Choi Jin Seok
(Member of research community ‘Suyunomo-N’ / Research professor of Ewha Womans University)

1.  At the early 20th century, Russian futurist poets believed that every character had been originated from an object itself. Of course, linguist theories on hieroglyphic origin of characters defined that they appeared with imitation of an object form. It shows from an argument that characters originated from an act describing appearance of an object as it is as shown from Chinese inscriptions on bone and Egypt pictographs. On the other hand, relation between character and object was the thing beyond their similarity for futurist poets. Rather, they sought to consider the solid weight and the resulting physical action of an object from origin of characters and objects. It is the very force drawing something and giving it transformation. According to such a viewpoint, character is not an abstracted sign imitating appearance of an object but a sign of the object itself, having the physicality as the same as that of the object. The former may be called a negative abstraction that merely represented the core of the object but the latter may be called as positive abstraction that expressed the physicality of the object.

True worth of such thinking manifests itself when examining how physicality is made into a poetry and condensed into an artistic expression. For futurists, poetry is neither a highland of the lofty ideas nor an illusion inciting beautiful feeling. frankly speaking. poetry is force. If desire of a poet lies in deep impression of readers, poetry should be some kind of blow. Poetry should make readers shocked, stumble and fall down. If not, poetry is mere ink stain on paper. ‘Blow’ rather than ‘deep impression’ means that nature of poetry lies not in idea but in poetic language, or physicality contained in characters. Hence, a futurist poet believed that if he wrote a ‘stone’ down on blank paper and threw it to a window glass would be broken. The reason why is that a character ‘stone’ is the sign representing the physicality that stone has rather than the sign connected to an object or stone arbitrarily as shown from modern linguistics. Poetry is the way to condense and show the physicality of the object with intensity. The nature of poetry lies not in itself but in poetry-writing.

Emphasis on the physicality is not mystic degeneration. Such inference may cause us to make foolish mistakes prioritizing object to character and exchange sign with signal. From such an attitude to assume object as the original and character as the copy, Jacques Derrida identified the long and strong prerequisite depended by Western metaphysics. It is a strict hierarchical order between voice interpellating the object and character, and such a hierarchy called phonocentrism assumes that sound written(character of object) is the dead and only living voice(object outside character) is true and sincere. However, the reason why every object is the object itself for instance, turtle is a turtle and puppy is a puppy is that there are different characters ‘tuttle’ and ‘puppy’ differentiating them. Characters classifying objects are more a priori than objects themselves. Without characters expressing difference between objects, we may not think of objects themselves.

Derrida’s characters. or grams are located at a dimension different from that of the ordinary language. Detailed argument is not dealt here but I point out the force of gram precedent to the object but closely connected to the object, the force making difference. Most of all, distinction should be regarded as the force for divergence and generation. I often recollect such a case from the cover of the English version of Grammatologie(discipline on gram). In the middle of the cover borrowed from the altar portrait of Buddha by the 19th century’s Japanese painter Nica Danaka (田中日華), there is a strange object drawn with ink and wash. Its head has stems and leaves like a tree and its legs are described as the lower body of a bird. Surprisingly, a trunk of this shape either plant or animal is composed of several signatures having various handwritings imprinted in Jusa朱砂). Are they characters, pictures, characters or object? Are they animated or inanimated? Are they intended to show us generation and mix of a mysterious shape never seen.

2. I read the catalog of the private exhibition by Koh Yoon Suk on Oct. 2015 before writing a critique about this exhibition. I looked at images of the work and was attracted by a change and distinction of the work within a short interval. I confess my late writing before pending time limit after long hesitation about how to capture and express imagery of subtle (dis)continuation like embarrassing and attracting, ‘identical and different’.

Last exhibition, the thing attracting my eyes was shapes of characters. Large and dark-red cursive characters in front of yellow, green or many overlapped colors. Even from eyes of people ignorant of Chinese characters, such character shapes followed faithfully forms and images of the letter and showed dynamics of the intense power. I felt like witnessing the maximum abilities of ‘calligraphy’, ‘truth’ of the character. On the contrary, it is amazing that these works emit dynamics different from prior works. Colors of the background are mixed under polyphonic resonance beyond the monochrome before. On such a background, shapes of characters are deconstructed, even making it difficult to distinguish letters and dancing together. Of course, in these works, there are a few characters holding identifiable shapes. However, in most cases, there are few strokes and shapes of Chinese characters’ own. Unique handwriting type of Chinese characters’ own was expelled and excluded and even removed.

