Page 23 - 상상속의로의 여행 2025. 5. 27 – 7. 20 권숙자 안젤리미술관

This is a ‘playful imagination’ that is possible during play and based on imagination that comes from play itself. At this time, the
mental imagination of the inner world plays a more important role than the perceiving eyes. Play in art is not limited to mere
play itself, but acquires meaning as it is elevated to an aesthetic ideal. The essence of play is the self-expression of the player,
and it is the mode of existence of the work of art itself. Being alive is the nature of play. The playing impulse forms the basis of
aesthetic and artistic activities that provide such moments and opportunities. Play is a unique and meaningful expression of life.
The important archetypal behavior that drives human society is imbued with the desire to play from the beginning. Play is the
driving force behind culture, and only when we play do we experience creative and productive culture.

Play based on imagination shows the typical examples of specific human life through works of art. It is a human practice for self-
understanding and self-realization through practice in concrete experience. The identity of the player lies with the player and is
secured by the joy of play. Play takes place in the ‘living present’ and activates the subject’s potential to construct and transform
time and space. Play reveals the human position in the world. Play, which arises from the core of life, becomes the center that
leads life. Play occurs through conversation between humanbeings and natural beings. Immersion in serious play returns us
to the time before the dichotomous division of subject and object, and unites the subject and object. The mode of play is self-
expression, and it reveals certain universal aspects of nature. This is a characteristic shared by all living organisms.

An eye for art is inseparable from an eye for looking at the world around us. In other words, it is looking at life through art. If we
broaden our horizons to view our surroundings and adjust the height and depth of our perspective on objects, beauty can be
found everywhere in various forms. In this context, it would be more correct to say that we discover beauty rather than create
it. Therefore, aesthetic discernment is important along with our visual perception to find beauty. The artist’s task is not to be
dominated by form, but to create a new ‘form appropriate to the content.’ In essence, the fundamental purpose of creating art
by adding an appropriate form to a given content is not simply to capture the external appearance of the object, but to visually
convey the spirit inherent in that form. So to speak, it is a process of transferring the inherent spirit, a process of discovery.

Our aesthetic consciousness is in touch with the providence of nature and lies in moderating and simplifying our infinite desires
and wants. That is true freedom and the path to desirable human survival. As nature-friendly and ecological artists, we should
focus our imagination not on creating something from nothing, but on recognizing the limitations of something, breaking
through them, and then finding nothing again. he very fact that we were born as humans is the beginning and fulfillment of a
great creation. All creation begins with all life in nature. And it is in human beings that the image of God is most magnificently
revealed. The artist’s unique formative language evokes universal empathy, encourages active participation, and guides us into
an endless world of imagination. The question of ‘artistic will and consciousness’ in creating a meaningful world is gradually
being forgotten when we look at the situation of contemporary art that is undergoing repeated deconstruction and fusion.
But even in this ambiguous situation where sense and non sense are mixed, we cannot help but constantly ask about identity.
Because humans are meaningful beings who ask themselves what their true meaning is.

21