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Hwasaan, Kang - Incidental Dominion in Life
Hwasaan, Kang - Incidental Dominion in Life
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Hwasaan Kang - Sonnet

Since 1990, I been working on the major premise of ‘Incidental Dominion in Life’ as the theme of my works.
‘Incidental Dominion in Life’ means that “some force that works in our affairs acts like a coincidence in unex-
pected places and may bring about an outcome that is beyond our reach” (from a critique by Kim Young-jae).
Conversely, it also means that something inevitably takes place and governs the direction or outcome of our
lives. To elaborate, the birth of life is extremely coincidental. It is a theme bound to reveal ever so strongly
that inevitability is at its foundation, and it is a proposition found in the question of ‘Who am I?’

In 1989, I had my first solo exhibition in the theme of ‘Requiem.’ The exhibition was a ritualistic event for me
to address the pain of the times through figurative works and move on to a mode of expression. In 1990,
I promised myself to hold a private exhibition at least once in a year or two and have been doing so with
the theme of ‘Incidental Dominion in Life’. Each exhibition had a subtitle, such as ‘Cleansing for fishing’, ‘At a
ruined temple’, ‘Building a pagoda with heart’, ‘Silence and echo’, ‘Gifts’, and ‘Sonnet’.

Until 2016, my works were extremely spontaneous and emotional like those of expressionism. Then, from
2017 with the works on ‘Gifts’, I started to create works that are expressive and conceptual and minimal at the
same time. Beginning from 2020, my works have changed to abstract images created with geometric lines.
The Covid-19 epidemic, which erupted shortly after I returned home from a gallery tour in Los Angeles in
early February, gave me the opportunity to focus on my painting all day and have a time of deep exploration
and contemplation. This period of intense research and reflection liberated me from painting with brush.
Although it was only for a few months, I was able to feel the true freedom of facing the canvas while living a
life that is completely cut off from the world. Creating my works in such freedom was immensely helpful and
pleasant as well. I also realized that emotional expression and rational expression are on the same page, as
coincidence and inevitability are one…

The contents that many artists like myself want to include in their works, regardless of genre and expression,
are symbols of abstract words such as life, love, people, nature, environment, and mind. In the meantime, we
seek communion with nature through our work. This quest has remained the same before or now and will
continue in the future, because human beings are lonely.

The ‘Sonnet’ paintings presented in this exhibition was conceived one day in 2016 when my friend Lee Jong-
tae suggested to me to have an exhibition on ‘Shakespeare’s sonnet’ to commemorate the 400th anniversary
of his death. Sonnet is a poetic form from Europe. The word itself means ‘little song.’ Derived from Italian
folk songs in the 13th century, sonnet refers to a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict form and spe-
cific structure. Following the strict rhyme scheme for each line is important in writing a sonnet, and yet the
conventions for this form have changed over time. The most well-known sonnets are those by Shakespeare,
who left 154 pieces.