중심에 이르는 길 _ The Path Which Leads to the Center
장연순 _ Chang Yeonsoon
2021-04-08 ~ 2021-04-30
Gallery LVS (Sinsa-dong) opens Chang Yeonsoon's solo exhibition, <The path which leads to the center>, from April 8 to April 30, 2021. It is a solo exhibition in 5 years following her solo exhibition in 2016.
'The path which leads to the center' is the main title of the show as well as the name of the work, symbolizes the human body and mind, inner and outer elements that penetrate the past and the present.
The works shown in the solo exhibition returning after five years have made a distinct change in materials and techniques. The previous work 'Matrix' series, made by sewing a natural fiber material ‘abaca (hemp)’, showed multiple layers of flexible, soft and transparent.
On the other hand, the new work “The path which leads to the center” gives a heavy and solid feel through the use of modern industrial materials, bonding, and gold foil techniques. Fibers that repeat a certain pattern and gold leaf structurally decorated are three-dimensional as architectural and geometric objects.
Artist Chang Yeonsoon’s message is read by following the vertical and horizontal lines that move according to certain rules. It seeks to deliver her message about the harmony of life and spirit, as well as the answer to the question of human existence that she finally wants to reach.
The background of the work begins with traditional dyeing and sewing. This is a story about a clothing that has been hand-woven into clothing by weaving fabrics at home. It has passed through the centuries and passed down naturally from her ancestors to her as her genetic factors over the generations.
The previous work 'Matrix' and the new work 'The path which leads to the center’ show the process of traditional clothing becoming fine art due to special materials and expression methods as they come to the present age.
This is the transmission of traditional acts that have continued since time immemorial, and leads to the vitality of textiles that are constantly being re-created in response to the past.
Teflon mesh, chosen as a new material, is a highly durable industrial material with a Teflon coating on glass fiber. Light and air penetrate through the holes, so that several layers are clearly visible. The new work, composed of Teflon mesh layers, develops a new genre of textile art that transcends rigidity and flexibility with a straight and strong body shape and smooth gold leaf expression.
The gold leaf on top of a solid Teflon mesh layer as a schematic appears as a new expression technique inspired by the gold leaf technique used in traditional costumes and the ‘Sagyeong 寫經’ made by transcripts of Buddhist scriptures. (*Sagyeong : Transcription of the Buddhist sutras by hand)
Gold is a natural material with a long history and symbolizes immortal value, divinity, purity, and control. It has the characteristics of purity as a natural material that has existed since the beginning, and softness and solidity as a mineral at the same time. Sagyeong is the spiritual foundation that governs the body and mind and is the noble training process of human beings. This is a Korean cultural heritage that uses noble materials but was born with a humble and honest heart.
Gold leaf, which has been handed down since the 4C, was a valuable technique that was used in royal clothing. The gold leaf craftsman hand-spread gold powder and stamped the pattern, but now it is replaced by a machine, making it easier to produce than before. However, the gold leaf technique is the one of Korea's long-established craft techniques completed by high-value materials and skilled craftsmen.
Gold, expressed in geometry, continues on top of layers and appears as a material that symbolizes the high value of the human spirit that exists over and over again through the times. The desire for the noble spirit of humans who constantly learns and tries to realize and the search for life as a microscopic world connected from the universe responds to each other and finally tries to reach the “Center” in the self that transcends the times.
Chang Yeonsoon was the first textile artist to be selected as “Artist of the Year 2008” by the Korea National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art(MMCA), and was also selected as the finalists at LOEWE CRAFT PRIZE 2018, with more than 1,900 artists from all over the world participated.