The works of Han Na-Young makes me think of ‘authentic encounter.’
We meet different people everyday and, it’s not hard to contact ever.
But the meeting I discover in her works is so intimate and sincere that
it’s not just a meeting but ‘encounter.’ They’re like poetry of sentiment
and love, so you can see love between mother and children or lovers;
friendship and even intimacy between husband and wife. Her sculptures
are supported by these rich themes which have served as abundant and
unceasing source of Arts.
Most of her marble statues are composed of two parts, right and left,
and again each part is divided into upper and lower. It looks like a
round moon resting on palms or blooming flowers on flower cups. The
organic and coherent form keeps us reminding of or imagining
something else, as if poetic words ripple in our mind. The interesting
thing, in her works, is relation between two parts is interdependent like
well-woven textile, which means a ‘union’ and ‘correspondence’ are
the key in her works. Those two ideas support and supplement
weaknesses of each other. The form itself is coherent not just outside
but inside as well. It’s like Strings, in orchestra, make a perfect
harmony even if each string keep distance from the others.
As I said above, she prefers organic and coherent form on the whole,
so she uses soft curve, globe and volume than sharply edged ones.
Outline that resemble nature tugs your eyes. We don’t know where it’s
exactly come from, but the soft line serves to make the work more
quiet and peaceful.
Features of each side is different both in heigh and size. If the artist
didn’t put interdependent pattern in, they would be awkward. But the
very imbalance, in her composition, looks so natural. They’re willing to
approach first and confirm that they’re special with each other. In other
words, different parts meet each other and create synergy effect from
that encounter. They produce connection, sentiment and song, which
serve as a factor and make us ‘dream.’
Her works are known in the international arena as well. Because she’s
got Excellence Award, winning the final among 290 works, in Beijing(北
京) Olympics commemorative environmental sculpture competition
which 2400 works had been applied to. She still cherishes this. It’s not
only a great honor that she went up to the final, beating eminent artists,
but also it led to a chance to tour and have exhibition with Alfonso, a
kinetic sculpture, whom she’d respected in the 35 cities of 16 Olympic
host countries .
Jonathan Edwards, an American esthetic, says “The world is absolutely
well organized and created enough to correspond to beauty and
harmony.” Beauty comes from the relation among people, among
things and part and the other. According to Edwards, things that are
beautiful separately but not with all together are fake or limited beauty;
things that are beautiful in harmony with the whole the others, in return,
are extended excellence or beauty indeed. It’s remarkable that he
seeks beauty from these ‘relation’ and put much value on it. The key
is, in his writings, not being beautiful but bestowing beauty.
Here, we need to face one question; how much we’re trying to be
close with each other. As you know, always easier said than done, Our
life is full of empty talks, meaningless conversation and boring secrets,
although we have plenty of books about genuine relationships. Most of
the time it’s hard to come to mutual concurrence, because we tend to
think and love each other as a supplementary or accessory being of
ourselves.
Arts serve to remind of lack in life and supplement. Once you feel
relaxed and loosen tension with her works, it could definitely be an
example on how amazing the power of love and intimacy is. Love
among beings is not wresting or subordination but foundation of free
will. It helps us to reveal genuine ourselves. We discover it could carry
lots of meaning when Arts encounter with ‘open-minded’ self.
Seo Seong-rok (President of Korean Association of Art Critics)