Lot 942: CHA MYUNG HI

CHA MYUNG HI
(Born in 1947)
Sound
charcoal, acrylic on paper
137 x 167 cm. (54 x 65 3/4 in.)
Painted in 2003

Seoul, Korea, Korea International Art Fair (KIAF), 2007.
Cologne, Germany, Cologne Art Fair, 2006
Beijing, China, China International Gallery Exposition, 2005.

Cha Myung Hi removed the various spectrums of colors to expose the radical creativity between the gradient of black and white. The abundance of compositional and abruptly juxtaposed strokes may easily dupe the audience as a premeditated structure; however, with one's realization of spontaneity within Cha's artistic technique, it establishes further the sophistication in planar continuity with its naturalistic rendering that transcends beyond a painting as an infinite landscape.

The three paintings of her different series, Sound (Lot 942),Imagine and Gaze (Lot 943) are in perfect relevance to its aesthetics, where Cha gracefully conducts a collective response from the spectators, casting a spell with the titles that remarkably decipher the painting's impression. She hones the sensory nerves of the audience to hear the active staccato engravings of Sound to resonate a muted melody, to expand the creative vision with the infinite waves of horizontal lines in Imagine and to loosen the eye in the vacuity of the canvas in Gaze. Cha also endeavors to negate control over her pictorial events but manages to retain some semblance of representation unintentionally, but only due to the empirical tendencies of humans. Based on our knowledge occurred from experience, we unconsciously fabricate links of recognition, wherein this abstract realm, we vision a landscape of waves, grass and pond, presumably in relation to the calligraphic, oriental ink paintings we are accustomed to.

Cha's rhythmic etching penetrates through the paper to represent vision metaphorically, hence translating her spirituality onto paper, echoing strongly of the core philosophy of Eastern oriental painting. The permanence that oriental ink painting possess is replaced with a Western medium of charcoal and acrylic, nonetheless which she intuitively utilizes to conduct a symphonic composition as the initial value of such practice remains the same; her internal nature that decides her paintings to be complete. With this impulsive technique, Cha endeavors to provide a declarative emphasis to the significance in understanding the process of producing artworks as the vital part of understanding how the painting serves as a work of art. As Cha's insights serve as a catalyst, the integrity of her painting continues to shine, where changes in attitudes and perceptions of the artist become the fundamental growth in determining her artistic production.