Rewriting the History of Modern and Contemporary Korean Art Using Formalist Methodology

Professor Emeritus Jeong Yeong-mok of Seoul National University, an art historian and critic, has compiled his writings on the painter Jang Wook-jin, along with his paintings.
Jang Wook-jin is a painter who represents modern and contemporary Korean art, along with Lee Jung-seob, Kim Hwan-ki, Park Soo-keun, and Yoo Young-kuk.
Jang Wook-jin's small and pretty paintings are receiving more and more love as he becomes more and more like a mythical figure.
But how much do we really know about his paintings? As the anecdotes and rumors about him become more extraordinary, aren't they actually confining Jang Wook-jin?

Until now, criticism of Jang Wook-jin has been biased towards the author's theory, focusing on his eccentric life and Buddhist and Taoist thoughts.
However, the author defines Jang Wook-jin as a Korean modernist from the perspective that “painters speak through pictures, and pictures are expressed through form,” and presents a new vision for the description of the history of modern and contemporary Korean art.
The author invites us to look with awe at the fact that Jang Wook-jin, who has been painting for over 60 years, has repeatedly expressed several subjects on small canvases.
And Jang Wook-jin's world of paintings is interpreted as infinitely large and as repetition, not repetition.

Jang Wook-jin knew better than anyone that subjective formative consciousness was the basic quality of a modernist.
And he recognized early on that Korean identity does not simply stem from the locality of materials or subject matter, but depends on a unique formative form.
The author, with the eyes of an art historian who wrote Jang Wook-jin's "Catalogue Raisonné," reads the artist's sincerity, which is by no means simple, in the simple forms he left behind.
The authenticity of the formative context that runs through his life and work unfolds a large world on his small paintings.
《Simple Pictures, Simple People Jang Wook-jin》 invites readers into this world with over 100 paintings.

Their work was not merely a matter of art that could be discussed in terms of form and content.
It contains the twists and turns of our lives and history.
In other words, our old image, which is like a kind of self-portrait, is reflected in their work.
The primary task for art historians is to examine these images more specifically from various perspectives, through the eyes of this era.
--- p.7~8

Art is also a human affair, so people are often talked about before paintings.
So, it is natural in a way to look at people first and then become attached to the work.
As a researcher, I am no exception. I was deeply impressed by his character and life, and perhaps that is why I feel even more affection and empathy for his work.
But how long will we confine Jang Wook-jin to such anecdotes and sentiments? Now, when we talk about Jang Wook-jin, we must be able to discuss his works' place in art history and their formal value alongside his anecdotes.
--- p.41~42

Jang Wook-jin is a writer who, by nature, cannot abandon the authenticity of his life and work.
Such sincerity sometimes manifested itself in extreme ways in everyday life.
The sincerity expressed in the work can also be interpreted as an extension of such life.
One example is the fact that he, who is so purely exposed or has a contemplative daily life, displays remarkable concentration and rational power when it comes to his work.
Therefore, his implicit symbolic mechanisms of balance and moderation should be viewed as the result of extremely mature and rational control rather than childish or playful ones.

--- p.70

A painting's value cannot be qualitatively assessed based on its scale.
Even if a comparison of physical proportions regarding size is theoretically established, the independent frame is a ubiquitous world that contains within itself infinite possibilities for formats and images, depending on the intention of the artist who operates it.
These are Jang Wook-jin's small drawings.
This is precisely why a work that costs hundreds of millions of won by putting a single dot on a large, empty screen, or a small painting the size of a postcard by Jang Wook-jin, must be expensive.
--- p.83~85

The traditional formative elements that appear in his work are not borrowed from their visual appearance, but rather express the primitive properties of their purity and simplicity.
However, when accepting traditional materials in a work, if the author fails to put them into his own unique language and vessel, he cannot acquire the material's true cultural identity.
When we talk about 'Korean identity,' it refers to the author's own identity and is directly connected to the author's originality.
What is important to note here is that it is Korean because it is original, but it is not original because it is Korean.

--- p.162

However, considering that among his vast works of over 1,000 pieces (including ink paintings), there are only about 30 Buddhist paintings, it can be said that there is not much connection with Buddhism in his world of works.
Rather, Jang Wook-jin's world of works seems closer to the Taoist philosophy of Lao-tzu and Zhuang-tzu.
And the world of his works is characterized by the fact that not only Taoism but also Buddhism, traditional shamanism, folk paintings, and folk tales are integrated based on autobiography.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, Jang Wook-jin seems to have a deep connection with Buddhism, and I think this is related to the artist's perception and attitude, as well as the concept of art, rather than the iconography or subject matter of the work itself.

--- p.204~205

The scenes of transcendent and idealized landscapes created by the diverse blending of long-standing familiar materials, the images of longing for family, and sometimes even the appearance of immortals, the scenes where the sun and moon rise simultaneously and the sizes and positions of objects defy the natural laws of the universe, appear at first glance fairytale-like and local.
Jang Wook-jin's paintings, which were created with such great care, consistently show a state of being free from the 'self' of this world.
It is so autobiographical and idealistic, and furthermore, the world depicted on the screen is close to the Taoist philosophy of 'doing nothing in nature' in that it shows a world that is one with nature.
There is no difference between enlightenment in nature and enlightenment within oneself in that both aim for a certain level of 'Tao'.

--- p.211

In short, the answer to the previous question lies in nature.
In Jang Wook-jin's work, nature is not a dichotomous opposition to humans.
It is a comprehensive space-time world that does not distinguish between humans, animals, and plants.
The author cherishes the objects around him in that world with affection.
Life is precious, and it gives meaning to even inanimate objects with affection and care.
Each of these figures is reincarnated as a living being, wandering through this world, and we meet them again.
Here, Jang Wook-jin's paintings break free from the shackles, frames (forms), and limitations of aesthetic modernism.
He considers 'hypocrisy' to be the greatest sin of mankind and is unable to utter any 'purposeful' words.
He does not look at nature, let alone human affairs, as a human purpose.
The images extracted from nature and transferred to the screen were also not drawn for the purpose of painting.
This is because Jang Wook-jin does not draw pictures with something set in advance.

--- p.235~236