Page 8 - 이성영 작가 작품집

Sung-Young, Lee creates paintings of the

times through endless experiments.

Every artwork is composed of content and form. Arnold Hauser, a Hungarian art historian clearly explains this as a
relation of ‘water and bowl’. The discovery of the form suitable for content is viewed as art. It is beautiful when the
content fits the form. If not, it cannot be survived as art. What if somebody is drinking wine in a large bowl? Even
though the taste is the same, it would be tough to fully enjoy the taste of wine. Of course, wine should be enjoyed
in a glass. In the same manner, what if freshly-cooked steaming white rice in a white bowl is on a black small dining
table? Your mouth is probably watering. It could be also felt holy. But If the white cooked rice is found on the street
or stream, it looks dirty.

Depending on where an object is placed, it could look beautiful or not. This belongs to the harmony between content
and form in art. Being placed as its original look in time is the true harmony between content and form, and this
work could move viewers’ hearts.

Thus, many artists continuously work hard to find the method(form) suitable for the story(content) they want to
share. But the content is not much different or new. It could be their own stories, surroundings, society, nature, and
history. The content of works could be a bit different depending on how each artist interprets them.

The problem is that the discrimination of each work is revealed in the method of delivering a story, which is the
form. The individuality of works is also revealed in this part. For this reason, artists are absorbed in finding new
expression methods. However, it is not that easy to find the form suitable for content. The artists’ competency is
decided here.

Sung-Young, Lee is a competent artist who has continuously made efforts to find his own language. He pioneered
many materials and methods through many experiences and experiments. His experiments based on open mind are
still ongoing. It is like a seeker’s journey for finding a method to deliver his story.

As an artist equipped with solid skills, he majored in traditional paintings. What is the reason why he keeps
challenging new experiments even though his ability is great enough to be fully recognized in the traditional painting
area?

“Through my trip to China, I realized that the traditional paintings were already completed in the Song/Ming
Dynasties. The method is not good enough to create new paintings. My work is my effort for creating the painting
language suitable for this era.”

His work reflecting this thought looks as a painting of the times with new senses based on the harmony of Oriental
content, Western material, and technique. Sung-Young, Lee is creating his own style of contemporary paintings by
developing materials as his own grammar with the use of various materials(tablet capsule, metal, small dining table,
and etc.), and also combined the traditional composition method and transformed traditional objects.

Jun-Yeop, Jeon(Painter/Art Editor of Biz Hankook)

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