No see, it was easy to write that, and I believe I got my point across as I would normally do. But when it comes to writing.. it's like it has to be more than what I inadequately see my written skill as. Thanks to the underwhelming approvals of, wait, I shan't blame highschool teachers. There is no blame. Just me, writing this blog, instead of smoking a cigarette and writing this exhibition review. I have opinions, I bought the exhibition's book, and have read lightly into the artist's history. I can see what she's achieving and how the technical skill advances her efforts to communicate fragility in the strong and durable characteristics of metal.
I'll just write a bit of it out right now. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time, are there not multiple layers of images underneath the surface of one my drawings/paintings/books and whatever. So are there in these writings. Cool.
Well Kye-Yeon Son is a jeweler and crafts person, but primarily a metal smith. She has studied in Seoul, Korea (where Whopper's from I think) and furthered her education in the Indiana University, U.S. When it comes to Son's first works, one may easily pick up on the gestural qualities of the line she uses in her vessels. There are zig zag with clear and equal angles that ravel along the rim of a smooth and polished silver bowl, that then transform into an curve as smooth and arched as the rim of the vessel. What I like about Son is what I like about most sculptural artists. Instead of collecting dust atop of my imaginary shelf, is that their creations may be used, so that there is a utilitarian purpose behind their manifestation. Son though, takes it one step further in terms of describing to us what these functions may be. I have seen the works of ceramic sculptures bring their work into the dinning room as serve-ware, but never mention the emotion ties to these ceremonies that make the piece in question valuable. Son's Saki tea set are of traditional Korean culture, and are unique in their clear yet angled gesture, but furthermore describe their embodiment of emotions that also are prominent in the ceremony itself. For Promise is a hollowed out pen with an ink well constructed from fine and smaller-than-your-pinky-nail silver circles that create an empty volume. The technical skill of these pieces is quite refined. The hollowed pen is at first a flat sheet of really thin silver, but is curved in to join itself to create the body of the pen. There is a seam, but there is no visual proof of its existence, or of its procedure. The form she creates with metal with the help of her technical skill of the craft is (I'm getting slower now at producing ideas. I'll perchance go out for a smoke.. )
But the forms that she creates with these tiny metal lines, are visually easy to destroy. Luckily they are stored within acrylic cases, because either wise I would be extremely tempted to break the connection of at least one welded seam. I overheard another person at the show's reaction to one of her pieces. Loss is a hollowed form, it sorta looks like a blobbed figure as there are the visual references to a body slunched over, drooped like it was sad, but with one element that encapsulates the empty feeling of its onlookers. There is a gaping hole in the presumable stomach of the figure, wherein you can see that it's covered with sharp splintering fragments of metal that burn on the inside. The curve of the figure is so dramatic that if there figure were a person, which essentially I guess it is, it is clearly a conscious feeling of loss that they are experiencing. The time at which this piece was made was during (fuck I don't know the exact date, but I read it in a catalog that I could go and see right now, but fuck that, but anyways) the time when she was offered a position to teach at NSCAD. She had already 2 children (daughters I think) so she would have to leave them at home for their Dad to take care of, in Korea? Indiana? She didn't get the job until 1998, but this piece was made in 1996, so maybe it's a full-time/part-time thing. However, what she communicates here in these series of linear and gestural works is the transitional changes that are effective both her life in the art world, and in the traditional 'I'm married, I'm a Mom, I have no time other than being emotionally confined and artistically silenced.' Fucking kids and Husbands, eh. But so anyways, she accepted the position and moved to Halifax, saving up money so that she could go home every two months and visit her kids and hubby. But on that voiced by stander of whom I heard. Their reaction was verbalized through the question "Wow. Oh my god, wow. Does she have kids?" (At this moment in time I had no idea that this woman wasn't 22 or so, and I thought this woman was a tad uninformed.) Pfft, so wrong. Yes, she did have kids, two of them, and not being able to see them was eating away at her on her motherly insides. But alas, she's using her discipline to share this story to whoever is lucky enough to see, and listen, and understand.
