Page 4 - 신종섭 작가 e-작품집

<Heartbeat of the Mountain> and its echoes
- A tribute to Jong-sup Shin's recent works

The pictures of mountains Jong-sup Shin usually drew in the 1980's are the mountains in the landscape as
the ones chosen for a motive. The mountains here are the ones we gaze at touchingly and put empathy in.

There was no difference at least in their attitudes toward mountains between Mr. Shin and those of the
artists who paint mountains a lot. Additionally his works showed intense color contrasts and distinct dense
matière. Though the mountains there were monotonous subjects, the originality in colors drew special
attention. In other words, those gave us the impression that they were the ones with a lot to be portrayed
on the canvas and they were desired to evoke their own imagery beyond what were believed to be the
subjects. Entering the 2010's, his pictures showed an amazing change; seems reasonable to say that this
change was already ubtly shown in his pictures of mountains in 1980’s.

In general this change in his paintings can be said to be “alteration from representation to abstraction.” To
be precise, it can be said the stage of semiabstraction rather than complete abstraction. But this change is
more of the one at the innovative stage than the one with a simple and natural alteration. Mountains are
mountains but they are not just the ones in the landscape but another presence of them led to be embodied
in a unique way deep in the artist's heart. You cannot say it is no surprise that he has been seeking for self-
innovation like this when reaching his 70s. It is a totally different attitude from what is found among most of
other artists in this age group who have a tendency to settle in their own world already created.

The reason why he was really taken with mountains was revealed in a recent interview with an art magazine.

“When I try to portray what I was inspired in the mountains, I want to describe that each peak is a small
hump of the mountain but the peaks get together to be a big mountain. It's like an orchestra composed of all
the echoes from such peaks. I'd like to show how magnificent the mountain can be when such echoes are all
gathered in that picture.”

These remarks reflect most sincerely how he has changed so far. Most of all, you can notice the fact that the
‘echoes' here are the major keyword to get access to his works. It is his metaphor for the echoes to form an
orchestra that shows his change distinctively. What makes an noticeable difference from his previous
pictures of mountains as just the subjects comes from the crystallized one making us deeply moved while we
are lost in the great echoes mountains create. This is not merely a superficial feature of change but a feature
deepened into his heart.

His works, <Heartbeat of the Mountain>, assume another form of series painting instead of independent
ones. The recent works consist of large pictures which are 5m in width. Series painting means the form of
consecutive art creation. Every artwork is an independent one and at the same time it composes one big
entire picture where all the art pieces of the series are linked together. Therefore, the exhibition becomes a
great orchestra created by colors and shapes. That is the very touching moment the whole artwork can give
you. What makes this more special is that his recent works were motivated by his experience from Mt.
Geumgang.

To Koreans, Mt. Geumgang is not much different from the intense and rare subject which penetrates all the
time. When the real landscape painting appeared due to modern awakening especially in Joseon Dynasty, Mt.
Geumgang was placed in the first. <Mt. Geumgang, The Entire> by Jeong Seon, an outstanding painter in
Joseon Dynasty whose pen name is Gyumjae, is evaluated as a representative work containing what Koreans
longed for. The Geumgang series of Kwan-shik Byun whose pen name is Sojeong can be considered to be a
representative painting for the modern period of Korea and it is engraved deeply upon our minds as typical
Korean beauty.

<Heartbeat of the Mountain> series of Jong-sup Shin has reached the historical context of sketching like this
and you can ruminate on the authentic meaning of painting. When you are in front of his <Heartbeat of the
Mountain> series, it reminds you of their passionate emotions Sojeong and Gyumjae hold toward Korean
nature. You cannot be amazed more at those passionate emotions which are led to the experience vividly
linked to our time.
October 2017

Oh, Kwang Su(Art Critic and Director of Museum SAN)