일본의 젊은 작가 이쿠하라다(b.1982)는 모호한 경계를 사이에 두고 공존하는 현실과 비현실을 탐구한다. 작가는 양쪽 모두에서 얻은 영감을 생생하게 담아내기 위해 여러 작업단계를 거쳐 다채로운 회화와 조각을 창작해낸다.
먼저 현실에서 마주하는 일상적 풍경과 공간을 가상현실(VR)에 재현한다. 선과 면으로 이루어진 가상 공간으로부터 울창한 자연 속에 건물을 짓고 작품을 전시하는 등 공간감을 갖춘 또 다른 세계가 탄생하는 것이다. 컴퓨터로 만들어진 이미지지만 시간과 일조량에 따라 변화하는 빛과 그림자를 구현해 생동감을 불어넣고 두 공간의 연결고리를 만들어낸다. 시간이 흐름에 따라 풍경의 입체감이 달라지는 가상세계의 순간을 다시 포착한다. 그 후 공간을 캔버스에 평면으로 옮겨내고 조각으로 재탄생 시켜 3차원적으로 존재하게 한다.
이쿠하라다는 Garden, House, Home 등의 시리즈를 통해 비비드한 색감의 가상 풍경을 아름다우면서도 낯설게 표현한다. 감상자는 캔버스에 그려진 창 혹은 페인팅을 둘러싼 조각품을 감상하며, 작가가 창조한 세계에 들어온 듯한 착각에 빠지게 된다.
이번 전시는 Art Front Gallery(도쿄)와 협업으로 진행된다. 수십 년간 글로벌 감각을 쌓아 온 BHAK는 이번 개인전을 시작으로 세계적인 갤러리와 협업해 다양한 아트프로젝트를 지속적으로 국내에 선보일 예정이다.
BHAK is pleased to present Iku Harada: Within Without, the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery. The show will be on view January 7 through 23, 2021 at the gallery’s new Hannam space. Within Without includes paintings and sculptures from Garden, House and Home series, in addition to various color blocks.
With
the on-going global pandemic situation, it became crucial to capture the bridge
between digital world and physical world. The artist’s approach in
incorporating the two different worlds reminds us how to view the contradictory
world and assess what should be truly considered within or without the reality.
Iku
Harada (b. 1982) creates computerized virtual reality (VR) spaces then expands
her artistic world through painting. She does not account the reality with the
world that creates the image; but, she focuses on the image that creates the
worldview. Without the respectable atmosphere, the computerized scenes are not
real. The computerized images are revived through painting without the loss of
aura as she does not duplicate but rather recreate with pieces of a virtual
image and add energetic charm of vivid colors. Therefore, the image is
re-enchanted with sacredness, uniqueness and presence.
Harada
depicts scenes of virtual houses, parks, gardens and various places where we
can experience the spatial sense. Even in her virtual world, the sun rises and
falls, and the shadows move with the passage of time. She lets the viewers
float between the anonymous scene in the computer and the livable landscape in
the real world. Such ambivalent experience suggests the coexistence of virtual
world and reality. Her recent works encompass the three dimensional blocks
which are then to be drawn on the canvas again, constructing the interlocking
world where two dimensions and three dimensions are intersected, like
perceptual illusions.
Furthermore,
her recurrent motif of window emphasizes this threshold effect, proposing the
access to the virtual world from the reality, which is both attractive and
distant. The play of light and shadow crossing on her paintings reveals that
the window can also be open, allowing circulation of air and atmosphere to pass
through the spaces. Harada's window arrangement highlights how the variability
in the distance we put with things from reality to abstraction, from the
habitable to the distant, from play to engagement.
The
exhibition is held in collaboration with Art Front Gallery (Tokyo). BHAK
continuously endeavors to engage in a diverse range of artistic projects
worldwide.