10 Questions with Hee Jung Han

Hee Jung Han is a visual artist living and working in South Korea. She studied at the Art Center College of Design, graduating with a BA in Fine Art, followed by studying how to navigate her practice in painting and installation at Otis College of Art and Design.

Always curious about the truth that can never be expressed in incomplete language, she pays attention to the borderline created when ‘I’ and ‘the other’ meet and communicate with each other. Beyond that borderline, there exists a very different world full of curiosity which is neither ‘my will’ nor ‘your will’, neither truth nor lies, real nor fake. And this ever-changing landscape reminds her that the truth she knows or understands can be meaningless.

@pinkasam

Landscape of Pli | Project Description

Her newest series, “Landscape of Pli,” is a process of exploring the ‘multiplicity’ inherent in humans living in the hyper-connected era where truth and lies, real and fake, are mixed. Still, it is also a true journey of discovering oneself who knows nothing, as Socrates said.

To this, her work begins from the concept of ‘wrinkles’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘Pli’), often mentioned by Gilles Deleuze, a post-structuralism philosopher who explored the metaphysical relationship between ‘identity’ and ‘difference.’

Driven by the desire to contextualize this concept of ‘Pli,’ she uses the fragments obtained from deconstructing her figurative paintings to create art that reinvents narrative and redefines meaning. For this, the collage technique was used dynamically and colorfully, and through the use of juxtaposition, she tried to expose the beauty in chaos. This Landscape is created by fragments of various shapes, extracted from the original and placed in reverse front and back; the inside and outside are flipped, and the visible becomes invisible.

Many Plis, stacked on top of each other, are irregularly warped, jagged, and connected layer by layer. This multi-layered landscape is filled with ambiguous images of fragmented memories or senses, sometimes appearing like a thousand-year-old plateau where layers of time have been piled up. To complete the psychological landscape of the abyss, dynamic energy is injected here through the careful use of saturated technicolor elements. Images that have absorbed color finally seem to come alive across the layers, then emerge as an illusion, and then suddenly lose their shape due to different layers or play as a different image than before. But they don’t come together to create a single narrative.

Through this approach, she wants to show a journey in which images of multiplicity are connected to each other and repeat explications and implications, creating another difference and then re-creating themselves as something new. Above all, every image that completes the “Landscape of Pli” is as fluid as water, allowing for multiple interpretations, inviting viewers to peel back the many layers and helping them to discover the wise man’s wisdom underneath in the end: “I know that I know nothing.”

INTERVIEW

First of all, tell us a little more about your background and how did you begin making art?

I feel that I got the creative gene from my mother, who majored in interior design. My parents quickly recognized that I gravitated towards art by noticing that I expressed myself through drawings, paintings, and building things. Thus, they enrolled me in an art school and encouraged me to take extracurricular classes to further explore and get inspired. 
From my youth growing up in Seoul, South Korea, all the way to grad school in the U.S., I was fortunate enough to be introduced to self-expression and creativity, giving me an avenue to develop a skill set to utilize mediums, styles, and techniques that I have since incorporated into my work. Hence, I feel that art has dictated my life from birth.

Why did you choose painting specifically over other mediums? What does it represent for you?

To be honest, I think my work traverses the diverse media. I do not care for the orthodox approach. I'd like to play with various forms of artistic expression to create a visual language. Although my work consists of paintings, I wouldn't necessarily categorize it merely as paintings. Upon closer examination, you'll notice drawing elements as well as sculptural ones. In terms of mediums, materials, or methodologies in image-making, the possibility is limitless. I am constantly fascinated to see how they contribute to both the style of the work and its meaning. Though there is a minor setback due to choosing materials based on cost efficiency—in other words, something I could do cheaply. Nevertheless, I'm excited to see what I can create within these boundaries.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

I start with loose, fragmented narrative structures that I have experienced in my surroundings or from sources in the media, literature, etc. For the images, since I'm a hoarder by nature, I have various sources accumulated over the year for references ready to go.I make each image separately in advance to have all of the parts ready, then I pick something, put it on the surface, and start adding and arranging bits and pieces. There is a certain level of intuition involved in decision-making in this process. In the act of constructing, deconstructing, arranging, rearranging, placing, etc., the individual pieces lose their identity and start to dissolve and emerge as free forms that are associated with the foundation and produce a cohesive body of work. Considering these aspects, collage has played a significant role in my practice. Though I often combine different methodologies, my work has gradually evolved to a collage-based process because collage felt more aligned with the editing process.Also, I work on many pieces simultaneously and switch back and forth because this process helps me see the relationship between them and how they bounce ideas coherently. The process is the most important part of my work because it dictates what I make and gradually becomes the subject matter that creates its own language. As life is a constant state of nonlinear flux, my work is in the process of becoming.

