More repletive world without substanceSeonyoung Lee, Art Critic
The exhibition of Jaiyoung Cho which has the subtitle ‘The Relative Complement of A in U’ revolves around the theme something left (-A) from wholeness (U). According to the artist, A represents ‘the utmost smoothness within the world’ or ‘a solid frame and naturalness’. The artist sees the other infinity in the relative complement of infinity called the limited wholeness, and then makes the rest of them into the main characters. The substance becomes invisible like ghosts in front of the eyes of audiences; the marginal assumes the form in positive ways. The style of Jaiyoung to visualize the heterogeneity of the otherness referred to as ‘’The Relative Complement’ formatively is quite rigid. In the exhibition hall, the geometrical forms which match each other perfectly are placed as if they are thrown by chance. The displayed works have loose networks. The geometry of Jaiyoung Cho that is presumed to start from a certain drawing is not the straightened geometry in which the ideal optical order is projected. It is the blind geometry of uncertain in invisible in terms of starting point and ending point. It is the tactile geometry rather than the abstract geometry. In the age in which everything is drawn into a flow sheet by binary scale, the artist says that she wants to read the numerous decimal points between 1 and 2. It implies that one single vase in front of the eyes can allow the cognitional spectrum different when discussing it mathematically. The spectrum of extraordinary recognition becomes sophisticated as people become aware of the surface or space surrounding the mass rather than the mass itself which had been the main character of the traditional sculpture. The surfaces can be plural even though the mass is singular. Previously, such diversity was degraded as false, which is not true. It is about the time when the notion of one single core is in doubt. The three-dimensional polyhedras placed around the exhibition hall look quite fastidious; it rejects to be reduced into something particular. There is the play of differential relationship to dismantle the structure with core as well as the flight from representation. Although such unnamed ambiguous objects are considerably unrealistic, its origins are the things belonging to our intimate everyday life rather than the ideal Platonic geometry. The order of normal things is slightly twisted. The heavy becomes the light, the inside is revealed to the outside, the negative transforms into the positive. There is another order to be arranged with different application in terms of standard itself and variable geometry depending on situational logic, which is similar to certain space in reality but a bit different. The trickery of the materials, the emphasis on the surfaces, and the perceptional experience deployed differently according to the ever-changing movement of audiences is remarkable. The work piece [Through another way] starting from the stairs or columns of the studio causes unique spatial experience as the negative space out of something is located monumentally. The empty space where people originally pass by is formed with cardboard and wood, and the stairs to step on foot becomes the empty space so the audience can pass by. The work piece [Folding Walls] which is settled in the space like the partition with the wallpaper pattern in canvas expresses that the canvas displayed in the wall of museum can be changed into the other in the situation such as studio. The canvas becomes the painting as well as variable space. The traditional ideological frame which contains the illusion of painting becomes an object. [Towards a complete sphere] is created according to the development figure that consists of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. It takes unfamiliar appearance due to the different materials. It has its structural conditions as soccer ball; however, it appears in different appearances in different situations. It rejects the limited formation of considering the inherent decisive factors only. In the work pieces to emphasis the variable situations. The heterogeneous factor to change the forms is embedded in the outside, not in the inside. The Relative Complement comes as another name of the outside. As Goedel’s incompleteness theorem exemplifies, the factor to change the formation to assure the integrity of its system is not embedded within the system. The work piece [Weight of Air] placed on the second floor is the pendulum whose angle is determined by its weight. This piece intends the direction of the piece containing the most abundant air with the smallest volume as the heaviest pendulum. It shows the unexpected order which is possible due to the standard of air rather than its volume. The contradictory setting of weight become logical based on air rather than its volume. In the art piece [Monster], the modification follows the line of unexpected monster. No one can predict how this object will be recreated in the next exhibition through the process of cutting and pasting the part of the used pieces in another exhibition. This is not the completed piece, rather it is like the text which can be interpreted and weaved again. The process of causing ‘the pleasure of text (Roland Barthes)’ that is always newly weaved is not only applied to the artist but also to the audience. This piece which visualizes the situations and circumstances, the process and flow takes the essence in the process of the transformation itself. It refuses the theological vestige (as well as its variant idealism), like the notion of making something out of nothing, or the eternity. The work piece [Monster] which is made of paper but looks solid is not fixed due to its wheels, and there is no decisive position to make the audience understand the whole structure. It changes through the axis of time and space, and the material usage to deceive the eyes terminates the continuous relationship between the inside and the outside. It might be difficult to read certain coherent narratives (contents) in the work piece which forms many layers throughout the common order based on the continuity. If it is a narrative, it should be a poet, not an epic. The work of Jaiyoung Cho belongs to the context of the post-modern sculpture in which the modern sculpture of ‘logic’ premising the logical transparency in terms of materials or notions turns into the sculpture of ‘situation’ (Rosalind Krauss). It is still Cartesian system of space based on the notions of vertical/horizontal that comprise the axis of our day-to-day world. Such a concentrated system gives us a sense of security. However, Jaiyoung Cho tries to extract something which gives us the sense of security through the Relative Complement. Although they remind us of deconstruction and death without substance, the stable order itself can be said to be closer to death. The emphasized thing by the notion of the Relative Complement is the opened boundary, not the closed limitation. The fixed conception on order hands over its position to the realistic process. It is possible through the emphasis on the movement according to the flow of time rather than the peak. Temporality tends to cause vague experiences like delightful chaos rather than the progress toward one core. It is the post-modernity of the sculptures by Jaiyoung Cho that emphasizes the attitude placing the work on the outside of subject and the actual process such as perceptions and experiences, not notions. Such post-modernity aims at multicentrism rather than lethargic dispersion, Reconstruction rather than lax deconstruction, another order rather than anarchism, the opened cognitional system rather than nihilism |