The 2015 Chennai Chamber Biennale has many reasons to celebrate. Featuring paintings by 122 contemporary Korean artists, the exhibition curated by Professor Ju Tae Sook at the Lalit Kala Akademi Regional Centre, Greams Road, displays a fascinating cross-section of styles and techniques.
With themes that range from a celebration of Nature to insightful commentaries on the shifting facets of today’s lifestyles, it is a showing that promises hours of engrossing viewing.
A strong Impressionist influence colours many contemporary themes. A whiff of Renoir’s compositional style drifts across ‘Aroma Di Café’ by Park Heung Sik . The predominantly grey palette is illuminated by the mango-cream glow of the café’s ceiling and garden lights, with a lone white pier outlined against sea and sky in the distance.
A riot of bright colours and lively, child-like imagery light up frames in Keum Young Bo’s ‘Endless God Fortune’, Ko Suk Won’s ‘Docking’, Jhung Hoi Nam’s ‘Myanmar Tour Story’, Lee Dam’s ‘Ours Festival’, Lee Yul Bae’s ‘Love Song’, Lee Yung Sil’s ‘Ceramic, Flowers and Nature’ and Lee Sang Hee’s ‘Full Moon’ that rejoices in a burst of Gauguinesque tropical vividness.
Interested in pointillism? Stand before Kim Ju Chul’s ‘Recollection’ and chances are that seconds will tick away into minutes before you realise that you’ve stood there for much longer than you intended. That’s the impact of this painting. As much craft as art, the work stuns with its precision even as ambient shades of emotion exude a warmth that begs to be experienced up close. This study in serenity throws up fresh perspectives. Age bestows maturity and an air of acceptance to the two men who share a quiet sunny afternoon sitting together in companionable silence. The quiet here is a reassuring one, in which the two figures bond in unspoken friendship.
Choi Yung I’s ‘The Cross Hidden’ and Jo Eun Joo’s ‘Cosmos in Chaos’ are other exemplars of pointillist technique, the latter, a symphony in brilliant blues.
The slather-and-layer palette knife technique is the starting point for thickly laid-on textures in subjects such as ‘Golden Apple Tree’ by Yee Sang Yeal and ‘Wild Aura 2015 Bull’ by Tuk No. The utterly charming androgynous ‘Couple’ by Young Hee uses a spontaneous medley of green-blue, purple-pink, yellow-orange and turquoise to repeatedly draw your gaze.
Two remarkable works that stand out for lyrical vision and compositional brilliance are Kim Ji Hyun’s ‘Fly-Red Bench’ and Yun Ssang Ung’s ‘Sun Moon Pine’. In the latter, the eye travels from the mist-softened rugged mountains to a gnarled speckled orange and green tree in the foreground.
Among the abstracts, Hwangbo Kyong’s ‘Peony’ sparkles in lovely washes of intense magenta , while Kim Ho Sung’s ‘Exterior’ deploys dramatic contrasts. ‘Channel Communication’ by Kim Pill Soon is a striking observation of daily routine wired to a mother board.
Highlighting the India connect, the lotus is a recurring leitmotif in the pleasant pastel palette defining Hong Hyun A’s ‘Dream of India’. Kwon Sung Taek’s ‘Good morning India’ is textured to resemble a ceramic plaque decorated with lotuses and bamboo stems in moulded relief.
The minimalist approach has yielded a bountiful harvest that includes No Seung Beom’s black and white tapestry-like ‘Landscape,’ which takes on the quality of a textured weave. A monochrome palette emphasises the truth that simple is beautiful in Jang Tae Mook’s mixed media, Kim Yung Ho’s ‘The Sound of Memories’, Kwon Hyang Soo’s ‘Relation’, Woo Soon Gun’s ‘Wait For Spring’, Jeong Su Il’s ‘Sainam No.2’, Lee Jee Hyun’s ‘Memories L - Blue’ and Jo Woon Hang’s masterful ‘Spring,’ which radiates crimson energy.
While Jung Il Jin’s ‘Fire-Motion’ and Chun In Soo’s ‘Meditation,’ that details leaf-vein tracery in green against a black background, dwell on the earth-fire-water link, Nature’s bounty, particularly the appeal of delicate seasonal blossoms is detailed in Son Don Ho’s ‘Spring of Tongdosa Tempe’, Ko Jung Sook’s ‘Morning Glory’, Lee Jon Lip’s ‘Garden Walk’ and the blurred cottony petals of white and yellow flowers in Yun Hyung Sun’s ‘An invitation to Nature’.
The force and enormity of barely leashed elements, a constant reminder of man’s frailty, are communicated with awesome effect in Yang Ji Hee’s stunning ‘Jubilee- the Year of Nomad’. You experience the freedom of vast, open spaces in the field and sky vistas of Jung Young Mo’s ‘Story of Hometown’, Kim Yun Jong’s ‘Look at the Sky’ and Choi Sung Won’s ‘That Place’.
Prize-winning paintings of Korean school students are also on display.
The exhibition, jointly presented by K-Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Inko Centre and the Hyatt Regency, Chennai and inaugurated by the venerable Subul Sunim, Abbott of Beomeosa Temple, Busan, Korea, will be ontill August 6 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
