Part 2: Kwon Chulhwa of Studio Concrete and His Curious Life-ful World of Art

29 September 2022 | Interview by Surim Jung, edited and translated by Dyana Kim

Editorial Note:

There’s a word that reoccurs a couple of times within this dialogue: dambaek (담백) – which roughly translates to plain or bland, and is often used to describe a taste or a feeling. But it’s a bit more than that. While the standard dictionary provides a mere one-word synonym, in order to fully translate its essence into the English language we have to think of it as a concept. What does the word ‘plain’ or ‘bland’ really mean? Assuming that both words express a lack of some essential quality that would otherwise render it as well-seasoned (in the case of food), or sad or happy (in the case of feelings), we can think of it as the moment right before it achieves that believed-perfect state. Well, the word dambaek 담백, on top of simply meaning ‘plain’ or ‘bland,’ also expresses the cool attitude of embracing this state of… plain-ness, and then appreciating its aesthetics.

So why am I going through the trouble of explaining such a term that’ll only appear a couple of times? Dambaek 담백 is the multi-functioning word that we believed captures the impression of the air of the artist and his work. Let’s further dive right in.

Read Part 1 here.

JS:

What are some key words or emotions that make you paint these days?

KC:

Love. It comes from love and as I’ve said before, painting itself is very fun, and in a way, the thing that I’m best at. If in the past, I’d paint as my hand would guide me, now I’ve become more observant. I’ve analysed some of the emotions in the past and nowadays when I think about where the motivation comes from, and what the biggest change has been, I think it’s love. I usually don’t draw specific situations from reality, especially in great detail, but I was doing just that. It was a big change for me. The things that I’ve stubbornly drawn a line for for myself in the past were freed and naturally demolished through love.

JS:

Yes, love –

KC:

Love. Earlier I mentioned that I detested how emotions would be unwillingly smeared onto my paintings? Now I’ve grown fond of it. It’s my secret weapon.

JS:

I think art is a medium that has the power to convince or seduce its viewers. As an artist, what do you think is the appeal of your art, and the person ‘Kwon Chulwha’?

KC:

Perhaps the answer may be the same for both– while I’m not sure how much I can get close to truthfulness, it’s all in order to be truthful. Truthfulness. When myself and my art is truthful. When I can be truthful with my values in the face of others– that is what I think is attractive. Whether that be a painting, a movie, an essay or a novel, I’d feel its charm if it is truthful, which makes me feel as though I should be the same way.

Because I’m a person who expresses, and maybe painters can relate, I try to be as truthful as possible. I ask myself if every dot or line I paint has been truthful. Is the intention truthfully there? If you paint with your full heart then you are bound to be truthful. And as I paint I’ve felt that this isn’t limited to paintings, but also to relationships.

JS:

Exactly: speaking of truthfulness, you know when you see paintings, some feel as if they’re just there.. while others radiate a kind of raw truthful energy. Your work feels like the latter to me.

KC:

Thank you, that’s a compliment… right? (laughs)

JS:

Of course! I sincerely value truthfulness.

KC:

I also think titles [of paintings] are important as well. It’s the final touch. Now for example *lifting a coffee mug from the table*, say I drew this– sometimes I would name it something like ‘The Coffee Mug and Phone on Top of the Table.’ It would make my friends laugh.

JS:

Super i n t u i t i v e (laughs).

KC:

Or here’s another example: say a woman sitting cross-legged looks sad. Then the title would be ‘Cross-legged Woman.’ Or it might even be something like, ‘I Want You to Look at the Painting, As Free From Emotion As Possible, and then Within it, Feel What You Will’ – which is something that I do often. In other times, if I want the painting to be simple but also want to infuse a poetic spin to it, then I’d do it through the title. Of course, I put a lot of effort into being truthful here as well.

JS:

Then usually would you paint first, and then assign its title?

KC:

In most cases, yes.

JS:

How would you like viewers to appreciate your paintings?

KC:

Just with a good, supporting heart, without negativity —

JS:

With love.

Do you have any special interests or expressive hobbies aside from painting?

KC:

One interest other than paintings is my youtube channel, which began with the idea of wanting to create a record of myself painting. Because it all fades away. But if I make videos of only myself painting, then it’ll be boring to watch right? (laughs) It’s going to be really boring.

JS:

Oh, when I was watching your videos it never occurred to me as dull! I personally cannot re-watch videos of myself dancing; do you enjoy re-watching your videos after you edit them?

KC:

It was my first time seeing myself paint. The main character is the painting and I’ve considered myself as the assistant that enables the expression of the ambience of it, which I can enhance through the way I make the videos. It becomes quite easy to make the paintings appear as more than what they are. I’ve tried to minimise it as much as possible and to portray it dambaek-ly and truthfully. And to capture the mood of my paintings, I’ve tried to find an appropriate background music, but it’s very time consuming. So I don’t end up focusing on how I look in it. From A to Z, I end up focusing on whether the entirety of the process of painting is properly recorded (laughs).

