Cho Sung-Hee: Splendid Stars

Viewing
the Universe
and Life
Since the mid s, the Korean contemporary art community has increasingly utilised Asian
mulberry paper – Hanji in Korean – as a significant medium of expression. efore this time, Hanji
was mainly used by oriental painters or merely used as a currency wrap. Many contemporary
artists saw abundant potential to manifest Hanji as an integral part of their artistic vision
and over time became a natural medium of common interest. n the s, Dansaekhwa, the
Monochrome Art Movement, artists such as Kwon oung-Woo, Chung Chang-Sup, ark Seo-o
further investigated the possibilities of working with Hanji. Artists such as Choi Chang-Hong,
Ham Sup, Han oung-Sup, Han Gi-u, ark Chul and oo ae-Gu started to focus on mulberry
paper as a main medium for their work and became founding members of the Hanji Artist
Association of Korea.
The plasticity of the medium, Hanji, is well suited to express the unique essence of Korean
culture. When submerged in water, mulberry paper can be sculpted into any form. As an artist
who also shows an exceptional sensibility towards sculptural form, Cho Sung-Hee and mulberry
paper form an obvious synthesis and it is as if the artist and the medium were destined to
interact. Starting to work with mulberry paper in the turn of st century was a natural course
of action for an artist who started her career from representational painting into abstraction.
Cho Sung-Hee’s work can be viewed as a condensation of her existence and epitome of life itself.
Every facet of her work reflects the artist’s limitless imagination. For example, representations
of the infinite abundance of the stars above endless lotus leaves arranged across the surface
of a tranquil pond or an overgrown field adorned with clovers. We can start to grasp the inner
thought of the artist as multiple imagery floods into us as one. nique methods behind the
making of an artwork as a vehicle of communication between the maker and the audience.
Through this perspective, we can finally have an in-depth conversation with Cho Sung-Hee.
And, through this perspective, we can sense her indomitable will and flaming passion that can
even melt steel. We ask the question when looking at the remains of her life experience in
retrospect what has fired her passion to this extent
sing the imagery of leaves, galaxies and mushrooms as a metaphor for the natural obect, Cho
Sung-Hee’s work constantly reminds us of the vastness of nature. When viewing her work, we
imagine nature that existed through our experience. That imagination may be of an endless
meadow filled with clover, lotus laying on the surface of a still pond, a field filled with roses or
Reflection (detail),
2014
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