具本妸的作品以水墨來呈現，深沉且內斂的畫面帶有幾分莊嚴與修行的味道。圖形由許多迥異卻又有些熟悉的圓圈與環狀物結合而成，它們看起來像是如同齒輪與發條般的冗餘機械圖像，但它們似乎並不是精細且井然有序的密集結構，反而更像老舊且崩毀的殘骸，寂靜的就像是曾經擁有偉大文明且讓我們深深沉默的遺跡；原本透過某種動力運轉而各司其職的機械零件，如今展示著它們卑微的軀幹，被拆解且遺忘著。

 

 

 

機能的失去代表作用被摧毀，機械已然損壞；然而當它們被破壞的剎那就變成了一種有意義與價值的符號。失去作用與動力的外殼正默默地注視時間的另一邊，機械是人類文明的產物，也是人類有意識行為的頂點，而正是時間將它們變回原狀。人類創造了機械，自然恢復了它們，這是不變的真理。時間被稱為自然的傳遞者，它不慌不忙地在物質上刻印出自然的召喚，儘管速度相當緩慢。時間藉由還原人造文明及其產物至被遺忘的那一端，證實了人類與自然之間的關係，我們可以用一句諺語來表示這樣的自然定律：「無為而無不為」。

 

 

 

《時間的牙齒》是具本妸作品中的其中一個系列，它表示了自然不眠不休地在還原各式各樣的物質與現象，「牙齒」這個通俗且引人注目的詞，可以被解讀為對時間屬性的強調。淒涼且悲傷的機械小零件，既失去了原有外形與功能，同時也失去了尊嚴與存在意義。儘管它們應該消失到了無限的另一邊，它們仍不禁感到悲傷：這是宿命，機械藉由運作而存在著，就像對人類生命的憐憫要藉由苦難才能夠被證實一樣。「即便有人說世上沒有東西是重要的，但是真的沒有任何意義可言嗎？」時間之墓如此沉默地傾訴著，具本妸從這樣令人畏懼的現實裡辨認出存在性。

 

 

 

“在我的作品裡，「滿」與「空」、「自然」與「文明」的四種循環是通過「齒輪」這個媒介表現的。「齒輪」在韓文裡的漢字是「胎葉」，表示了孕育生命的架構，就好比葉子是被生來提供養份給樹木一樣……我在自然與文明的和諧之中找到了「時間的牙齒」的解答，那就是敬畏。敬畏之美隨時間而累積產生，敬畏需要耐心，而且隨著時間的流動而勝利，它是毀滅的對立面，故可稱之為「完整」。”

 

 

 

這是藝術家筆記中的一部分。螺旋纏繞的發條是一種賦予生命的象徵，發條在還能轉動時是「活」的，但當它停止轉動時便「死」了，人類所被允許的就是維持有限的生命直到完全停止轉動，因為大自然將它要了回去。然而，存在與不存在、生存與毀滅都是一體的兩面，具本妸稱之為「敬畏」來認同且適應它。雖然就像榆樹的年輪生長一樣緩慢，不過它仍然在其內部刻劃出了時間的軌跡，這可能是另一個生命的開端，而不是毀滅與消逝。「完整」一詞可以表示藝術家在適應了時間的洗禮後，默認且接受了自然的無窮止以及她自己生命的有限，是種很美的形容。

 

 

 

藝術家藉由水墨以思考架構呈現出嚴謹的意涵與象徵。與一般傳統的水墨十分不同，具本妸的水墨結合了像是古老寺廟裝飾物或像是失落古文明遺跡的外形，它們並不只是遵循著像是線條與強烈特色的媒材形式等原則方法，而是超脫了水墨的精神價值，強調工具般的作用性與功能性，並且從水墨意識形態的審美觀中抽離出來。因此，具本妸的作品充滿了感性與表現性元素，這些作品通常運用了水墨的物質特性，並且有時候用它們來當作敘述的媒介，這些都與傳統的水墨創作有很大的不同。我們可以把這些理解成在現下時空裡，水墨在適應變化的過程中所獲取到的一種新表現方法，而且看起來並不會突兀。

 

 

 

對具本妸來說，她的目的是想要表現水墨之美，並且將傳達的需求忠實地反應在作品上，然而在我們強調水墨的精神性時，並不表示它們應該被反映在水墨自身，而是自然地展現在與創作者的思維結合上。即使表現方式有些不同，如果水墨是種反映自然特性的方法(包括從客觀現象抽離的思維世界中所有事物)，並且深入人心時，藝術家的水墨創作與水墨的基本精神是能兼容並蓄的。倘若我們記住水墨是種在人類與自然之間靈敏地作用與反應的構成方法，創作媒材的選擇以及藝術家的意志便達到完美的平衡。我們可以說，在現代時空中的嶄新能量創造了一種新的水墨表現方式，水墨似乎也藉由這些過程，不但傳達了過往時光的歷史，同時也維持了自身的週期狀態。

 

 

 

 

Reading New Expressions of Behaviors with and without Intention, Baptism of Time and Sumuk

Kim, Sang‐cheol (art critic)

 

 

As you know, Sumuk is a very old formative method. It becomes a complete system through abundant formative experiences accumulated through its long history. Especially, its history of development including various contents such as original aesthetic sense and appreciation system of Sumuk penetrating the traditional times is the base of Oriental painting tradition. As a matter of fact, it may be a complete format already. It may an obsolete relic of the traditional times which has already passed. However, not a few artists have taken it as the base of their art works even in modern times. It may out of mannerism from the tradition or obsession over tradition. Of course, the status of Sumuk is not as good as before in the heavy current of modern art. However, it is worthwhile to note that Sumuk still exists as a medium of expression and is breathing a new era changing itself with new expressions and shapes. When remembering that tradition has characteristics of organism to secure its life by getting new energies of new era rather than is maintained by protection and heritance, we need to evaluated and notice its spirit and power of Sumuk again.