JS:

I also watch a lot of videos by local (Korean) artists, but oftentimes those self-videos feel commercial to me. It’s not a bad thing at all and sometimes needed, but they feel unnecessarily overloaded. But your videos feel like an independent movie, a documentary or ‘인간극장, Screening Humanity (an early 2000s documentary series),’ and it encourages me to reflect upon myself as well; I think I’ve watched them multiple times. There is a certain mood that the video gives – comfortable and not overly weighted – and it reminds me of some of the things that I’ve overlooked from my busy everyday life. It has a strange-yet-soft force that enables me to reflect upon important sensations that I should focus on in life. Please continue to upload the videos!

KC:

Thank you!

JS:

What do you think is a trait that a creator must have?

KC:

The ability to act upon something. To do. Whatever it is. Because you are a creator. To attempt at something, whatever it is.

JS:

Have you ever had difficulty in doing so?

KC:

I probably would have. But I can’t think of anything major. It’s been fluid, and the same goes for my attitude towards life. I’ve become an artist through living through all the good and bad, recording them and also painting them. So make sure to cherish it all in life.

JS:

So live while feeling it all. Feel well and do.

KC:

On the contrary I’m not very good at feeling myself and living according to a certain focus. I like to think of the people around me a lot. So I envy people that are able to do that. Artists like Amy Winehouse and Lee Sora; they have a strong volition and they live with an energy that is about to explode. On the other hand, my energy is slightly rounder than that. Sometimes I crave that energy, and sometimes I don’t.

JS:

Hmm.. I have a similar side as well and I think I know what you’re talking about. I envy that sort of energy and drive but it only gets as far as that and I don’t think I can ever be like that. It contrasts the energy that within me (laughs).

Could you share some of the goals and values of your artistic practice?

KC:

Goal and value. Similar to what you’ve asked earlier, I think I’m clueless about it, just as how I can’t define certain emotions. In the end I wonder if art is the same way. For myself personally, art is not something that is grand. But from another perspective, it could be something grand. It happens to be that the thing I’m best at is painting and to attribute a grand goal and value to it; just does not work for me.

It’s just as natural as life after birth, so in order to attribute ‘grandness’ to goals and values it has to be found in something else. For example, like living a healthy lifestyle or getting along with the people around you. I’ve contemplated the feeling of art being useless [in life], especially when it has nothing to do with the basic sustenance of life. And even to this day I ponder from time to time.

4-5 years ago I visited a David Hockney exhibition at Centre Pompidou when I was travelling in Paris. After walking through the exhibition I was extremely touched as if I’ve just watched a full movie, and you know when people say that they cried their eyes out in front of a painting? Just like that I felt a long-lasting emotional sensation and also a vibration. When I stood in front of a painting as a visitor, I realised that we do in fact need art. It was a day where I felt a certain imperative-ness, where if I can resonate a certain emotion to another person [like the Hockney painting], then it becomes something that is a necessity. If I can feel something like this through art, then would I not be able to do so for others? I felt that it was okay to be more courageous.

JS:

Art has the power to create that kind of value for its viewers. Would you still want to paint if you did not have an audience?

KC:

Yes I think I will. The realisation settled in mid-way in my career. One day my actor friend who founded Studio Concrete, Yoo Ah-In, made a suggestion to me saying, ‘Don’t you believe that your work will truly be complete when you have an audience? Should we bring our friends together to make a group?’ This was how the collective was formed. I felt as if I was hit hard in the head. It made me wonder why I hadn’t acknowledged it before. Now I can relate to it 120%. Paintings can shine and breathe when they have an audience for themselves.

JS:

It makes me reevaluate the importance of honesty and sincerity. Not only is it a responsibility between myself and my work, but it also extends to the viewer.

Are there new things that you want to try in the future? Maybe something that you’ve never done before?

KC:

Around a year ago I tried working with ceramics. Maybe in the future it’d be fun to bring together an exhibition with it.

JS:

I can imagine how well the characteristics of ceramics will harmonise with your overall work.

KC:

Thank you. I gave it a try once and it was fun – it felt similar to painting. Because we’re creating something. It reminds me of playing with clay when I was younger, and it made me wonder how it would look if my paintings were to have dimension.

JS:

I was thinking about what you said earlier when you mentioned art museums – I used to be drawn into non-physical art like performance art or music, more than canvas-based art. With performers or musicians, each movement or note would depend on factors like environment or their physical conditions and I would be captivated by the ephemeral aspect of non-physical art. With art that is stationary, I couldn’t think of it the same.

But as I was preparing for the interview, I felt the emotional wave for the first time, perhaps like the one you felt with the Hockney exhibition while I was researching your work. Despite how I’ve never seen your work in person, that feeling itself was fascinating to me. I want to thank you for the experience that gave me the realisation that while art itself can amount to something minimal in tangible terms, it also yields an immense power.

KC:

Thank you, I’m grateful as well.

Interview conducted by Surim Jung in early 2022. Edited and translated by Dyana Kim.