Your works are abstract compositions. What messages are you trying to convey with your art? 

Through arrangements of interrelated images, I try to convey a variety of tone, depth, and rhythm across the composition. My current work explores different methods of expressing communication through the use of images such as figurative or suggestive images, geometric shapes and lines, and abstract shapes. In the process of constructing, deconstructing, assembling, and placing, the identity of each element breaks down, and there is no longer a determined or original idea. It is interesting to see how the space between them breaks the surface and creates a distinct texture and sense of urgency. I think about things and see them in layers, and I want my work to have much more below the surface and achieve a continuous flow. As life is in a constant state of flux, ideas and the physicality of works are on the verge of shifting, and transformations are inevitable.

Color seems to have a particular meaning for your work, and you mixed both bright and more muted ones. Can you tell us more about it? What do colors represent for you and your work?

Color signifies something other than itself. Colors have the ability to evoke a response in the viewer, and the interpretation may differ depending on age, gender, and culture. The meaning that is conveyed through a color can be different depending on the observer's experience. Nothing, including color, is just one thing. Perception can be varied, and there's no solid formula or pre-defined meaning. My association with color is uniquely mine as it is unique to others. Color communicates differently in different situations. I tend to choose colors from my surroundings and experiences and repurpose or recontextualize them in art and social contexts. It's like taking everything around me and making my own version of it.

Let's talk about the series "Landscape of Pli," where did you find inspiration for this series? And what did you ultimately want to communicate to the viewers?

Pli is derived from the Latin root Plic, which means to fold, or bend. Pli is a fashion term for wrinkles or folds that occur on clothes or fabrics due to external friction. "Landscape of Pli" is about an exploration of social semiotics, which is a never-ending process of discovering meanings in an altered reality/social phenomena where disconnection and detachment occur. I get inspiration from life. I'm fully invested in and mindful of the world I live in. I find reality complex and chaotic because it is irreducibly Byzantine and unstable, and it can be altered or changed differently by individuals. It is constructed by a multitude of layers that have different consistency and evidence and are interconnected and interfere with each other. The boundary of meaning or purpose becomes fuzzy over time, and it seems too vast to be encompassed by any rule or comprehension. Nothing is set in stone. Everything real is temporal. Things are in constant flux. Living in a continuum of chaos without fully understanding each other or even ourselves, my practice is a mere attempt to investigate and comprehend in-depth a multi-layered reality where everything is real, and nothing is true. All elements of reality can be understood in relation to one another and how they function within. 

Is there anything else you would like to experiment with?

I'm a wanderer. I'd like to experiment and extend the boundaries of the art in terms of materials or techniques, and when I do, there aren't many road maps, to begin with. It starts mysteriously, or I get the inspiration randomly and have a certain urge to make something new. I hope that my experimentation expands with conscious decision-making to build up a unique visual language. 

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

Currently, I'm focusing on the different avenues to present my work. Thus far, due to a lack of resources, it's been limited in terms of techniques, materials, and methods—in other words, art practice in general. In the future, I'd like to create larger-scale installations that consist of a wide range of media. I like how different materials or methods interact with each other and exploit the unexpected synergy between them.

What do you hope to accomplish this year, both in terms of career goals and personal life? 

I have come to the realization that I can't do anything if I'm not healthy. Thus, maintaining a good healthy body, mind, and soul is my top priority. Furthermore, I'd like to have a more in-depth understanding of my environment, always be persistent and curious, and expand my network in the art community. Lastly, I want to smile and laugh more.

Finally, where do you see yourself and your work five years from now?

After grad school, I would have answered this question with a concrete five-year plan. But as I have grown older and, hopefully, a little wiser, I try to embrace the many curveballs that are thrown at me one at a time without thinking too far into the future. Needless to say, life hasn't gone as planned. Actually, in the last few years, nothing has gone as planned, as a series of unexpected circumstances have derailed my life and career trajectory. Still, I will passionately continue pursuing art and constantly try to grow as an artist. There is always more to EXPLORE. Carpe Diem!

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.