jeong jihyunnaked landsc ape

BecoMinga hazy glare on a stripped consciousness

no matter how many ar tworks one has experienced, a blurry vision is always something unexpected while

walking around a painter’s studio. When looking at jeong jihyun’s paintings, an immediate feeling of dizziness

quickly evolves to a comfor table space that invites to change position. although tension between ar twork

and viewer is still trendy and relevant, jeong forsakes the mere awareness of spectatorship as an objectified

process to be observed. instead, in naked landscape she invites us to diffuse the boundaries between

self and otherness by offering a sensorial space in order to inhabit as one entity through perception. The

exhibition presents itself as atmospheric scenery of hybrid embodiments and a slow motion feeling that sets

up the illusion of constant transformation.

When i initially encountered jeong’s work, i was invited to visit her studio in london. The first sight was

‘Without’ (2011). having forgotten that i recently got prescription glasses, i tried to compensate my initial

feeling of disorientation by looking for them. however, once i put them on, i realized that in fact the painting

was a very detailed and impressively blurred image. after a while, it became clear that the first impression

was not random, but indeed a very subtle and poetic achievement of the painting itself. placing the viewer in

a doubtful position initiates a process of dislocation in terms of perception. analysis and interpretation are

pushed away by the initial feeling of a physical failure on the viewer’s body: the eyes. once the viewer is able

to locate himself in relationship with the painting, a rich field of sensorial feelings have already trespassed

both body and mind, preventing thought from taking over.

The composition of the images normally reinforces the elusiveness of perception. composed by hybridising

representations of life forms and preconceptions of beauty, ugliness, pleasure and disgust, jeong’s paintings

become alive entities, making difficult to pin down their nature. With allusions to animal and plant, reality

and fantasy, beautiful and grotesque, the work is in permanent movement despite the medium. Through

impeccable technique, jeong plays with sensorial displacement, melting both concepts and representations of

body organs, plants and animal references.

Flatness in her painting is challenged through an airbrushing technique that diffuses the images, creating the

illusion of depth by combining occasional appearances of focused silhouettes which seem to emerge from a

hazy atmosphere. her paintings reference clearly a haptic space aiming to extend a two dimensional media

into the strangeness and textures of a three dimensional world. The atmosphere feels almost fluid, suggesting

movement, even introducing a hint of four-dimensional qualities. evoking a tactile experience, subtle motion

and deepness are suddenly flattened by coloured dots, defined shapes of flowers or animals. defined dots

giving temporary focus, or emerging butterflies permanently test the viewer in a sensorial and intellectual way.

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Flatness and deepness generate a motion that mirrors the constant intrusion of the self into the otherness

and vice versa; continual displacement of perception touches in the inevitable process of fusion established

between viewer and painting. naked landscape induces body and mind to explore the oddities of losing their

specific qualities and becoming mixed entities. Both intellect and body are dispossessed of their respective

attires.

Relentless psychological references are present throughout the ar tist’s works. subjectivity is the protagonist

of the work. a double process is constantly occurring: we are taken into jeong’s reflections of her own

subjectivity and are subjected to question our own. an almost existential feeling appears when the images

are perceived as live organisms that emerge from each other. The search for cer tain plastic permeability

allows the figurative and abstract to transform into one another. always between the boundaries of

perception, the work constantly refers to an intricate dynamic amid subject and object, senses and thought,

movement and stillness.

The viewers immersion into a self-assessment stage of their own way of perceiving has echoes of the

Rorschach Test. created by a Freudian psychoanalyst, hermann Rorschach, the test is a crucial reference for

ways of interpreting sensorial perception. Based on stimulation, the test offers abstract inkblot images that

can be perceived in numerous ways. no anterior signification is provided and therefore the ‘viewer’ often

builds up amorphous images into hybrid creatures or situations. Focusing on imagination and consciousness,

the Rorschach Test brings out a delicate and almost ungraspable stage between perception and actual

thinking. The vagueness of the Rorschach Test images privileges perception as a way of constructing

consciousness and meaning. in a similar way, jeong privileges perception by making the viewer navigate within

the impreciseness of the scenery. Multiple possible interpretations could be seen from her images: marine life,

plants, body organs or fictional beings. sometimes there is even space to make associations with mysterious

yet fascinating microscopic pictures that have been enlarged. nothing has a defined label to be categorized.

ambiguity and elusiveness are the building blocks of her images.

