GALLERY SIL
Bang Joo Min
( boaz.atelier )
“What values do I live by?” This big question was the beginning of my creative journey.
I believe life is about finding the answer to this question. To find the true answer I ceaselessly flee from social conventions, so that I am able to question myself outside the box. My work is about refining my answer.
Contemplating ideological words and social conventions allows me to detach myself from binary-thinking and take a multidimensional approach. I evaluate what values are more important and which of them I need to protect. My thoughts are then shown by combining and contrasting materials that have binal dimensions.
I ponder the common conventions embedded in society. To avoid having a fragmented perspective and view the world in multiple dimensions, I ask questions through my work.
One value I found out in the process was “patience and a stable accumulation of strength.”
Yarn craft is the key to express this value loud and clear. Knitting, tapestry, and weaving - all of this is an accumulation of continuous time and knots. It symbolizes inner strength and accumulated power built on patience and hard labor. As I create, every second builds up on top of another, and so does my inner strength.
I continue to challenge myself to approach my pieces in unconventional ways by integrating new materials.
window exhibition
Base
What does it mean to be strong?
Between strength and flexibility,
can one decide one is stronger than the other?
Right-mindedness based on careful contemplation blended with embracing hardship seems stronger than anything.
My work illustrates this gentle strength.
I noticed that the yarn fibers of knots feel soft but are exceptionally strong. I want to highlight its lasting solidarity and adapting ability to all shapes. Solid but soft; this contrasting fiber material is what I chose to convey the true strength in an abstract manner.
These works are a simultaneous depiction of the hard cement supporting fiber, and the fiber’s ability to embrace hardness.
It chose this double-sided material to symbolize the irony in strength.
On the solid foundation of cement sit countless knitted knots. Some knots cover the cement, while others are buried in it or flowing over it. Hardness and softness come together as a whole in different forms.
Our lives are built on cement buildings.
In this gray world I sometimes slip or become buried under it, but I try my best not to lose the gentle softness.
“Only the fittest survives. Being soft is a weakness.” This seems to be the only way to exist in the modern world, but I want to find out what it truly means to be strong.
We need more generosity, gentleness, and inclusivity.
WINDOW EXHIBHITION
1-1. 60.0 X 79.7 (cm) / mohair, cement, mixed material / 2023
2-1. 33.5 X 33.5(cm) / cement, mixed material / 2023
2-2. 33.5 X 33.5(cm) / mohair, cement, mixed material / 2023
2-3. 33.5 X 33.5(cm) / mohair, cement, mixed material / 2023