NEW WORKS BY MOON BOEM

Moon begins with a monochrome surface using an acrylic pigment. He then applies small dabs of color using oil stick, pushing the oil pigment with his hand into a kind of hyperrealist foliage in an ambiguous time and space. While minimalism has always played a role in Moon Beom’s work, the balance between the monochrome and the minimal aspects of these paintings with the often naturalistic forms suggests some hybrid association with traditional landscape painting of his homeland. Yet despite a visual resemblance, Moon Beom’s work is inspired by the artist’s contemplation on the gesture of painting.

The scenes depicted on the canvas are mere traces of oil pigment applied by the artist’s hands at different speeds and pressures. Through endless repetition of this process, the artist examines a dynamic relationship between the canvas and his inner nature. Moon’s primary artistic interest is not concerned with expressing or representing reality, but with transferring his physical and emotional constitution to the painting itself. The force and velocity of his movements in relation to the canvas become the elements of the language of the work.

As the realm of landscape becomes much more broad, extending its scope beyond the representation of visible reality, Moon Beom’s syncopated, complex treatment of movement yields a distinct visual structure of exquisite particulars and explosive force where art and nature fluidly exist.