APOLLONIAN/DIONYSIAN / 08/10/10 - 07/11/10
SUNGFEEL YUN
Exhibition runs: 8th October to 7th November
Location: Art Work Space, The Hempel, 31-35 Craven Hill Gardens, London W2 3EA
SUMARRIA LUNN and Art Work Space are pleased to present a solo exhibition of work by Sungfeel Yun.
The work of Sungfeel Yun occupies the curious space between art and science. Engaging with ideas of the cosmos, the artist masterminds an array of balancing acts - all with iron filings. The unusual medium may seem a non sequitur for such a pursuit, but it is precisely because of the filings' paradoxical situation, both as strong metal and fragile strand, that such tension is created. The works are an essay in harmony; a balancing of opposing forces that provocatively position the viewer in between.
Yun's painstaking technical process is made all the more complex when it is considered that the entire affair is conducted from the back of the canvas. With an array of magnets, Yun teases apart, pushes and drags his iron filings through a viscous resin matrix in order to create what can only be described as portraits of opposites. Swirling patterns rich with echoes of the solar system call upon the conflicting forces of Yin and Yang, Apollonian and Dionysian, and Chaos and Cosmos (Order), as they exist in a state of mutual dependence that keeps them in flux. Implicitly harmonious, neither can exist without the other and so the artist visually unites them as one.
Yun harmonises these disparate elements through an imposition of logic and order. Occupying the space between human intervention and natural entropy, he subjects select parts of his creations to rust, lending them a tactility that opposes the austere bluntness of the black threads. In nurturing the inevitable - oxidisation and decay, gathering and separation - Yun acts as its catalyst, destroying his work even as it is being made. Imposing a time limit of barely a few hours, Yun must work tirelessly to generate the delicately balanced aesthetic which so defines his work.
Cosmos 04 presents a scorched vision that appears strikingly reminiscent of the solar system. A burnt mass at its core, this central circle takes on a dual identity as both nucleus - orchestrator of life - and void. A series of concentric circles are littered with planet-like forms, the modest size of which impresses upon the viewer the relative insignificance of our existence. Tightly forged into a circle as if by gravity, the rusted clouds that form its atmosphere act as a periphery between the defined space (that depicted through the filings) and the unknown (the white canvas). The soft protrusion of some of the filings into this white vacuum is suggestive of our desire to penetrate further into the foreign worlds that surround our own, but the subtlety with which the filings trespass into this unknown space ultimately indicates our wariness of such an odyssey.
Chaos 02 exists as its visual antithesis. It operates in an entirely different pictorial space, angular with unforgiving corners and a stark monochrome palette. Its series of blacks and greys play the cool counterpart to its auburn sibling, and by its daring protrusion into the farthest corners of the canvas, occupies the unknown space suggested by Cosmos 04. One imagines the works combined, the core of Cosmos completing the void within Chaos, their colours fusing to create the perfect portrait of the universe.
It is only when the work is seen in profile that its true complexity is revealed: we are not witness to paintings, or even drawings, but sculptures. The pushing and twisting of the filings amongst one another results in both chasm and cornucopia, forging elevated structures which rise from their canvas foundations. Emerging beyond the picture plane, the filings challenge the viewer's perception of space and invert our position; from visual intruder to physical subordinate.
The essence of Yun's aim is to condense the opposing but inextricable forces that are together believed to constitute existence and make them more comprehensible. In combining this with his unusual medium and highly technical process, Yun succeeds in not only representing this sense of order conceptually, but also in the majestic fusion of the work's disparate elements into one unified body. To quote the artist: "What better way is there to represent the beauty and natural order of our world than using a material directly taken from the earth itself?"
Sungfeel Yun is a graduate of Dongguk University (Seoul) and Goldsmiths College. Solo shows include Chaos + Cosmos, SUMARRIA LUNN, Crypt Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London (2009), Moving Life -Taeguk, Gallery With White, Seoul (2006) and Stillness in Movement, Gallery Mass, Seoul (2006). Group exhibitions include KIAF – Korea International Art Fair, with SUMARRIA LUNN/Art Work Space/Hanmi Gallery, Seoul (2010), Long Nights, William Angel Gallery, London (2008), Lines in Space, Gyeonggido Museum of Art, Ansan, South Korea (2007), Sungfeel Yun and Eric Ayotte, Tenderpixel Gallery, London (2008), Banwol Art Hall, Pocheon, South Korea (2006) and Matter and Analog, Hana Art Gallery, Seoul (2005). The artist is recipient of a number of awards including the Korean National Museum of Contemporary Art Special Award (2006), the Seoul Museum of Art Award (2005) and the Bucheon Metropolitan Museum of Art Award (2004), and his work is held in a number of private and public collections.
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Sungfeel Yun - Apollonian/Dionysian
Exhibition runs: 8th October to 7th November (Tues to Fri, 12 - 6pm / Sat (12 - 5pm)
Location: Art Work Space, The Hempel, 31-35 Craven Hill Gardens, London W2 3EA
The gallery is occasionally closed for private events - please check http://www.artworkspace.co.uk/visitor-information.php.
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In collaboration with Art Work Space
