On the Formative Structure Hidden under the Skin of the “Bojagi”

 

In Kim Si-Hyun’s works we can discover the image of “bojagi (Korean wrapping cloth),” characterized by its fancy colors and decorative designs, and the form of a “bottari (bundle)” revealing a certain sense of volume inside the “bojagi.” 

The image and designs of the bojagi continuously generate certain visual signals that reveal a sentiment unique to Korea, and the simple shape of the bottari acts as a visual structure that strongly implies the indirect but strong emotional attitudes of Koreans, in that it reveals the shape of its contents to a certain extent, unlike containers such as bags or boxes. 

As suggested by the title Precious Message, this seems to be an effective method for the artist to reveal the situation where the contents cannot be seen directly, but it is implied that something precious is inside. But if we take a closer look at the visual situation painted by the artist, we can discover that she is making several peculiar formative attempts in her work process. This has to do with the formative relations of tension and balance between the illusional representation of space that indicates the three-dimensional space of reality and the flat supporting space. 

Actually in the history of painting the issues of realistic representation and the structure of the support have long been important topics of discussion, but the method of representation chosen by artist Kim Sihyun is evidently positioned somewhere between hyper-realistic expression, without a single brush stroke visible, and expressive representation, where the touches remain alive. While the former tells us about the position of the artwork in the sense that it is a representational object of expression dependant on the original reality, indicated by illusion, the latter enables us to confirm the position of the artwork as a creation of the artist, who relates to the original reality, but also assumes a new position of originality as a creative entity. 

Thus, the artist is attempting painterly representation to indicate the actual situation of the precious message being wrapped in the bottari, but at the same time, wanting the painterly expression itself to serve as a precious message. 

So Kim’s work at first seems to take the form of hyper-realism or photo-realism, in that it maximizes objects through detailed depiction, but if we look closer, we can discover that the artist has left traces of brush strokes and drawing-like lines to a certain level. This means she is concerned about the appropriate method to express the images with regard to intertextual correspondence, such as the relations between the objects in the works and the background spaces, or between the picture plane of the work and the space it is to be installed. She is trying to find a point of compromise, which can maintain a certain balance between the three-dimensional space of illusion created by hyper-realistic illusion, and the limitation of painting, which can only exist as a two-dimensional surface. 

The peculiar tendencies of the artist, who searches for such tension and balance, are also revealed in the relationship between the two-dimensional bojagi and the three-dimensional bottari, and it is necessary to note that such dynamics occur between the objects in the canvas and the background spaces, and even between the canvas itself and the exhibition space. 

Sometimes the artist eliminates the hard-edged corners of the canvas and cuts out the silhouette of the bottari into a unique-shaped canvas, or when working with a conventional canvas, declines to paint the perspectives of the background, where the bottari would be placed, but creates flat or decorative spaces as psychological metaphors. In this case the artist is not seeing the support of the painting as a window-structure of vision, but as another axis of a structure corresponding to her formative language. 

The artist wants her works not to be enveloped by three-dimensional illusions, or to be fixed by the limitations of the two-dimensional surface. In expressing the precious object, which naturally would be in three-dimensional space, by keeping that objet concealed, but revealing its surface covered by a bojagi, decorated with brilliant pieces of cloth and embroidery, Kim maximizes the significance of the precious object. And in a similar way, through the decorative expression of the two-dimensional canvas surface, she keeps the aura illusively contained in the skins of the paint, while maximizing the potential situation of the scene through elaborate painterly expression. 

Meanwhile, we can discover another formative attempt in the process of carrying out such painterly expression method, i.e., Kim’s attitude of materially visualizing her meanings. That is the attempt to relate the real space and represented space to one another, in a way similar to how she created a device to read layers of meaning amidst the intertextuality of the objet within the bundle, which supports the illusional space of the bottari, and the bojagi, which forms its skin. 

Actually the bottari (bundle) is just an extension of the bojagi, which changes flexibly according to what is inside, and does not have an original set form. Nevertheless, Koreans will generally imagine an image of something wrapped in a cloth with its four corners tied at the top, when they hear the word “bottari.” 

Even though the bottari is a bojagi on the surface, the reason it is specially called “bottari” is because of the dependence of the shape, which is dominated by the shape of the object wrapped inside. This means it is difficult to specify an independent form for the bottari itself. Nevertheless, being able to think of a universal form of bottari indicates that there is a habitual memory recalling method in picturing the typical form of the object called bottari, based on the tension between the bojagi and contents wrapped inside the bojagi. 

It is at this point that artist Kim Sihyun crosses the superficial situation of the fancily decorated bojagi with the symbolic object bottari, formulated according to the shape of the object concealed inside, thereby enabling viewers to think about the significance of the tool called bottari used to give presents or goods for daily use, which in fact represent the devotion and heart of the giver. In other words, she is demonstrating an inquiry on the possibility to formatively express the non-linguistic system present on the other side of the visible world. In addition, as tools to strengthen such formative devices, the multiple use of decorative flowers, tassels, hairpins, ornaments, flower crowns or pigtail decorations on the tied part of the bottari is also a concrete method to create formative structure, such as intersection, overlapping, symbolism or foreshadowing. 

Ultimately, concerning the issue of painterly representation, through the attempt to connect the actual situation of the original as the object of representation, and the actual situation of the original as a creation by the artist, under a relationship of tension and balance, Kim Sihyun presents a unique way of seeing with regard to the meaning of originality and painterly representation. Moreover, she has experimented on the possibility of formatively expressing the world of sentiment and image, which belong to the non-linguistic realm, based on her interest in the system of significance, which emerges as an entity of aura on the other side of space that is an illusion shown superficially in painterly expression, or especially realistic expression; and as a method to communicate this through visual language, she has continued her works with the specific theme of “PreciousMessage.”

 

Lee Seung-hoon, Cyart Research Institute