Page 59 - PHOTODOT 2017년 9월호 VOL.46 Sept

약사의 실험나무 The Experimental Tree of Pharmacists 2017 c-print 178x297cm
However, the artist's negative state of mind does not seem to be
clearly revealed in the image of the work. How was that artist 's
state of mind affected the work in detail?
At the time of my work preparation, I was very cynical. I thought that
'people would look at in a way what each and everyone of them would
want to see anyway, no matter how well I tried to describe.' And the
humorous and clear image of the story felt from my previous work
seemed became meaningless at a certain moment. As I changed to
expose passive and closed aspects instead of the usual bright and
cheerful appearance, so I thought that the work had to change. But
that does not mean that the work is serious or negative. When I was
creating this work, I wanted to eliminate all the cheerfulness, humor,
detailed explanations and descriptions that were revealed in previous
works and wanted the images to be abstract. I hid the philosophy or
the story I originally intended to speak and presented just a whole
picture as if it were a scenery somewhere if you look at it from the
distance. While implicating the story, I have planted several devices so
people can deduce each profession. But, I intended people would not
find them unless they see my works in detail.
How do you image a specific person who has become a motif in
your work?
If you meet a person for a long time, you begin to have some analogies
about him without explanations. I tend to be very good at making those
images. Even though you wanted to make this person's landscape
at once, it will take about 5 to 7 years of observation and analogies
for one scene. When the observation and analogies are somewhat
specified, I, then, bring them to my work. In the <The Landscape of
Others>, I studied the professions in parallel with observing the object When a pharmacist reaches a certain level, he has the ability to
to image a person with a certain occupation. For example, a person dispense a number of medicines himself. The tree that appears in the
who became the motive of the <financial man's stone mountain> was work is a natural representation of the process by which medicine is
a person who sponsored me. When I talked with him, I became curious made. In the tree, there are all kinds of things to be the raw material of
about finance. I read books or documentaries to study that part. As you medicine, and animals that care for raw materials appear. Just as there
continue to observe and study, there are moments when the picture are trees, raw materials, animals to get a single drop of extract, they are
comes across my minds. I do not stop there because I have the picture, symbolizing the calling and effort for the job.
but I study his job to find more. It takes longer than I thought. When I look at your work in close proximity, it seems interesting
Can you tell us about the work of the <pharmacist's experimental that the unexpected small elements seem to pop out as stories.
tree> in your series of <The Landscape of Others>? I often hear you say that you have a lot of imagination. What do
With <pharmacist's experimental tree>, since I was very sick from my you think about it?
childhood, I naturally made many images by meeting with pharmacists. They often say that I was full of imagination or fairy-tales a like. But I did

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