Disappearing characters? Never, it is correct to say that characters are left but removed because power of character images can be still felt from vigor and a flow of a paint brush. However, it is clearly different from ordinary character design. As you know, brush for Western painting is near a tool for coloring and leaving the touch of the brush as paints. On the contrary, Eastern brushes are not used for coloring and making use of the touch. Rather, Eastern brushes may be said as ‘hand’ for polishing the entire shape through vigor while forming a shape of a character. I think you can understand if you have used a brush. It is not comparison but an actual sense, forming the essence of the stroke. Hence, holding the brush is a sensory exercise through joining a body with the brush rather than an act using a tool. The end of the brush has the power to construct and give character shapes order. In such a sense, maybe a wake of the brush may be said as generation of a non-literal thing rather than exhaustion of characters. Or, perhaps it may be called motion of gram operating generation of order outside characters, or characters rather than characters.

The artist captures and creates shapes of the object in these works. Strokes in the prior exhibition concentrated on the fixed power maintaining shapes of a letter but these works show a process that such fixed power transfers and transforms to object of the world. Everyone can feel the joy from a process that shapes of fish and birds, turtles, tress, wild flowers and bugs move freely while displaying themselves and are reduced to shapes of characters and again to the world. However, a step forward for delicate observation. Pay attention not to shape but to situation. Rather than identifying fish, birds, turtles, tress, wild flowers and bugs, capture the scenary of generation where such shapes are transformed into characters and returned to the world of objects. Return to the altar portrait of Buddha by Nica Danaka. It is certain mysterious movement of the character, picture, object and the animated and inanimated. There is a transformative process of character-object here as the event of join-movement.

Surprisingly, this artist gives excellent titles including Sugi(隨器)’, ‘Biyeogyeong(非餘境)’, ‘Mubunbyeol(無分別)’, ‘Bulsaui(不思議)’ to a series of process. There is no distinction of the inside and outside since they do not abandon non-shapes while following the shape(vessel). They are not also cut with logical language. Unidentifiable generation seizes the entire screen crossing character and picture, letter and object and the animated and inanimated Hence, character-object for the artist are not fixed to dichotomic formation, “this or that”. As the linguistic play, we may observe only flowing force not as Moyangsae(shape) but as Moyang-se(shape-force). As the strong current covering its shape when flowing while making a road, stroke of the artist is not willing to confine its wake into rights of characters. Stroke and intensity are everything! However, remember deconstruction of characters is a phenomenon impossible without the power of formation to make characters, operation of the brush called Jungbong(中鋒). The key lies in the way to express the transitional power of de-formation, whether letter or picture, character or object, animated or inanimated. Deleuze and Guattari may have called such artistic expression motion of es machines désirantes.

Is it only mysterious experience or temporary entertainment to make us immersed in the play for a while and lead us to an exit? It may be true for some. They may overlook works during a cultural leisure life. However, when we recollect such images of transformation and generation, shapes uncertain whether it is a plant or an animal, ghost or nothing, and stays in our mind, we may not encounter with this world as the way before. The time has struck when characters are not read as character, and objects are wriggling as non-object. I hope I will remember later that its seed was planted when encountering with these works.

3. Gram refers to action of the fundamental power differentiating certain character types. In case nought is ahead of the existence, every generation stays at the falsity or lack. The existence takes priority and it means generation not as the static Moyangsae but as dynamic Moyang-se. Hence, though invisible, there is already something always moving. The white ground of the Chinese drawing paper is the place charged with infinitely flowing power rather than voidness where there is nothing. The concept ‘trace’ devised by Derrida, always as the source trace, is closed to ‘corps sans organs’ by Deleuze and Guattari. Whatever it may be called, we are forced to encounter with generation. Ideas by the artist Koh Yoon Suk anchor on the deep abyss of the Buddhist learning but on the other hand extend to the limit of modern ideas.

It is a tendency to express interest in and expect of the artist’s journey hereafter after admiration for her present. Making someone an artist depends on how she invokes the power loaded to her body rather than on her belief, thinking and intention. In other words, the key is an ability to contain the power of generation into a process of transformation and transition while drawing it into certain form and transcending it. Rather than being bound in the solid fetters of characters and collapsed without any form to be touched, a new form is made, which may not be perceived with the existing sense and recognition. A line of flight is a paradoxical title for such an ability and expression. When the brush of the artist transcends the traces fixed by the tradition and the norm and its flight begins, we get into confusion but we come to recognize that the world of the tradition and the norm was already dead and know the formation of a strange but living world when overcoming such confusion.

For Russian futurists, it was to write a poem like incantation made for operating the character ‘stone’ with weight and physicality of an actual stone. In such a sense, maybe artists are like a magician. They are destroyers of this world causing us to see the invisible, hear the inaudible so fail in living a life like before any more through collapsing the order of the familiar sense. Unless the artists do not give us such an ominous prophecy, who save us from this dead world? Hence, I express my interest in and expect of the following works of the artist Koh Yoon Suk. I’d like to see a flight line of strokes like a poem generating birds and trees, turtles and bugs, fish and wild flowers through connecting stone to ‘stone’.