‘Elements of the landscape can be related to the philosophical and aesthetic thinking of the ancients.’
Artist: 박경묵 / Park Kyoung Mug
Artistic style: Elegant works using ink and Hanji paper. A meditation on form
Biggest artistic influence: Pablo Picasso
Artistic profile
Park’s elegant ink-on-hanji-paper works are a meditation on form, particularly the enduring elemental forms of the natural world, such as rocks and stones, which he thinks of as containers of time and space. The intangible is made tangible on the picture plane. The simple rock silhouette is reflected by the water; it is the rock that defines the shape of water. He views the black rock as a universe in microcosm: it is creation and extinction, life and death, day and night, filled and empty.
Park has had 25 solo exhibitions to date and been showcased at 140 curated exhibitions in galleries. He has also collaborated with several media and showed them in galleries and museums.
Can you tell me more about your artistic style?
I would like to show more deep work into the world after finishing studying traditional Korean watercolour painting and printing. I found a possibility in myself after I got interested and curious about the arts, and would like to face challenges and overcome them. This made me as an artist.
What is your dream project?
I would like to draw national heritages and clear nature as a traditional Korean watercolour series. Also, I would like to show one of my strengths, using media sounds and animations.
When you start new pieces, what does your creative process look like? Do you plan each piece out before you start, or do you let the piece come to life as you go?
I feel scared, so I prepare it a lot considering the speed and depth. The plans are already started when I have an inspiration in my mind. I already have layered experiences and skills, so I focus on the image and feeling of my new work in detail. My emotions and heart move together with the brushstroke.
How do you overcome creative blocks?
I imagine the first plan of my new work again and again and try to find what made it wrong. If that is out of my control or skill, I accept it and change the plan, and consider if I could change it into my strength.
Do you have any tips for other artists who are just starting out?
You need to find who you are before finding your own colour.
What do you hope people take away from your artwork?
I hope my works stay in the audience’s heart.
I understand that you create works of art on Hanji paper and with Korean Traditional Ink. Are you able to tell me a little bit more about what it is like working with this as a canvas and material?
I usually use traditional materials, but I’m not giving any meaning to the materials, it’s just a medium of what I would like to express. In other words, I’m good at using it but not a traditionalist. I like using Hanji since I’m used to it, but also I like the sense that the colour soaks into Hanji, and love the unexpected change from the watercolour, especially when I am under control of that. Sometimes I draw on Hanji with acrylic paint or on canvas with traditional Korean watercolour.
I can see, having looked at your artwork titles Still Black Golden Rock, why your art has been described as being a “meditation on form” with particular focus on the elements of the landscape– what meaning do these hold for you?
I normally compare ‘rock’ to a rock or island for the convenience of communication, but actually, it means a symbolic vocabulary that shows a little universe. It could be explained as an island or a rock when I tried to find the word for something that contains the eternal time and space of the little universe. Therefore, I use refined traditional ink and repeat the brushstrokes to express wrinkles of eternal time and space. The repeat of brushstrokes makes the uniqueness of myself, Kyoung Mug Park, that has never been seen anywhere else.
You have also created some works that are of some more traditional Korean scenes and landscapes. Do you have an artistic style that you prefer?
I prefer having a vibrant brushstroke. In other words, I prefer a brushstroke that has strength which could be a basis for colours, and calmness which has reasons of nature. It would be like a work that you consistently want to see again without much explanation, someone or something who looks beautiful without much grooming, and a cuisine that used fewer condiments but has maximised the taste by showing the characteristics of ingredients. I don’t prefer to draw like ‘dessin’ while I’m using traditional ink, because that does not contain brushstroke, which makes me kind of bored.
One of the pieces being showcased as part of Korean Art London exhibition for yourself is a beautiful artwork titled “Miao Mao”, which I think is really incredible and I wonder how great it must feel to be the person who created it. I would love to learn more about it – how it was created, what the meaning behind the colours and the image that is detailed in gold.
Through the Green cat I want to show you (the audience) the acknowledgement of differences and accept each other, unlike my earlier drawings of cats. I believe the world can be in harmony when we accept our differences. By placing the landscape inside the cat I hoped to tell people about the order of nature. I made the landscape inside the cat green, and tried to say something about harmonization with the order of nature. The yellow and red colours are metaphors for the change of seasons. The landscape with the gold was one way to balance between colour and form of the cat, as well as showing the preciousness of the value of nature. At first, I tried with traditional ink, but I was wondering how it is different if I use gold. I’m still researching the appropriate way to show the landscape as well as the cat, but not overwhelming the images of the cat itself.
The green cat in the canvas is not based on a real cat, but it has a similar point to my own and symbolises the one who acts differently with different thoughts and vision, just like no one can be the same as others.
Faye’s comment
There is so much I could say about this artist, and his artwork. Initially, when I was looking through the artist brochure in preparation for this article, Miao Miao that caught my eye. I loved the colours, the green and the gold, and the landscaping detail was interesting, something I wanted to learn more about.
When I visited the exhibition for the first time, however, whilst I was still impressed with Miao Miao, it was his work ‘Still Black Golden Rock’, created using a water ink stick (a Korean traditional ink) that really stole the show for me. I think this piece of art to be one of the finest paintings I’ve ever seen. I could stand in front of it, gaze at it for hours, and not once be bored. Park’s exhibition at the fair, also included is the below, which I adore:
Park says above that he hopes his art work will stay in people’s hearts, and this one will stay with me. Whilst I can, hand on heart, truly say I have loved every piece of art on display, and that having been able to write this interviews has been a huge honour at every point, it is Park’s artwork and this interview that has been the most special to me. The peace that I feel when I look at them, is not something I’ve experienced from an artwork since I first set eyes on Van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace at Night, which I think is my favourite painting of all time.
The Artist’s Instagram accounts are: @kyoungmug or @parkkyoungmug (this account is very aesthetically pleasing, full of beautiful scenes)
Finally, I would like to extend a special thank you to Kim Yeunjin of Korean Art London for her considerable efforts in translating.