I pursue perfection again today, striving to achieve it with all my might. Yet, I despair as I feel the emptiness of unfulfilled yearning. Is realizing that nothing is perfect the destination of life? What is the standard of perfection?
Today, I torment myself in the pursuit of perfection once more. Let it go. It must be let go. Dot by dot. These form lines. Lines, lines, they reveal surfaces.
Today, hardship and happiness coexist. Perhaps everything is completed when they coexist, where even aging and novelty add depth to the canvas of life.
Is perfection the coexistence of completeness and incompleteness? Today, I meet the me of 40 years ago and face the present me. The weight cannot be measured, but all the emotions that were by my side then led the present me into anger, despair, and regret. In the end, reconciling with all those emotions, I shape the present me, leading me to tomorrow with excitement. Joyful and happy, every moment spent with my art.
Dot, Line, and Surface.
(Agnes Son)
Agnes (Keumsun) Son. The organic import of mathematical beauty by Art Curation International
On a hyper-textured area sprinkled with quiet gray, dense streaks of white radiate from a matrix of waves like a jagged graph of mathematical beauty. But, instead of a numerical function or some abstract calculation, you're in fact looking at a painting by the remarkable Korean artist Agnes Son - expertly delivered in a new show at the Kate Oh Gallery in New York City's Upper East Side.
Son's paintings possess an introverted ability to transcend conventional boundaries, blurring the distinction between internal and external realms, between organic textures and mathematical exactitude. Like a scholar aptly investigating vibrating arrays of materials, her work suggests a dynamic energy that emanates from within the canvas. This phenomenon challenges traditional notions of space and perspective, inviting viewers into a discipline where the boundaries between reality and illusion are complex and even multivariate.
Central to Son's artistic vision is the manipulation of texture and linear form, which serve as a conduit for exploring the relationship between color and perception. The scholar notes the attenuated and needlelike quality of the painting's apparent light, which seems to extend beyond the physical confines of the canvas. This optical illusion creates a sense of expansiveness, drawing viewers into an experience where the boundaries of the artwork seemingly dissolve, and the observer becomes immersed in a strange and otherworldly abstract atmosphere.
Yet all this effect is achieved with quiet earthiness, with a near-mathematical rigor. Yes, therein lies Son's paradoxical sense of groundedness and simplicity. Despite the transcendentalist import of her compositions, each brushstroke is imbued with scholarly precision, as if guided by an unseen hand orchestrating the matrix of linear forms with meticulous care.
It is in this juxtaposition of the abstract and the mundane that we find echoes of Kant's notion of the sublime as that which exceeds the limits of comprehension yet simultaneously evokes a sense of awe and reverence. Son's paintings transport us to a realm where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, where the mathematical is imbued with a sense of cosmic significance. In the delicate balance between the ethereal and the earthly, the transcendent and the immanent, Son invites us to contemplate the interconnectedness of the arts and sciences.
Beyond the formal aspects of her work, Son's paintings also evoke a subtle sense of emotional resonance. In the precise indeterminate, each brushstroke becomes a vessel for expression, imbued with the artist's innermost thoughts and feelings.
One would even find that Son's lyrical abstraction transcends the confines of representation, offering viewers a glimpse into a realm where the boundaries between the physical and metaphysical, the tangible and intangible, dissolve.
As we anticipate Son's upcoming exhibition at the Kate Oh Gallery, let us embrace the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the uncanny synthesis of her artwork. Through her mastery of the medium, Son invites us to transcend the ordinary and embark on a transformative journey of the imagination, where the boundaries between organic reality and mathematical abstraction are blurred, and the analytic possibilities of the artistic vision are made manifest.