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Jeong-Il Oh
Artist, lives and works in Seoul, South Korea
… ”The super-realistic characteristics also appear in the works of Jeong Il Oh who adopted very traditional painting languages. Most of his topics are the hairs on the whole body. In his works, hairs are shown as one part of the body; sometimes hairs even get rid of the restriction of the body, becoming the main part of the pictures independently. All the pictures have dark black backgrounds; with hairs painted by small sized brush pens bestrewing the whole picture. The unknown hair-like objects shown on the dark background deliver a feeling of nervousness. Through our eyes, this feeling is not only restricted to our mentality, but also to our body. It's like opening every pore on the body, anxiously waiting for some uncertain inspiration to come. The classic techniques and non-realistic subjects are a reminder of the relationship between paintings by Jeong Il Oh and super-realistic artists such as Magrate. However, there is an obvious difference between the physical experience shown by the works and the psychological experience of super-realism, the former of which seemingly having more experience and energy of modern society...”
Written by Pi Li – In the “Painting is just painting” (introduction for the exhibition ’Brush hour’)
“Stylistically, the art of Oh Jeong-Il is marked by an unprecedented combination of hyper-real precision of detail with comprehensive, coherent composition, and a palette that is morbidly obsessive with the thinnest part of the human body; hair. In his painting the image is made up of minute monochrome lines, so that the viewer’s attention fluctuates between the surface pattern and the overall picture, which can only be read from a distance. Its impressive over-size scale has a visual power, which pulls the viewer deeply into its melancholic depths, hair being the thinnest part of verifying our identity. However, our identity is as trivial as a hair in this gigantic society. The artist raises the question of value as an individual and a human being.”
fig. I xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx fig. II xxxxxx fig. III
“The work of Oh Jeong Il is such an impressive monolog for artist oneself. “Through doing paint, I say myself who wants to paint” artist said. He wants to express very strongly with his hairs which are the most sublimely actions to draw until he never add even one stroke more, about the energies on the whole life. His painting made out of two parts. One is the action itself which is he actually paint the hairs in sequence. The other is the result’s representative effectiveness. He is chasing very classical value compare with the new conceptive art in modern art field. Through this traditional patience for pure art, he has made great passage for seeking oneself existence. An echo from both sides from his works is his special interpretation not only expression against external world but also the relationship between art and artist. By this creative working, he recognizes himself in the flows of thoughts and emotions and also makes him much humble himself. The wriggling energy from his work is coming from all these processes to introspect. His minute description of part of human body brings much abstract power over its fainting realistic. And still make us to think a part of micro cosmos in the universe.” (Text by Dea Hyung Lee)
fig. I
Hairy
fig. II
Braid
fig. III
Transition-Tree
