Thought about the painting

Thought about the painting

​I recently started another painting. The story of this painting is a storytelling painting about the connection between the Altamira cave paintings and modern times. I paid attention to the story of the moment when the Altamira cave paintings were discovered. The first discovery was made by a little girl. This is because the child's eye level and height were the only conditions for discovering the hidden mural. I believe that this fact helps a pure, undistorted mind like a child find the value of art and provide direction. I drew an image that came to mind when I thought of this type of inspiration and story. For this work, I thought and thought. To me, painting is beyond technique or creativity. I believe that invisible inspiration, stories, and energy create visible objects. So I meditate and concentrate for a long time to gain the power to make the invisible world visible. If I think about it, the time of drawing is more fleeting than the time of meditation, reflection, and thinking.

​The white paper placed in front of my eyes is more than just paper to me. It is a door that allows me to move from the space of reality that surrounds me to another space, and a window that shows a new world. And I have the amazing experience of this white space showing itself to me. A new image appears in a place I didn't intend. It is an amazing secret and experience. So I sometimes fall into the illusion that the paper is alive.

​As an artist, I often feel anxious because I am trying to capture invisible inspiration and energy. When I compare myself to other artists who are much more advanced than me technically, I often think that I should also focus more on skill and discover and practice my own techniques. And every time that happens, a slump sets in and I lose energy. If I look at a well-made sample or photo and draw it, I will end up with a much more elaborate and perfect drawing. Every time I look at those paintings, I think that my paintings are too raw and unsophisticated. However, since I draw on dreams and imagination and they cannot be processed with computers or photos, I have to develop my paintings further while remaining raw. These concerns are currently ongoing.

​So, I think a lot when I draw dreams or inspiration. If I think a lot, I can find your way. Even though this method may be different from other artists, I know my ultimate goal very well. I want to focus on the invisible energy hidden within the objects that create the visible objects. If this energy were not present, the artist would have to draw only what the eye sees.

​If things were things themselves, artists would lose their jobs. However, when artists draw portraits, for example, they do not draw faces as they are. Even on a person's face, there is individual feeling, experience, and energy that moves the facial muscles and eye light. Artists capture this energy and leave it in paintings.

This energy is more than a thing. So I don't try to draw things accurately. Because things are more than just their visible form and composition. There is clearly an energy within it that makes such objects visible. So, as an artist, I consider inspiration important and try to express it.

​The paintings I submitted to this NWS member exhibition are my empirical narrative paintings about the spirit of living life. Before I became an artist, I was tied up somewhere like an elephant that had learned helplessness and was weakened. The chains that bound me were given to me when I was very young. The chain was weak and thin, and could be broken by a little strength without anyone's help. However, the learned fear and hopeless that had been given to me from the time I was first chained for a long time prevented me from trying anything independently. I lived passively, constantly generating countless helpless and depressing thoughts such as ‘I can’t do anything’, ‘I will be safe if I listen to my mother or someone's advice’, ‘I won’t be able to live independently’. But through painting, I was able to look straight ahead at the reality I was trapped in. So I can confidently say that to me white paper is more than paper.

​Paintings showed me my own world. It was purely my own world where I could think for myself, make my own decisions, and create my own path. When I was constantly distrusting myself, doubting myself, and mistreating myself, the picture comforted and supported me like a ray of light. And one day, a great realization came to me, like a child who listens to the sound of waves in a piece of paper he picked up on the beach and gains memories of the ocean, its source. And after that realization, I was finally able to boldly break the chains that were binding me. That is the orange bull drawn on the left.

​I was truly happy after drawing this picture. This kind of happiness is probably something that no photograph, computer-processed image, or artificial intelligence generator can give me. That's why I don't trust photography, computers, or artificial intelligence. I only trust the inspiration, images, and dreams generated within me. That is why I believe that paintings have value as art. This is because anything generated from what is visible is likely to distort something and lose its power. As an artist, I want to continue working with this message. And what I always realize during this work is the story of 'authenticity' that is necessary for enlightenment. It can be completed when you can draw with a childlike mind. Therefore, I am trying to include this message of authenticity in my recent paintings.