The cloud that has long been used as a symbol of long life and fortune has been representing the soul of Korean people in various ways. Varying in shapes, sizes, and colors, it represents all sorts of forms and figures being cast over the mountains or...
The cloud that has long been used as a symbol of long life and fortune has been representing the soul of Korean people in various ways. Varying in shapes, sizes, and colors, it represents all sorts of forms and figures being cast over the mountains or the moon. That has inspired our desire to be free from earthy shackles. We have discovered beauty from the transfiguring clouds and expressed them in various forms.
Depending on its altitude and shape, the cloud is classified into 10 types such as cirri, altocumuli, strati, and cumuli etc. However Korean people have put a significant meaning into each type of clouds, and created indigenous art forms of their own. The shapes of the cloud symbolizes a series of meanings such as the heaven, an eternal life, the advancement of the social status, fortune, and totems which have been developed into the arts.
I have looked into the abstract shapes of the cloud and tried to embodied them in lacquer works to express the mentality of modern people and their sub-consciousness. I have made eight lacquer works with various shapes of the cloud and their color contrast. I have figure the heaven which has been the major cloud symbol in Korea and sculptured the hope for the prosperity. I used repeating constructions and cloud figures to express the cloud that implies the time movement of the past, the present, and the future as it can be flown away.
The natural dyes collected from the nature are semi-permanent and the best material in expressing human mentality. Using a mixture of painting techniques, I tried to catch the flow of human mind in the geometric shapes of Gi, Hap, and Jeopsi. As the dictionary definition of Gi and Hap is pots or pans, in my works, they have been used as a conceptual container that encloses the ideology of humans. Hyeopjeotaltaegeonchil technique has been applied to maximize the advantages of color lacquering the different shapes of Gi, Hap, and Jeopsi. For extended stability, Moksimjeopichil techniques has been applied.
The pattern is modified and reconstructed from the forms of the cloud so that it can bring a sense of the nature to the modern people, express the traditional symbols such as the heaven, an eternal life, the advancement of the social status, fortune, and totems, and denotes the repeating circulation of human mentality.