The Rorschach Test also reveals what lies behind a thinking process, helping psychoanalysts to find possible

disorders or trauma. in a similar fashion, jeong’s work points to the traumatic elements of a hybrid existence.

The sudden awareness of a presence (otherness) inside the self is por trayed with traces of fright and trauma;

however at the same time is conveyed as a pleasant yet puzzling understanding of the true nature of the

world.

in an era when painting survives with great dignity but tremendous struggle, it is always intriguing to observe

the work of ar tists that use the medium not only to convey their ar tistic preoccupations but also to reflect

on the possibilities of painting to surpass its traditional bi-dimensionality. When jeong takes us into the

illusion of some physical depth in her works, she is also insinuating a contradiction by situating the viewer in

an apparent a-temporal instance that contrasts with a protracted movement, letting us gaze at blurry, viscous

and undetermined images. This contradiction focuses with remarkable determination on perception, rather

than in elucidation of the works. as shown in Budding, Flying (2012), time is present both as movement and

remembrance, por traying traces of appearances of life emerged from the amorphous creation. Butterflies are

a reference to time, both when carefully drawn and also when recalling diluted outlines of the ones that have

emerged and are already gone.

in encounter (2011), the ar tist introduces a form that implies fragmentation. composed by 90 pieces of

paper, she purposely builds up a shape that seems alive. however, the work is meant to be repeatedly

separated and reintegrated. Re-organizing fragments becomes an action that allows time to flow within the

painting. Without scars or oddities, fragmentation implies an organic healing process after a rupture, which

filters temporality all over the concept of the painting itself. The work has a resonance of animation and early

moving image bringing out strong connections with time, perception and subjectivity.

adding even another level to temporal reminiscences, the ar tist includes a traditional asian format to plum

Blossom Trees and petal grave (2011), using paper rolls as a way to display her paintings. it implies an action

to be done, suggesting infinity. The painting is always in the process of revealing itself. it is permanently

becoming and can always be extended. not everything is given by the first perception, and time is introduced

by the notion of an action that needs to be executed. With plenty of allegories and metaphors, the work is

rich in its intricate illusion of movement: motionless paintings insinuating the fluidity and sinuosity of time.

standing on the shaky grounds of uncer tainty and imprecision, jeong‘s work has solid references to the

notion of change, permeability, self and otherness. existence in a present continuous form implies an

ontological perspective. something that ‘is’ somehow represents no movement, it is defined and fixated.

something that ‘was’ is also an existence trapped in the past, ontologically speaking. But something that ‘is

being’ implies to be positioned in an a-temporal instance, as every occasion one tries to pin it down, it’s gone

already. This has implications in the existence of reality. if everything is in permanent change, reality then

becomes a mere illusion. somehow ‘being’ and ‘nothingness’ are closely related. They constantly transform

into each other and it is not possible to snatch them in order to define them. heraclitus, a greek philosopher

from the antiquity, was famous for his thought based on permanent state of motion. There is no essence, and

in that sense, there is no defined way to talk about anything: no subjects, objects or things are immutable.

contrasting with other philosophers that believed our senses to be tools of deception, heraclitus relied

on them as the way of realising that everything is in never ending motion. his famous words, ‘πάντα ῥεῖ’, (everything flows) suggest that existence is an ever-present state of change and becoming. in the same way

jeong keeps pointing out the flowing nature of perception and physicality. Within the flow, a psychological

journey is exposed, plenty of strangeness, trauma, awakening and awareness. an intimate inner-self endures

an everlasting state of revealing and transforming. prompting consciousness towards the crucial impor tance

of perception as constant change, naked landscape positions the spectator in a constant state of dislocation

leaving the viewer immersed in permanent motion and perpetual state of becoming.

