Anticipating First Touch

The human experience is unpacked in Koo Kyung Sook’s work physically, mentally, and emotionally. The body is used as a universal vehicle that belongs to everyone. It is what takes us from place to place. As we move chronologically through the work it should be noted that we are initially given figurative moments, or visual clues, that lend toward an initial aural understanding of the pieces. This assimilation of ideas evolve as the individual works are further unpacked simply by taking the time to view them for extended periods. Narratives are developed, and in the later pieces those narratives are completely abandoned to create visuals that remain nameless in a way that the eye can no longer objectively describe what lies in front of it.

(Invisible Torso 3 – red) The female figure is composed of pressed and imprinted dots. The spectrum of color in its lightest state begins with a saturated crimson and ends with its darkest tone as it becomes black. The outer edges of the figure are the darkest and most defined, creating a border that contains the being’s form. The arms of the figure fade away, losing their cohesion with the rest of the body as they dissipate into smaller particles, growing faint they disappear. This regression provides strength to the rest of the body as we watch the center of the lower torso glow and come back to life. The legs of the figure seem to fade away but with a different concentration and movement than the limbs above them. There is a disappearance, although this time the dotted pixelation becomes buoyant, a clumsy and yet endearing separation from the body; a swarm of bees disconnected from the central hive that is the human frame and soul. There is a physical revolt of the senses that occurs as the mind and body puts itself back together only in a new and different version, having learned to be better and stronger.

Comprised of mostly earth tones, Figure 5 is an anomaly. Vigorous, lush, and abundant, there is a bubbling of forms that rise to the surface. It is a feeling that is derived from the dripping and pouring of material that compiles and builds the composition. There is a fractured feeling; a brokenness that lends to the construction, and we are left with an air that this is an event that occurred in the past, almost as though we are gazing into a smashed stain glass window that was reconstructed and put back together in such a way that it would evolve into an abstracted allegory that lives inside of a forever moving picture plane. It is a world that exists in what appears to be a two-dimensional support, but in reality it is an ontological portal into the human psyche: admitted contradictions and honesty, a documentation of an internal life.

Two figures stand side by side (Markings 11-6 and 11-7), opposite in terms of their construction; the figure on the left is built with sweeping marks that jump upward and define the figure’s chest. Scattered monochromatic blots rise; like flames they lick and scorch the surface. The right shoulder breaks off, pushing into the figure on the right. Thin fine lines scratch along the facade in between intermittent opaque pools that describe the top of the figure’s head, left eye, and mouth.Building off of this compositional approach, Koo’s cognitive portraits (Markings 14-4, 14-5, 14-2, 14-1,and 14-3) become a series of rituals that are explosive flashes of combustion (Markings 14-4,and 14-5). Moving forward, the portraits taper down into three fetishes(Markings 14-2, 14-1, and 14-3).Each of the faces are being overtaken by an unknown force that twists and binds. They are the most peaceful of Koo’s work in that they progress unhurriedly as the intoxicant weaves onto the face. Markings 15-7 furthers the territory where the portraits leave off. Four forms rise up out of spotted, winding vapor. When given the space to relate and communicate, these forms become anthropomorphic, and the viewer is aware that these compiled marks and gestures are alive. Free of direct specificity, they radiate the presence of what remains when the physical body is removed and the emotional body is all that remains.

Best described as the inside of cocoons, Markings 15-4, 15-2, and 15-5 hold many similarities outside of their limited tonal values. There is a confusion to each work, and while chaotic, each piece seems insular. Markings 15-4 is explosive. An underlying, grid-like structure does provide order, however, this system of organization assists in creating a formalized anxiety that is revealed as a stacking of shapes and moments that pulls the viewer in different directions. Koo’s quality of marks are so diversified that when they are in recognition of each other they culminate to create unrevealed living entities. While their transformation is constantly changing, there is a comforting protective layer that is felt. Of the three works, the most heavy and compacted with substance is Markings 15-2. Growing upwards there is a connection that is happening, a covering of form. On one hand it can be felt as suffocating, and on the other it feels like the form is being completed or restored, all of which insinuate a cycle of progress and growth. Giving in is essential, and the event that has occurred came suddenly and yet not unexpectedly. Koo’s work looks as though it had naturally formed itself. The events that are taking place feel like they were delivered by fate, predetermined and inevitable; a conscious notion that progress could not come about without first letting go and then rebuilding. Experiences are compiled and then reassembled, opening up new avenues by which to travel and interpret the work. (Markings 15-5) There is an area at the bottom of the composition that provides a force that simmers and progresses outward. Accompanied by an explosion, the forms are disconnected from their original placement, cleansing the paper support and providing an outlet for new forms to burst and then bloom. Functioning not unlike the natural world, the work moves in cycles that are unpredictable. For each explosion that occurs, saturated marks contribute to the definition of form, and marks express memories that are becoming unconcealed as they wait for the right time to reveal themselves.

