, hanji’s criss-crossing fibers give it strength, enabling the paper to bind other materials, belying its delicate appearance. In Stracke’s work, strips of hanji connect arcs of watercolor paper into large, rhythmic assemblages, lending both structure and texture to the works. The smooth watercolor paper contrasts with the irregular surface of the hanji, whose ostensibly delicate mulberry filaments entice viewers to step close and examine the large works. Negative spaces within the designs reveal the wall behind the artwork and call attention to the works’ objecthood. This attention to space recalls hanji’s traditional use in making doors and screens, shaping and dividing space as well as repairing objects.

Stracke conceives of the large paper works as a form of drawing because in creating them, she prioritizes process and reworking. She frequently cuts up existing artworks and reassembles the parts into new works, using hanji to connect them again. The hanji-covered seams highlight this process of cutting and repair, deconstruction and new creation. These pieces bear the histories of their previous lives as other artworks. Individual works draw on designs ranging from Buddhist temples to bojagi, square Korean cloths used for wrapping gifts or covering food. Even in their original form, these references may not be legible to viewers, and the designs are frequently further obscured when Stracke cuts them apart and reassembles them. Yet remnants of the previous iterations of each individual piece and references to other histories are still present whether or not viewers can decipher them. Stracke’s work forms an archive of multilayered and only partially accessible traces of cultural histories and her own past actions

DRAWING WATER (above)

Hanji, graphite, silk, watercolor paper.

82” x 110”.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers

MOUNTAIN WALK (MEMORY OF A BUDDHIST TEMPLE) (left)

Hanji, graphite, silk, watercolor paper.

75” x 92”.

Photo credit: Bridget K. Rogers

UNTITLED (VOTIVE) (previous page)

Hanji, graphite, silk, watercolor paper, mineral paint.

57.5” x 75”.

Photo credit: Neighboring States

THE HANJI-COVERED SEAMS HIGHLIGHT THIS PROCESS OF CUTTING AND REPAIR, DECONSTRUCTION AND NEW CREATION.