lucía gómez-Mejía du silenceindependant Writer

naked landsc ape

Budding, Flying | acr ylic , ink & oil on canvas | 37.9 x 45.5 cm | 2010

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Budding, Flying | acr ylic , ink & oil on canvas | 145 x 112 cm | 2012

growing, Flying | acr ylic , ink & oil on canvas | 145 x 112 cm | 2011

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encounteracr ylic & ink on 90 pieces of paper210 x 268 cm2011

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Without | acr ylic , ink & oil on canvas | 200 x 160 cm | 2011

Petal Grave (Left) / Two Plum Blossom Trees (Middle & Right)ink on paper | 360 x 150 cm each | 2011

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Flow | acr ylic & ink on canvas | 100 x 100 cm | 2012

encounter | acr ylic , ink & oil on 4 canvases | 200 x 200 cm | 2012

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JEONG JIHYUN (b1975)

educaTion

2011 MFa in Fine ar t, goldsmiths, university of london, london, uk

2008 completion of ph.d course of Fine ar ts philosophy, hong-ik university,

seoul, korea

2002 MFa, painting dept., graduate school, hong-ik university, seoul, korea

2000 BFa, painting dept., college of Fine ar ts, hong-ik university, seoul, korea

selecTed solo eXhiBiTions

2012 naked landscape, hada contemporary, london, uk

naked landscape, cité internationale des ar ts, paris, France

2008 a deser t garden, gallery sun contemporary, seoul, korea

spring of deser t, Zhu Qizhan ar t Museum, shanghai, china

2005 in My Room, gallery doll, seoul, korea

persephone’s secret Room, Munhwa ilbo gallery, seoul, korea

2003 Fatal Rest, do art gallery, seoul, korea

selecTed gRoup eXhiBiTions

2012 Reality equals dream, ion art gallery, singapore, singapore

The open West 2012, gloucester cathedral, gloucester, uk

5Th 4482 [sasapaRi] exhibition: Map the korea,

Bargehouse, oxo Tower Wharf, london, uk

demeures, cité internationale des ar ts, paris, France

2011 korean collective den haag 2011, gallery noordeinde, hague, netherland

passages intemporels, cité internationale des ar ts, paris, France

aF’s h, ar t & antiques Fair ’s-her togenbosch,

Brabanthallen, ’s-her togenbosch, netherland

korean collective Basel 2011,

hall 33, contemporary ar t center Basel, Basel, switzerland

jeong ji-hyun/ Mo jun-seok/ hwang chang-ha, Three-ar tists exhibition,

gallery sun contemporary, seoul, korea

2010 korean collective london 2010, albemarle gallery, london, uk

Final show of jangheung Residency, gana ar t center, seoul, korea

sun gallery 33rd anniversary exhibition, sun gallery, seoul, korea

painting+, gallery sun gangnam, seoul, korea

ar t dubai 2010, Madinat jumeirah, dubai, uae

2009 pulse Miami 2009, The ice palace, Miami, usa

korean international ar t Fair 2009, coeX, seoul, korea

next generation, open ar t center, seoul, korea

hong-ik ar t·design Festival 2009, hong-ik Museum of ar t, seoul, korea

ar t Road 77–with ar t, with ar tist!, gallery jireh, heyri ar tist Valley, korea