Upended, we feel the soul, mind, and spirit gone awry (Markings 16-1). Filled with an orchestrated confusion, swirling outbursts develop dense networks that connect Koo’s impulsive gestures, providing just enough time to take in a breath of fresh air before diving back in. In between these breathing rooms, un-manipulated marks infect one another, generating an innumerable amount of entrance and exit points. The image of an eye can be found scattered throughout. This is a symbol that contains great power. Pressed and distorted, the eyes radiate a significant amount of pain, however, combined with the entire composition, everything begins to feel extra-sensory. Amidst pain and uncertainty there is clairvoyance and a belief and trust in intuition. There is no single way to navigate this piece. It is the self versus the self in this barrage of internal conflict that results in self-introspection and self-transcendence, and this is what that looks like as a painting.

(Markings 17-1) The first of the three panels begins with marks that drape themselves over each other; they move with a liquid consistency and are free flowing. There is a looseness to the markings, and they feel as though they are morphing and changing into something. An illusion is developed that creates a feeling that the marks are not limited to any fixed shape: void of permanence, the panel is forever subject to change. (Markings 17-4) As we move to the right to the second panel, the marks, which were once draped over one another and held a weightlessness similar to floating ribbons that were guided by the wind, begin to connect. A magnetic consolidation of form connects chunky blocks of heavy black; they unite and develop more coherent and stronger marks, still maintaining identities that remain unknown. In this middle panel there is an internal logic that is being developed that undeniably belongs to Koo. The way that her marks and forms are constructed is a visual rationale that runs throughout her body of work and is undoubtedly parts of the artist that cannot be gotten away from. This is the beauty of a visual and internal life: no matter how abstract a work can become, we can always forever see signs of the artist’s subconscious. (Markings 17-2) In the third panel, marks and forms attach themselves to develop parts of a figure of a female human body. Her back is turned to viewer; it feels as though she is walking away from us. Her body is slowly becoming entwined with marks that seem to grow and reach up onto her legs. Her back and lower torso are defined by negative space aided by chunks and blocks of black that provide a dense outline for the white areas. If static could be felt, then we are knee-deep in it. When Koo allows the human form to be recognized in her work it becomes so relatable that it seems autobiographical and unique to each person who views it. We become the figure, and this will be the closest that we will ever come to knowing what it feels like to walk through a wall of white noise. The body is overtaken by an unknown presence that can only be described as unfamiliar and undefinable; a visual definition of what it would feel like to physically enter into the notion of possibility.

Having been completed in 2018, Markings 18-3, Markings 18-4, and Markings 18-1 are Koo’s most current works. While all of her work can be considered abstract, these works are different in that they do not hold any figurative associations. Exchanging these figurative parallels and an attention to how forms sit in space, Koo trades them in for vast continuous surfaces. The peripheries of forms in Markings 18-3 join each other like interlocking pieces where everything, given the time and patience, will fall into its right place. There are many instances where a mass is built but with a consideration for the forms that will coincide as its complement. This is where we see a sensitivity in this piece as every form, no matter how large or small, complicated or simplistic, is in anticipation of its counterpoint. In Markings 18-1 Koointroduces a dark crimson hue. Moving in a course that is different than its under-layered predecessors, a saturated red skitters across the surface. This particular shade operates in a very curious way in that it flashes along the textured handmade surface, yet sinks in and spreads itself out laying claim to all it touches. Markings 18-4 follows suit but with a more reductive quality. Selectively the color permeates the surface with orange layered onto the red. The translucent layers allow for a thin stacking of color that creates gentle passageways. The raised white spaces in each of these works function topographically as they create higher elevations by which the lowest channels are flooded with black. These channels become the heartbeat that brings a pulse to the works. This heightened contrast elevates these pieces into singular expanses that lend to a complex interaction between the individual layers that are both emotional and psychological. When viewing each of these works it is important to remember that one emotion, feeling, or essence is unbound and can move in all directions. Similar to looking out over the ocean, it is one giant expanse of water, however, upon further inspection it is created by smaller consolidated moments that feed into one another. Individual worlds within worlds are opened up and unraveled. They breathe on their own with an infinite expansion and contraction.

Koo’s work belongs to all those who choose to relate to it. At times there is an inner turmoil that is felt, and, because of this, moments of transcendence are achieved. This dichotomy is what elevates the work and transports the viewer to new states of awareness. We navigate the work externally and leave with the feeling that we have entered into vast and unknown spaces that are much larger and complex than the physical shell that encapsulates us.

Jeff Mayry

Sacramento, California 2018

(From Koo Kyung Sook: Markings, University Library Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, California, exhibition catalog, 2019)