Artlessness, simplicity, and naivete - this is the world that envelopes the works of Yun Hyong-keun, one of the Korea's most leading artists. In his painting, there is not a tint of decorativeness, but is filled with odor of an earthy farmer.

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As a work of art, they are so artless, simple, and naive that they seem to be no paintings at all. To illustrate, on a piece of raw cotton or hemp cloth fixed on a wood frame, he dips the brush in umber dissolved in terpene and paints at random one, two, or three thick vertical bars. This is all there is to see. At a glance, this artlessness, simplicity, and naivete are an expression of his temperament and at the same time his own unique view of the world.

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Be that at it may, whether these features owe to his personal temperament or not, we must not overlook the fact that this is an elaborately worked out piece through his ceaseless effort and sophisticated intelligence. Without the minutest trace of a brush movement, the umber solution seems to have been soaked into a portion of a cloth just like a natural stain, and a result is that the scene does not make one particularly feel the color and form. The way in which the umber solution is pasted in the form of vertical bar(s) must be understood in relation to the hanging cloth and the dripping of umber solution.

 

In either case, the balance between the overall scene and the bars, the color tone between the cloth and the umber solution - these the artist achieved without being conscious of particular images and forms, thus he explores a dimension of expression that is liberal, magnanimous, and harmonious.

 

For Yun Hyong-keun, the canvas is no longer a sanctuary to express his own images. Neither the brush nor the umber solution is a slave or a tool to be used to give expression to his images. These are the same as the artist's consciousness, his hands and action, that is, the organic elements mobilized to give form to the open visual scene. Yun's foremost concern as an artist is to confront the piece of cloth with color through the intermediation of his hands and action and, in the interaction of the two, to delineate a vision which brings forth a particular perception.

 

Yun's paintings lack images, thus, giving the impression of hollowness. However, from the visual point of view, they make one feel the solid reality and expansion. This is due perhaps to the combination of his action and the material which is revealed as an extremely delicate phenomenon akin to, say, a demi-painting, or a demi-object.

 

To illustrate further, whatever form or situation the vertical bar-shaped umber solution may take in the scene, it appears to have no relation whatsoever with the established theories on space and composition. This is also due to the above. This characteristic somehow seems common to all contemporary Korean painters and their works more often than not are pseudo-paintings and very ambiguous as an object. They are thus regarded unanalytical, primordial, and indescribably non-existent.

 

Specially in the case of Yun Hyong-keun, in his works one scenes a strong self-imposed discipline ingrained in his personal temperament. Unlike those conceptual artists who analyze information to obtain an answer, his style of painting seems to be an excellent modern attitude of expression. He remains thoroughly faithful to a mode of living uniquely suited to his personal idiosyncrasies and because of this he is often regarded as an artist who dreams of an unknown horizon.

 

Yun's works are free from pretension and they seem to move into an open, vast, and lively scene. The simple feeling of peace which his paintings force on the viewer has something to do with his unintentional and gratuitous attitude of expression.

 

Moreover, the material, his hands and action are joined in a new encounter with a strong desire for the plane. In this scene, Yun Hyong-keun's works may be said a suggestion, indeed a happy event.