REALTIART

 I was turning pages of a portfolio by artist Inhee Jung and when it came to the end, the screen turned black with ‘The slide show is over. Please press any key to close it.’. I felt sad kind of like a person sitting in a movie theater after a marvel movie has ended and there is no bonus scene. It was because of the simple images of the artwork with unique colors by the artist paired with some writings that I was leaning towards the screen to see her work.  Her work by the way, is done not on a canvas but on a tinplate.  The bright colors were really stimulating to my eyes. Her artwork reminds me of those candies named ‘Sarangbang Candies’  that I had when I was a kid. I remember smelling the sweetness from opening a lid. Images of me as a kid looking at the colorful jawbreakers in the candy container come back to me. I can’t see my favorite yellow candy because it’s covered in blue, green, and pink ones. I’m concerned because my mom’s eyes are on me to watch if I stir the candy container with my dirty hands. I have a strange experience where my instinct to stir the container and pick out the yellow one can’t beat the instinct to leave it alone to avoid damaging the pretty image of the candies inside it.  In the end I couldn’t eat the candy.

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Recently I went into my room and carefully took out the artwork that she gave me on the night we met. The image of a wave which is supposed to mean a wet book was shining like the time I saw those colorful and round candies as a kid. Last year, she participated in one of our group exhibitions. She told me that it rained so badly in Jeju Island, where she lives, that water came into the house and ruined everything. I was wondering if the wet, floating books had been shining mysteriously and beautifully in her eyes despite the scary wind and rain. She must like books so much. Books that might be just for reading to someone - just books on a bookshelf to another, a pillow to a sleepy student, books that are open and even wet - all have been reborn through the artist’s hands with irresistible beauty that makes a kid refrain from the pleasure of candy. I have met a soprano who says she would never be able to sing without love and I have met a horn player who told me playing music is not possible without love. I haven’t asked the artist this but she might say that is correct. 

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The night that I got her donated artwork was the day she came to Daegu to prepare for her upcoming solo exhibition. I had such a great time with her and her family after all the hanging was done for the show. On the way home, her brother and I took the same car since we were going the same way. He told me it was great to hang out with her since she lives in Jeju island and he can’t see her often. He said he admires her for living her life doing as she likes and the eyes of people who do what they want to do are just different from others who don’t. Her artwork was sparkling  just like her eyes glittering with her love of art, her dream and adventure called life. 

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Shinhae Kim