HAN Manyoung: Passage between the Real and Unreal

ARARIO GALLERY CHEONAN is holding the solo exhibition of HAN Manyoung (b. 1946, Korea) Passage between the Real and the Unreal from October 17^th, 2023 to March 3^rd, 2024. The exhibition looks into the master artist’s oeuvre of works of the past half century.

 

HAN is an artist who has formed his own artistic method through free experimentation and innovation, while showing the technical properties of various styles such as surrealism and hyperrealism but without being bound by any of them. He appropriates ready-made images and objects that are not logically related to each other, such as scenes from old famous paintings or magazines, old machine parts and smartphone components. HAN uses them as formative elements to establish relationships in time and space, his works moving freely between East and West, past and present, art and daily life, creation and reproduction, figuration and abstraction and reality and unreality.

 

The artist has been working on the Origin of the Space series from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, and the Reproduction of Time series from around 1984 to the present. In the 1970s, he reproduced, omitted or modified figures from the works of old Western masters such as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) and so on in a hyper-realistic manner and traffic signs or symbols with unclear meaning were intermittently drawn on one side of the canvas. In the 1980s, he began to compose his paintings in a more complex way by borrowing not only from Western masterpieces but also Korean or East Asian classical works or images, while actively using everyday objects. During this period, it is notable that the artist especially divided the interior of wooden boxes, and in those divided spaces he placed images and objects of different contexts. The form of this square box can be seen not only in his paintings from the 1970s, but also appears prominently in HAN’s works 50 years later where he uses a variety of materials and methods.

 

In the 1990s, HAN attempted another transformation by creating new installations that broke away from his works that remained in a limited framework. Reproduction of Time 92-T3.M (1992) installed at the entrance of the exhibition hall was a new attempt that deviated from his former square shaped two dimensional works and boxes. The box is divided in two, and in the upper part you can find armor from the Gaya period that seems to symbolize the tradition and past of Korea. On the exterior, a set of wings are attached that are reminiscent of dreams and ideals, as well as infinite free images. Reproduction of Time-Travel (1995) is a work that goes one step further. A Braun tube, a few books, a Buddha statue, a large wing, a suitcase and a mailbox are placed on a table, and it is installed in an actual space, breaking away from the walls for the first time in HAN’s career. Reproduction of Time-Pagoda (1996) created around the same time is composed of 76 boxes with mirrors attached, and the sky painted inside. The boxes are stacked in top of each other with a few books and the Pensive Bodhisattva placed in the center. HAN mentions that the motivation to this work was to fulfill his desire to create a large piece when he was working in a narrow space when he was young. The Pensive Bodhisattva in the middle is an object that holds East Asian mentality symbolizing the past. The blue sky that fills up the interior of the boxes and the mirrors represent reality and also an infinite abstract space. The sky, sea, feathers, and wings that frequently appear in his works symbolize dreams, ideals, and the future, and serve as a catalyst for viewers to imagine new scopes of time and space.

 

Since the 2000s HAN’s tendencies toward the abstract, which was seen in his works since the 1990s, deepened. Illusory images of trompe l'oeil techniques became more two-dimensional, the depiction of shapes has been reduced to thin lines, and the shadow of the wire has emerged as an element to replace the missing pictorial three-dimensionality. Based on the work of Gyeomjae Jeong Seon (謙齋 鄭歚, 1676-1759), Reproduction of Time-Kumgangsan (2004) is a masterpiece that is reminiscent of ink monochrome drawings (白描法, a technique of drawing with only outlines in East Asian paintings) on a blue background. The work concisely expresses the vast mountain landscape using only lines and places wires on one side. Also, Reproduction of Time-Yellow Line (2004) is in the form of a box divided into upper and lower parts. The upper section depicts a tiger as a simple line with a yellow background, and the lower section features yellow wires on a white background. Here, wire is a ready-made object symbolizing modern civilization as well as a linear and abstract element used primarily in HAN’s works. Meanwhile, Reproduction of Time-Midday (2012) is another type of line drawing. The screen is divided into left and right. On the left, images of flowers are placed on a blue and pink background. On the right, the outline of a figure cut out of a steel plate with a laser cutter is attached on a white setting. These works not only juxtapose images of the past with iron wires that symbolize modern civilization, but also incorporate modern technology.

 

As aforementioned, HAN has tacitly continued his work for over a half century, maintaining a consistent artistic style without being swayed by trends or fads in the art world. However, this does not mean that he is prejudiced or against changes of the world. Rather, while remaining within his own artistic realm, he diligently acquired new information and techniques that could be helpful, bringing depth into his works. This is why his recent works, which have expanded his artistic horizons through various technical experiments and endless challenges that are too voluminous to list, do not seem old-fashioned for an artist of his age, but are actually more unrestricted.

 

This large-scale exhibition brings together around 70 works from the artist's early pieces from the 1970s to his most recent creations. It will be an opportunity to explore Han’s unique artistic world in depth. We hope visitors will experience the time and space of free imagination and contemplation that exist beyond reality through HAN Manyoung’s works in which different images and objects collide yet harmonize.

 

HAN Manyoung was born in Seoul in 1946, and graduated from the Department of Painting at Hongik University. He received a master's degree from the Department of Art Education at the Graduate School of Education at Konkuk University. After retiring as a professor at Sungshin Women's University in 2014, he currently serves as an honorary professor. Beginning with the Hankook Gallery, Seoul in 1979, he has held solo exhibitions at Gana Art Center, Rho Gallery, and ARARIO MUSEUM in Space, etc. and also participated in numerous group exhibitions including the Bienal de São Paulo, Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, and Seoul Museum of Art.