[비즈한국] The Korea Art Promotion Project, which began as an initiative solely to support artists, has continued for 10 years. Keeping true to our initial intentions, we have supported around 230 artists. This was a unique endeavor, never before attempted by any media outlet, cultural organization, or state institution in Korea. We take pride in the belief that those 10 years of persistence have been etched into the 21st-century Korean art scene as a significant value. Consequently, it is recognized that the '10-year history of the Korea Art Promotion Project serves as a vantage point for observing the flow of contemporary Korean art.' Now, in Season 11, we aim to pave another path for Korean art.
I first went to Paris in the late 1990s. It was cold, and the sunlight was stingy. The streets at 7 a.m. were still shrouded in darkness. I opened the door to a bakery, guided by the savory smell of bread, thinking I should try a freshly baked baguette since I was in Paris.
There, I encountered a Parisian like those I had only seen in books. He looked to be nearing seventy. His finely combed silver hair matched elegantly with a sepia-colored fedora, and his thin, gold-rimmed glasses made his age irrelevant. His thick mustache looked neatly groomed. He was dressed in a navy suit with a snow-white dress shirt, a bluish-purple tie, and a bright red scarf with high saturation. Even his dark brown shoes were polished to a shine. His well-curated sense of fashion was as refreshing as the Parisian winter morning air. He was with a large dog with a golden luster and was just leaving after buying a freshly baked baguette.
As our eyes met, he offered a gentle smile. Along with a subtle fragrance, his departing figure lingered for a long time—so much so that I felt embarrassed by my own disheveled appearance, having just crawled out of my hotel bed.
A Parisian who prepares perfectly even for a brief outing to buy bread for breakfast. Perhaps it is this spirit—the heart that attaches meaning to trivial daily occurrences and observes proper decorum accordingly—that has made Paris a city of art.
Life, when you really think about it, is a succession of trivial things. Most people live in nearly identical apartments and greet the morning while looking at common scenery. We meet people we saw yesterday and talk about unremarkable things. The landscape encountered on a walk is likely no different.
If we attach value to those small, seemingly insignificant things, life takes on precious meaning. The great art that changes history also begins with this kind of heart.
An artist's ability to find true art also begins with how they view their own daily life. This is only possible when one breaks free from the hollow idea that art only holds value if it contains heavy philosophies or the anxieties of the era.
Park Soon-yeon's approach to her work begins with this sentiment. She lives in a region overlooking the sea. The sea she has watched for a long time. That is the artist's material and subject.
"I watch the sea every day. Depending on my state of mind, the sea looks different. You could say that the expressions of the sea, which take up the largest portion of my daily life, are the heart of my work. My painting is an attempt to express these various expressions of the sea in my own way."
Park Soon-yeon's painting is work imbued with a heart that cherishes her daily life, a will to attach meaning to it, and a desire to make it appear anew.