By Reporter Kayla Lee
Throughout the 1970sand 1980s, Artist Koo(professor at Sukmyung Women’s University) has firmly establishedhimself as a naturalist artistwith a solid compositionalpower and a sense of the density. He states: “Painting thatbreathes. This is wah I pursue.I want to find a finer breaththat is given by objects untilcountless fragments of a dreamare shattered to overcome thetraces of the remains and become a complete object. My artwork should not be a massivelump of a drawn object.”
He relates: “I heal thoseweak and wounded objects asdrawing them on my paining.I want it to be expressed asthe cleanest and most completething, to conceive new power,and to be placed on top of newharmony and order condensedinto one great power.”In the artist's note, he alwaysaims for a static and contemplative image, whether it is astill life or just a figure.
It is an expression of his willto reflect the inner world ofhumans, away from paintingsthat focus on external formsthat are simply understood bythe eyes. The expression 'stilllife' seems more appropriatethan the word 'still life' for thework. The artist's work is verymodern with a still life withouta background, clear and modern colors, intelligent arrangement, and restrained expression.
Apart form a painting workwhich simply focus on external form of beauty, the artistis trying to express the innerworld of human beings as having component power and elaborated description. The artist'sworks are very modern withstill life without background,clear and modern colors, intelligent arrangement, and restrained expression.
The artist draws all objectssuch as landscapes, still life,and people on canvas but inparticular his flower paintingshave a charm and emotionallyric beauty that make youimmerse yourself in warm contemplation. The artist said, “It seems like my art work hassimilar idea of antonymy because my work reaches a hypertensity condition even thepassing wind has to hold theirbreath. His attitude when heis drawing, stops time whichflies.”
The artist has very specialand objectivism style. Objectsin his works tend to gaze atthe nature in harsh and stingy way. As you can see in hislandscapes and portraits, itseems to reflect the will to stayaway from the dailiness of life.
As painters of the Romanticera understood nature as a response to emotion rather thanan object of observation, themeaning of drawing changed.It means an egoistic view ofthings that tries to understandan object as it pleases, not asthe time of nature, but as thetime of the artificial and controlling mind.
One of the best realismpainter in Korea, his worksare well-known as photo-likepaintings. The artist's signature is the unique expression ofemptiness based on restrainedcomposition and composition,concentration of materials, andthe concept of blank space inoriental painting.
The work reveals an orientalworldview that advocates internal thinking based on realism.He likes to introduce a lot ofspace into the canvas, which isbased on the concept of a spaceof thought that can be found inoriental paintings.
The extremely simple andconcise image, like the patternless skin of Yi dynastyporcelain, comes from maximizing the moment whentime stops. French art criticJose Beuyer praised him,saying, “The paintings of Jaseung Koo evoke the feeling oflooking at a piece of abstractpainting.”Painter Koo Ja-seung graduated from the Hongik University Department of Paintingand Graduate School, OntarioCollege of Art in Canada. Currently, he is immersed in hiswork as an emeritus professorat Sangmyung University,chairman of Danwon Art Festival, and full-time artist.
He participated in more than500 both home and abroad Invitational exhibitions such asthe World Realism PaintingExhibition in Japan and also 12husband and wife exhibitions.
He the Plastic Arts Awardat the Monaco InternationalContemporary Art Festival,the Silver Prize at the SalongViolet in Paris, the GwangjuMunicipal Culture Award, theOh Ji-ho Art Award, and theBest Artist of the Year (2010),and also worked on a portraitof the President of Korea