Now after this point in time, she became interested in the cultural traditions of the Korean stone, and how the attention to the beach stone is also reflected here on the east coast. We've all picked up a couple of stones and here and there along bodies of water, and held them in our hands and invested so much Gonzo emotion into them, we essentially create a ceremonial tradition in matter of seconds. Son is the bridge here when she connects the two cultures attention to the beach stone by creating wishing vessels. Now a function of a serve-ware needs not to be limited to food, but also the emotional joy and satisfying experience that comes along with enjoying food with company. That's why the good China dishes are cherished. I love Son because she clearly defined the function of these wishing vessels to serve primarily as emotional serve-ware. There is a respect for the tactile quality of beach stones too, as she furthers her skill in manipulating metal and it's surface to emulate that of a stone. Painting with enamel! Woo!
God damnit, maybe it's her education of culture, through experiencing them that makes her works so clearly defined and strong. She's able to signify the sacred importance of 'things' in our life, how having them look aesthetic and delicate is in fact to reflect to their fragile importance in our emotional every day lives. These things serve as tools for our emotions to become expressed.
Which brings me along to another series of her works. Empty Vessels is what she calls them. (Yes, I know. At first I walked in and was like "Vessel. Vessel. Vessel. Whatever, I'm bored. Oh look, it looks like a stone. Oh look, it looks like... a bunch of metal stuck together.") But the story behind this series is the experience of the loss of her Father. Well, he died, he didn't really get.. lost. But anyways.. Whereas her children she could go back and visit every two months or so, it's not like she could jump on the River of Styx and go see her Pops every now and again. So the hollow and emptiness she creates with metal is extremely fragile. The technical care she's place into their bends and curves are quite astounding, because for as small as these pieces of silver are, their souldered bits should've been broken - but Son is extremely patient. Creating these pieces helped her with her grieving process. She manipulates the form of these structures to resemble that of a canoe, or a boat let's say. She said that the boat is a vessel (obviously) but for sending away emotions. Like the vikings would, set their dead on fire on a boat into the sea. So does Son, but the fire is limited to the electro-magnetizing process it takes to shape these empty vessels. (I'm not sure if that's the actual name of the process, but I'll ask this Jewelry girl in my class tomorrow.) So Son put in a lot of her loss, and emptiness into this Empty Vessels series, so much so that the sentiment is quite evident, even in terms of the fragility of their connected parts, to the fragility of human emotion as well. Hell, if/when my parents die, I'll be fucking crying up a storm louder than Hurricane Katrina until the next ice age, hopefully when my heart will then be froze over. For the next while, if I didn't say it earlier, her Dad died in 2002, so from then until 2009 she was working with the form of metal wires, and creating tiny and polished pieces that are about soup-bowl size, to a few that are rose-vase [vay.ze] size.
In that same magazine I read in the Gallery (god damnit I'll have to cite and shit) she had said how she was on a walk with her Mom here in Canada, and her Mom remarked on "You see the Trees here in the winter look dead, but they come back in the spring." God damn fucking wise I say. So Son, with the help of her Mom, started to become observant to the circle of life, death, and re-growth. Innate Gestures picks up on this cycle in nature, and uses it to define the challenge of human emotion to grieve and regroup, or even life, and how it must slow down in order to continue once more. Even though this series is an abstract of the death evident in nature, her ability to convince us that these metals are not copper and enamel, but are actually Branches from trees, covered in believable snow, is another advancement in her technical skill as a metal-smith. Soon she started to experience some regrowth, ol' Sonny gal. She started using colour on her branches, by using enamel but also by the process of heating copper, and polishing off at different stages. Little did I know before that one could change the colour of copper by thermal treatment and a little wrist grease.
After this exploration of death, empty form, and regrowth, Son did a little bit on making some necklaces. This is where she was able to, effectively I say, as I wanted to buy one ($1,500 ... never mind.) carry over these elemental qualities of nature, and to have them gracefully rest on your collarbone. They're very light, so their conscious reality is not a weight on the shoulders, you know. Baggage on Atlas.
