Pick up Artists

Lee Kooha (Calligrapher)

The flow of time and the trajectory of the race

-Lee Ku-ha-

- Verdigris -

Can one express oneself through a painting? The question is whether one can paint an internal, rather than an external, self-portrait. I believe that mutual understanding and integration among people from various walks of life are urgent issues these days. Certainly, harmony and dialogue are the best way to resolve these issues. However, the most important thing is to identify "who one is." Before expressing one's position in relation to the nation, one must first ask "where one is now." To achieve mutual understanding and integration in this country, we must communicate with our inner selves. This is because we must regain serenity before entering into deep and broad relationships. This artist seeks to give form to his paintings in the most human way. They are an attempt to fill the void of the "self" he did not know or wanted to know. What does this painting mean, using "time" as a working tool to find "self"? How can his essence and the "self" of painting confront each other? I seek to find the answer in his name, "The Turtle and the River," as a way to find "self." This is vividly manifested in his artistic world. While drawing inspiration from his own name, he seeks to approach "himself" by grafting on painting techniques and worldviews. For him, the act of painting is a process of self-discovery, and the finishing touches reveal the self. This is precisely why we must continue to pursue the "dots" and "lines" of his brush with the innocence of a child. He believes that all the shapes created in the process of painting, based on the motifs of "turtle" and "water," are the source of "self." Why does he believe that the shapes made up of "dots" and "lines" are another "self"? He sees them not as mere brushstrokes, but as the flow of time, the traces of a running brush—a turtle, a painter, whatever—and these traces represent the time he has lived and will continue to live. Therefore, an artist cannot exist without the passage of time. I believe he owes this work a debt of time. This work, which he has endured and continued to run through, is undoubtedly a process toward another door of communication that transcends "himself."