The painting as Furniture, jangheung ar t park Red space, jangheung, korea

people, nature–the Message of life and desire,

seoul Trade exhibition & convention, seoul, korea

atelier’s ar tisits special exhibition,

jangheung atelier exhibition hall, jangheung, korea

jeong ji-hyun & hong ji-yeon, Two-artists exhibition,

gallery sun gangnam, seoul, korea

ar t dubai 2009, Madinat jumeirah, dubai, uae

scope new york 2009, lincoln center damrosch park, new york, usa

13 young ar tists : above daily life, Rho gallery, seoul, korea

2008 The soul of korean contemporary ar t, insa ar t center, seoul, korea

sun contemporary 0809, gallery sun contemporary, seoul, korea

Merry colorful abstraction, gallery ar tside, seoul, korea

jeong ji-hyun/ hong ji-yeon/ hwang chang-ha, Three-ar tists exhibition,

gallery sun gangnam, seoul, korea

ar t Fair Tokyo 2008, Tokyo international Forum, Tokyo, japan

2007 sun contemporary 0708, gallery sun contemporary, seoul, korea

pocheon asia Biennale, pocheon Banweol ar t hall, pocheon, korea

in Touch of the present, korean ar tists collaboration,

Wada Fine ar ts, Tokyo, japan

The 1st insa ar t Festival, sun gallery, seoul, korea

Real seeing & Real View–Made in korea, insa ar t center, seoul, korea

Red & Blue–View on the surface, insa ar t center, seoul, korea

diversity in Form and Thought: Recent works of korean ar tists,

shanghai duolun Museum of Modern ar t, shanghai, china

The 21st century contemporary paintings,

dong-a Museum, deagoo, korea

no Bounds, gallery sun contemporary, seoul, korea

2006 korean ar t-Vision 2007, gana Forum space, seoul, korea

korea-France young ar tists Festival,

Modern culture center, icheon, korea

diversity in Form and Thought: Recent works of korean ar tists,

Museum of imperial city, Beijing, china

The 5th cutting edge, gana ar t center, seoul, korea

space & Woman, seoul gallery, seoul, korea

We Meet prague, korean contemporary 16 ar tists exhibition,

passage gallery, prague, czech

40 ar tists exhibition of contemporary ar t, insa ar t center, seoul, korea

2005 7 perspectives–Merry christmas, Friends!,

gallery sun contemporary, seoul, korea

life, Woman, seoul Museum of ar t, seoul, korea

The 1st seoul young ar tists Biennial, seoul Museum of ar t, seoul, korea

The 2nd cutting edge, seoul auction center, seoul, korea

korean Woman artists exhibition,

Visby Museum of ar t, stockholm, sweden

haman ar t center opening exhibition, haman art center, haman, korea

korea ar t Festival 2005, sejong center, seoul, korea

2004 Red heaven, changdong ar t studio, seoul, korea

The 10th young ar tists Remark, sejong center, seoul, korea

global ar t in new york, new york World Trade gallery, new york, usa

naked landscape, Three-ar tists exhibition,

korean electronic power company plaza gallery, seoul, korea

global ar t in korea-japan, chonglo gallery, seoul, korea

2003 oh! happy day, Theater choo, seoul, korea

hong-ik Woman artists exhibition, insa ar t center, seoul, korea

2001 The 7th young ar tists Remark, seoul Museum of ar t, seoul, korea

2000 The 1st g.p.s. ‘da-bal’, hong-ik Museum of ar t, seoul, korea

project 210 house of The Museum of coal Town, Two-artists exhibition,

samtan coal Mine, kohan, korea

self-por trait.net, seokyung gallery, seoul, korea

awards

2012 shor tlisted, the open West, gloucester cathedral, gloucester, uk

2007 selected ar tist, joongang Fine ar ts prize, seoul ar ts center, seoul, korea

selected ar tist by critics, Monthly Magazine chosun,

seoul ar ts center, seoul, korea

2004 shor tlisted, songeun grand ar t award, seoul ar ts center, seoul, korea

2002 shor tlisted, na hae-suck Woman grand ar t award,

kyoungki-do culture ar t center, suwon, korea

2001 special prize, Misulsegue grand ar t award, seoul Museum of ar t,

seoul, korea

2000 excellent statue, new Frontier award, seoul Museum of ar t, seoul, korea

1999 Bronze statue, nationwide university ar t Festival,

soseong ar t Museum of kyonggi university, suwon, korea

Residencies

2011–2012 cité internationale des ar ts de paris, paris, France

2008–2010 gana jangheung atelier Residence, jangheung, korea

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This catalogue is published by hada contemporary to accompany the exhibition:

JEONG JIHYUN SOLO EXHIBITION 2012NAKED LANDSCAPE

27 JUNE - 2 JULY 2012

no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any mean, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without prior written permission from hada contemporary ltd.