허진 Hurjin

Discourse for the Deconstruction and Restoration of Reality: HurJin’sAnonymous Humans

By Kim Bok-young, Art Critic

1. We may draw out a theory of painting from the question “Why does the artist paint?” or “Why should the artist paint?” We can start our discussion from these questions as they are applicable to artist HurJin’s work. Born into a generation that was educated in the 1980s and was passionately active in the 1990s, he seems to have much to say about himself and his surroundings. Such phrases as distortion and refraction, conflict and defiance, solitude and horror, thirst for freedom, and longing for a new world can be meaningful in unraveling the stories his art conveys amid a flood of information and political, economic and social upheavals. While holding his first solo show in 1990 he said the following out of desperation: “Art is to make those unfamiliar with logical thinking perceive social realities as if touching them by copying concrete form. (원문에 구체적형사엥의해???확인요)I am now in a situation where I have to overcome a lack of enthusiasm and a feeling of helplessness and recover my confidence, all of which were caused by avoiding the problems of distorting or diluting an upright life or delaying any judgment in this regard without a critical mind.” When asked why he paints he wanted to make the following two facts known: he paints to enhance his correct understanding of social realities and to explore how to encourage himself through painting.

 2. Motivated elementally by these reasons he held three exhibitions and produced more works. In the series Seeing in SilenceHur makes a foray into a complex net of paintings, juxtaposing those living around him, such as a group of people undergoing the pain of the times in a distorted society, a peasant carrying a hoe, a politician delivering a speech, and a singer, with similar-looking historical figures. In Multiple Humansexhibited at his second solo show he tries to disclose the corrupted contemporary hypocrisy of mankind, realistically airing their dirty linen in public much like X-rays revealing diseased parts. In this painting deceptive people emerge in the form of multiple stories like performers appearing on stage in order. Such paintings as Keep Running, A Sad Manand Thirst for Freedom are representations of not only criticism and accusation but also prospects and visions for the future. These works directly deal with the absurdity caused by capitalism and the twisted nature of humanity, conveying the stories of contemporary people without reservation. In large paintings released through three exhibitions he has clarified his keen perception and understanding of society in his own language. It is made clear why he has to paint. He obviously seeks to criticize absurd realities and, in particular, the “deconstruction” of realities. 

3. Hur’s attempts to criticize and deconstruct realities through painting peaks in this fourth solo show. Through his series Anonymous Humanswe can follow his tracks in deconstructing reality. As an anonymous person does not reveal who they are, they are distorted in the situation of the times and reality. They are obviously someone who has just lost their humanity and can be said to be a reified person who is no different from a thing. In this exhibition he takes the motifs of his paintings from such anonymous people. He addresses his own portraits, a group of people around him, and aspects of natural ecosystems (Anonymous Humans-A Journeyand Anonymous Humans-Contemporary Landscape Painting), wandering people and their surroundings (Anonymous Humans-The Ten Longevity Symbols, Anonymous Humans-The Tale ofEighteen Short Historical Stories and Anonymous Humans-Seven Colors of Dailiness), and screaming people and an isolated Godot (Anonymous Humans-Waiting for Godot). All figures and things including the artist himself are evanescent, wandering about aimlessly with an unbearable lightness of being. He tries to represent such situations for restoration, claiming that they are all anonymized by losing their original nature and look. This is the main content of this exhibition. He earlier addressed the problem of desire to express his expectation for restoration. Works such as Thirst and The Opening of the World-Insatiable Avariceare preludes to such an attempt. The objective of these works is to represent humanity impaired in the process of meeting and being a slave to desire, as well as those waiting for the opening of the world to get over the predicament of miserable sights. This can be said to be an attempt to overcome the limits of desire or to ultimately deconstruct desire itself by depicting its extremes. What he also stresses in this exhibition is the recovery of the artist himself as well as the ecosystems and preexisting cultural environments mentioned above. Most noteworthy is the adoption of his own portrait and body movements in works such as Anonymous Humans-A Journey, Anonymous Humans-Waiting for Godot, and Anonymous Humans-Contemporary Landscape Painting. What does it mean? Perhaps these works include, as an anonymous man and the subject of opening the world, his intention to lead the deconstruction and restoration of impaired, old-fashioned things such as nature, a group of people, and landscapes.

4. In closing, our concern is how the artist concretely deals with his desire for the reconstruction (deconstruction) of reality and his endeavor for restoration through painting after he has become the subject of his work. He has maintained the methodology of “a descriptive cyclical system” while relying less on this than before. Whereas he restricts the use of symbolic images on some topics such as landscape, Chinese characters, and the tales of Eighteen Short Historical Stories, he actively adopts and uses forms found in contemporary events, especially body parts such as hands and faces alongside his own portraits. This exhibition is characterized by the paintings of the future highlighting situations of today. To do this, he uses a deconstructivist way of collaging the aspects of reality he wants to renovate. An example is Anonymous Humans-Waiting for Godot I. It has a relatively pared down structure in which three aspects are depicted in a series. Visible in this work are his self-portraits on the left and right sides, traditional landscape painting overlaid with folk painting-like patterns (flowers). Anonymous Humans-Contemporary Landscape Painting IIdisplays an interweave of mountains and rivers depicted in the landscape painting-like style and a group of people portrayed in a descriptive mode. Each pictorial aspect fitting for those of reality is presented in this facture. Our expectation for the recovery of natural ecosystems depicted in landscape painting-like manner and for landscapes as old painting to have new meaning as painting today, are all addressed and presented in this way. This presentation can be called deconstructivist because his paintings allow viewers to read themselves relatively freely in accordance with their intent by arranging the styles of difference and severance in order. Those reading and appreciating his paintings must bear in mind the fact that his aspirations for the restoration of humanity and reality motivate his works. Hur’s recent art demonstrates that he depends more on multifaceted the natural logic of neo-historicism, departing from the circular argument of historicism, prefiguring the site where painting and reality, nature and man, and man and society coexist. Anonymous Humans-Seven Colors of Dailiness is a good example of this. We can predict where his upcoming works will go from these pieces in which he tries to integrate diverse categories like humans, animals, tangible and intangible things, codes, chaos, and order. In a broad sense, his recent works are like real events a historian deletes and rewrites. In this respect, they are paintings as “discourses” for deconstruction and restoration. We can say that he intends to transcend the paintings highlighting “criticism of reality” he displayed at his third solo show. This fourth exhibition will serve as momentum to explore his new paintings and the future direction of his work.