 

 

 

The works of Gu Bon‐ah are supported by Sumuk. Dark and withdrawn screens are somewhat solemn and ascetic. Figures combined with various circles and round shapes are strange although they are familiar to some extent. They look like forms made of redundant mechanical images such as cogwheels or clockwork. However, they are read as old and falling things rather than mechanical precision or cold order of dense structure. It is dreary just like ruins of a great civilization and reminds us of deep fall of silence. Machines which perform original functions and play roles by performing through certain energies are dissolved and dismantled and left there with their humble flesh shown.

 

 

 

It is death and disappearance. The loss of function means the destruction of the purpose. What were meaningful and valuable became symbols as they were destroyed and lost. The shapes losing power and purposes are silent staring the other side of the time. Machines are the products of human civilizations and the climax of intentional behaviors of human beings. What takes them back is time. Humans create them and nature returns them. It is the unchanging law. Time is call that the nature delivers. Although it is slow, it inscribes the call of nature on materials without haste. It confirms the relation between humans and nature by returning the artificial civilization and materials which are the products of the civilization to the other side of oblivion. It is the law of nature expressed in an ironic phrase such as “Nothing is intentional but nothing exists without intention.”(無作爲而無不作爲)

 

 

 

<Teeth of Time> is the series of proportions of the artist. It is the expression for the nature which returns all kinds of materials and phenomena without resting. The vulgar and sensational word of ‘Tooth’ can be read as an emphasis of properties of time. The particles of machines which lost existence and dignity as well as its original shape and function are desolate and sad. Although they are supposed to disappear to the other side of infinity, they cannot help being sad. It is the fate of machines that can exist by their functions and the pity for the lives of people which can be confirmed by pains. Although people say there is nothing important in going and coming, is there really anything without meaning at all? The artist identifies the existence through the dreadful reality that the tomb of time so to speak the silence of time has.

 

 

 

“In this work, I expressed the filling and emptying and the circulation of nature and civilization through the medium of clockwork. Cogwheel in Chinese characters (胎葉) is made up with ‘胎’ which means pregnancy, and ‘葉’ which means leaves. It means a frame bearing the life just as leaves made to give life to trees........ I found the answer of tooth of time as awe from the reconciliation between nature and civilization. The beauty of awe is that it grows with age. Awe needs patience and it is the victory over time. It is the opposite of destruction. It can be said as completion.”

 

 

 

It is a part of artist’s journal. The spiral wound clockwork is the symbol of life that gives life to things. It moves as if it were alive when it was wound but it arrives at death when it is fully unwound. What is allowed to human beings is the finite life until being unwound completely. Nature gets it back without puss. Therefore, existence and non‐existence and to be and not to be is the different sides of the same thing. The artist calls it ‘awe’ to approve and accommodate it. Although it is slow just like growth ring of elms, it is inscribed in the body to show the trace of time. It may the beginning of another life rather than destruction or disappearance. ‘Completion’ may mean the allowance and acceptance of infinite parts in the nature and finite part in herself by adapting to the baptism of time. And they are read as beautiful.

The screen of the artist full of serious meanings and symbols present the structure of speculation just as soaring into the screen through Sumuk. Sumuk of the artist combining the shapes just as ornaments of large temple which is already old, or ruins of the civilization which have already lost the warmth of civilization are very much different from traditional Sumuk. They do not follow the principle methodology such as forms by lines and have strong characteristics as media of forms beyond Sumuk as spiritual values. They emphasize the roles and functions as tools escaping from the aesthetic sense of Sumuk assuming ideologies.

 

 

Therefore, works of the artist are full of sensual and expressive elements. They often utilize the material characteristics of Sumuk and sometimes use them as media of description. Either case is far from the traditional operations of Sumuk. But the outputs of these behaviors do not look intentional. They can be interpreted as new expressions acquired in the time and the place of modernity which Sumuk meets during the time of changes.

 

 

 

In case of this artist, the formative purpose that the artist wants to express precedes the virtues of doctrine of Sumuk, and the faithful reactions to these requests are shown in the works. When we emphasize the spirituality of Sumuk, it does not mean certain spirituality should be reflected on Sumuk itself. It is natural that it becomes to have spirituality when it is revealed with the combination with the thought of the operator. When Sumuk is the formative methodology to reflect the nature with the of properties such as including all things in the world of thinking escaping from the objective situations of phenomena and penetrating and infiltrating, Sumuk of the artist is compatible with the fundamental spirit of Sumuk although the expressions are little different. When we remember that Sumuk is a formative method that acts and reacts sensitively in the relation between human and nature, the selection of the medium and the will of artist becomes in perfect balance. It can be said as a new expression of Sumuk created by absorbing new power and energy such as forms in the time and the place of modernity. Sumuk seems to deliver the story of the old times maintaining its own life through these processes.