허진 Hurjin

Beyond Distorted Life, Toward A New Attempt

park Il-Ho (Art Critic)

1 We are accustomed to the same structure of apartment, the same style of readymade clothes, and also to the uniformity of things to eat and drink. In addition to this, we are tamed after the social and cultural standard restraining us under the name of ‘order’. We are also forced to repeat a passive and mechanical thinking with images and signs overflowing through mass media. We are likely to give a blind sight to all social illness and absurdity. All these familiarities, in a sense, makes us feel comfortable. However, there may be occasions when we become tedious to these familiarities, and think that our real self is being lost. We may even feel like resisting to those things. Hur Jins’s artistic consciousness starts from this point. He feels that social and cultural standard approaches us with unspeakable force or pressure, and as a result , he wants to express it in his works. In another way, he wants to reveal that industrialization has destroyed our sensation and reason in a restrained circle of life. He wishes to express our life very honestly which has been distorted by social and cultural vices and absurdities. That is to say, Hur Jin wants to formalize our inner impulse to get away from the restrained circumstances by revealing our constraint from many things. In a way, his artistic works bear the nostalgia for humanity which is being lost in the violent adoration for power and capitaㅣ.

2 There are many stories in Hur Jin’s works. The invisible forces oppressing us such as political and institutional force, cold economic logic of capitalism are described as hand, images of luring commodities, and violent images of guns and swords. He also alludes to our absurd way of life by contrasting images such as smiling faces and figures of suffering behind them, western images and juxtaposition of Chinese letters. There are criticisms on commodity strategy of multinational corporations destroying our sensibility under the name of globalization, and also on the dark side of civilization which brings about the destruction of ecological system. He expresses our distorted portrait, facial expression of screaming and our darkened eyes. He also portrays our appearance running toward something with the inner impulse to get away from all these miseries. However, it is also true that there is a suggestion of helplessness in his works with the description of the tangled appearance of the mass. These stories appearing in Hur Jin’s works can be integrated into a question thrown upon our time. Is it possible to understand that rational thinking and development of science and civilization based upon it have increased the total quality of our life? Isn’t our calculated life with the standard of rationality and efficiency, and all the absurdities happening in it destroying our life? Can’t we be feed from all these? Hur Jin suggests us that we should altogether think about this questions in his works. And he is also trying to awaken us who have become to familiar with this kind of life. I am saying that when we look at his works with this assumption, his works will approach us persuasively not as fiction but as reality. I also pay attention to the aspect of self-examination in his works. We try to live in a natural way following our emotion and impulse. However, in another way, we try to control them by rational thinking based upon reason. This means that we wish to lead a comfortable life in a system of standardized culture and norm. But we also attempt variation and change instead of stagnating in that kind of life . In this way, we lead our life by standing on both sides of bilateral mentality and attitudes. We cannot live only by approaching the extremity. These contrasting attitudes and mentality instead of becoming mere contradiction, have constituted our society with their harmony. I think that contradicting appearance of life and his desire to deviate from it in his works should be read in this context. That is to say, I would like to accept the contradiction and discontent expressed in his works as a moment to attempt a more bright future. For example, I would like accept the juxtaposition in one picture of desire for freedom and unbearable thought of constraint not as a mere resignation or despondency but as a gesture of quest for a better future.

 3 The story outlines in Hur jin’s works give out a more strong persuasiveness by being consistent with his creative methods. In some of his works, Hur Jin paints his works on shaped canvasses and reconstructs them in his own way. This means that he tries to free himself from the restrictive elements of canvass which limits the creative field of the artist. And it also gives out the new effect of collision between reconstructed pictures. From this kind of attempt, he tries to get away from the fixed idea that art produces something in this constrained system. He also reveals that art can have a fat stronger vitality through the atmosphere which these divided pictures provide. It is worthwhile to pay attention to the work entitled which is arranged of 50 pieces of small canvasses. These divided pictures are different in character from the other ones. I would like to interpret that this work proposes us to assemble in our own way the whole significance of it. This work alludes to the fact a work of art is not perfect and we cannot accept the passive and fixed perspective which the work of art seems to provide. The title of her is also very significant. This satirically shows the agony of art in our time which is wandering about contradicting idea of commercialism and purity. We can easily read from his works containing cynical attitude toward commercialism of our time l would like to accept this attempt as a movement toward new possibility. This new attempt inevitably accompanies some new methods of painting. As he had attempted some few years ago, he adopts images which seemingly bears the characteristics X-ray photographs together with collages coming from various magazines. With all these methodologies, he deviates from traditional system of Korean painting. And these experiments reveal the question of how persuasively these artistic figures can represent the life of reality. We are reminded of a more deeply depressed aspects of ourselves through X-ray image, and the irregular forms shown in his works can be appreciated as contemporary figures full of facial expression. As we can see from his works which go beyond the limits of traditional style. they give out fresh and strong visual influence. However, it is also quite true that his works give the impression that they are a little unsmoothed and inharmonious, and this might certainly be a task which he will have to solve in the future. 

4 When we think of art as something awakening our sensation and rationality, bringing forth the change in life through revelation of life’s reality, we may well expect it form Hur jin’s works. This is more to the point because his works do not end up as more monologue or fiction. when we enter the exhibit space, it is possible for us to hear many stories and their echoes. We can easily sympathize with the stories told in his works. which in a natural way provide us with mental relief after loud yell and shout. The role of the artist comes to end here. The rest depends upon us who have seen his works.