Page 4 - 장혁동 개인전 2023. 9. 12 – 10. 29 쇼움갤러리

Jang Hyuk-dong : an artist who makes you think, a painting that makes you look twice.

Jang Hyuk-dong is a painter who seems a bit unfamiliar in the art community of Korea. It may be due to the fact that

he has been living in Germany since 2000 and has been working mostly in European countries including France,
Austria and Luxembourg. However, he is not an unrecognized artist. His works have already been well-known and

fully recognized for his artistic quality through a number of solo and group exhibitions and awards, including the
2006 Jeongheon Mecenat Artist Award (Paris, France) and Beautiful Bridge 2 (Seoul Arts Center) in 2015.

Above all, what makes his works unique is that they depict everyday landscapes in his own way and the motifs of the

characters are special. He paints landscapes that can be commonly found in his surroundings. For example, it is the
same with the portrait of a painter who draws a picture for which the artist himself became the motive of the painting.

There is also a portrait of the artist crouching down and drawing hard in a corner.

Another scene is a man standing alone on a boat, three people talking in the space of a building, two people passing
by on the street, or a line of people having a serious conversation. Not only that, on his canvases girls are playing

games, people gathering between leaves, citizens passing between spaces, or a woman looking at a painting, But the
scenes are most of the traces of life that other painters seldom use as subjects,

The landscapes in these canvases are very much mundane rather than for a particular purpose, and do not represent

a specific situation. Of course, there are artworks where the expression and gestures of a woman in a red dress are
perceived as part of a play. Nonetheless, all of his works follow a consistent pattern and form. The format is very

universal. He captures scenes in ordinary space. But the artist's gaze towards it is overall melancholy. In addition, these
paintings, which show rather dark landscapes, are all focused on gloomy scenes of common people rather than

revealing any particular issue or situation. At the same time, his works give the viewer the feeling of familiarity without
much resistance. But that is not all. The colors and compositions of his paintings where its background are filled with

solitary landscapes lead us to contemplate.

Why are these figures and backgrounds there, and why are the expressions on their faces mostly obscured or
crushed? The canvas of his paintings like that of Francis Bacon meets the natural landscape and becomes the

background, finally becoming one with the ominous atmosphere in the work.

4