Lot 1567: HONG SUNG CHUL

HONG SUNG CHUL
(B. 1969)
String Mirror - hands
signed in Korean and Chinese; signed and dated 'Hong Sung Chul; 2009' in English (on the reverse)
print on elastic string, steel frame
200 x 15 x 119 cm. (78 3/4 x 6 x 46 7/8 in.)
Executed in 2009

Self-consciously focused on the subjective human experience and the tendency to withdraw from social contact and communication is warily attended by Hong Sung Chul as he endeavors to overcome social isolation through, first, confronting his own vulnerability and emotional wounds gained from his past experience in coexisting and communicating with others and then applying it into the functional simultaneity of his medium that is visually stimulating and aptly symbolic in its social context.

Painfully honest in his observation, Hong observes that despite the forced efforts in conversing and connecting, we are only returned with further disappointment, leaving us in bitter lonesome. Tying this harsh reality into an immensely systematic form of multiple strings in String Mirror-hands (Lot 1567), the layered depth of the compactly secured elastic strings oscillates a three dimensionality of the image, swindling an illusory effect of a moving hand that gestures a behavioral communication with the audience. At glance, the elasticity of the strings positioned in multiple fields resonate a vibrating sensation of a motion picture, teasing us for a tacit/visual communication; however, with time and varying stand points, the hands disappear and appear prompting a perceptual tension, abandoning us in confusion of whether the hands are reaching for an embrace or struggling to untangle from each other. The emblematic performance of a string/thread as an entity that unites, communicates and mends broken pieces, knowingly exploiting its binary impact of disconnection by approximating his existential observation with the disconnection of an umbilical cord that ultimately detaches mother from child - where the journey of independent social life begins. With Hong's astonishing proficiency in maneuvering this medium, he also portrays a frank critique that even through art, the difficulty of communication is still present. Through his open experimentation, we begin to appreciate his gravity and sincerity in his constant challenge to develop and cultivate his medium, an intention solely based on Hong's thoughtful desire to communicate better in open dialogue with the audience.