Now she went for a year of Sabbatical teaching in Korea, and in 2011 she created this series of brooches titled Untitled. Is this a title? I don't know. Did she have any fun there? I'm guessing not. Was it anything worth experiencing? I don't think so. All of her other works have been so emotionally charged, and full of the significant value of cultural traditions and artifacts, that this series was a bit underwhelming. But what is life but like a body of water. It may rush into rapid currents, or slow down into a still pond, and it may sit there for a while, but it does not mean that the waterfall it approaches does not exist. So anyways, what I'm saying is.. that although I really did enjoy the emotional energy she used to create her past pieces.. I will respect the non-frontal attitude of this series. I didn't even mention what they were of.. Well, at first in the exhibition I couldn't see a thing that described what they were (Hmm, oh hey, importance of artist's statement.) So that initially go me all bummed out, and I saw them as a series that needn't even be there if they weren't even named, or had a description, or weren't even in that magazine that I read. The only description that explained their existence was written by Dr. Sandra Alfoldy, a professor in Craft History at NSCAD. So thank you Sandy D. They are representative of Bojagi in Korea, which are quilts made from irregular shapes of fabric stitched together. In the Gallery book I bought it was "the name for Korean quilts which are composed of delicate colours and simple, uneven textile squares, and thin, light fabric. She struggled to attain the gestural imperfection of the cut cloth squares, something virtually impossible to achieve in metal." But on Wikipedia, is says that it's used in ceremonies as wrapping clothes, or gift wrapping, or table clothes, or the covering for sutras. Hmm, whatever.
Anyways, so even though there's not the screaming emotion of death and loss, and the hopeful attention to growth - there still remains the attention to traditional Korean culture. In religion, the practice of praying/meditation whatever, or the practice of religion does serve as an emotional tool. It's tradition, and dogmatic, sometimes a bit mundane, but its routine gives peace of mind. It'd be odd to think of Son was still grieving over her father's death 9 years after the event.
In her recent series, Form Function, she made ceremonial objects that service as utilitarian, but are aesthetic, but also service as a memory of feelings. I think having these as the last series really brings to light the significance of her first works. One may read of the importance of ceremonial objects, and how they respect the life and loss of a loved one, and how it's important because it's important, but for me, personally, I think because of how well Son has communicated this/her experience, I carry it as my own right now. How the Service for Memory displayed, was right at diaphragm height. I can see myself holding the cup and pouring the wine and lighting the candles. This piece was made in 2002, and the photo in the book shows the candles in the candle holders unlit and totally new. When you see them in the Gallery, they are already lit and used. So it's evident that the utilitarian characteristic of the work is not merely said, but done. I think even seeing this further connects the synapses in my brain saying to me, you know what.. Son has experienced this shit, and it's felt like shit. I mean those first Gestural Figures of Loss and House Bound, and Ring Bound.. I hear that. To be stuck in a house just creatively clogged shut with laundry and whatever.. boring as fuck.
Son's first works straight outta Indiana University are of simple connections and bends and polished pieces. Then she went to curving sheets of metal and enameling them. Then to creating delicate forms through her patience and understanding the tolerance of her metals. Then to further experiment with metal as she discovers the hidden rainbow beneath copper wire, when treated wit a lil heat. Then to making a neurotic amount of tiny little rings from short pieces of metal, flattening them, then soldering them together, then bending it from a 2d form, into a 3d sculptural form. Then to hiding all craftly evidence by just pure refining of her skill. Then to replication of the visual characteristics of nature. Bringing in the use of wood, thereby not being limited to her conventional material of choice. (What Metal-smith should always use metal?) So she is explorative in emotion, form, technique, and material. And then even such with the Function of her last series. I looked up 'utilitarian' on this Mac Dictionary, and it says to be designed to be useful rather than attractive.. well. Son's works are not ugly. I'm not going to wear an ugly hat, over a pretty hat. They're both hats.. but which one will you love more. (Lol.. "Sure I will have 2 kids. I will have an ugly kid, but also a pretty kid.. but I'm not going to put the ugly kid's picture on the Christmas card.) [Bad joke.] So she effectively redefines utilitarian to me. A pretty thing will be cherished, even though it's a thing.
But anways.. My review is some what in there.. time to blow my nose, smoke a cig and.. make a wise! 11:11
