Artist Statement - Jiyoon (Ji Hae) Koo
Boredom and Violence
One of my painting titled, 'Storyteller' was inspired by the suicide of human rights lawyer and South Korean ex-president, Rho Moo-Hyun, during the summer of 2009. The people of South Korea focused intently on the reasons behind his suicide. There were many questions left unanswered and even more theories as to why he chose to end his life. As the number of speculations grew, less important the truth became. Roh's death came amid an investigation into a bribery scandal that had tarnished his reputation. People concentrated on the event more than their own lives. The attention paid to the event made me aware of the amount of boredom in their lives. Some people honestly wanted the truth to be revealed, but other people seemed to enjoy the drama of the event in their boring lives. In the end, all they were left with was his irretrievable absence and unanswerable questions. After his death, I began to think about boredom, self-destruction, and the unspeakable space of the void. In 'storyteller,' a lone microphone faces an empty space, as if it is waiting to record something unspeakable.
There is a perpetual shift of energy in my working process. Before I start to work, I need time to accumulate physical and psychological energy, emotional as well as critical thoughts. During this time, I enjoy boredom and inactivity. As time passes, negative energy builds up and the lackadaisical time morphs into lethargy, then anxiety and insecurity in the end. Painting is a kinetic activity using that potential positive energy as a result of the ‘violence of boredom.’ My reckless brushstrokes, heavy chunks of paint unevenly mixed on the canvas, nervous traces of knife and the arrangement of colors reflect this state. These elements represent semi-abstract images that look like dissected human body, and human face attacked, which are further complicated with a classical approach of portraiture. I can never separate this process from my work and my themes; boredom, violence, self-destruction, void and excess. I think these complex relations reflect the images of the world we live in now.
The world produces violence upon itself, which transforms into boredom. My paintings explore these conditions of violence. Ironically, boredom is interesting. I like the ambivalence in it. Numb and pain. These states are the result of what I call the violence of boredom. I think the hardest psychological suffering is that which comes right after numbness. For me, both numbness and pain can be unbearable, but what makes it harder is that they are in a perpetual cycle. Numbness brings pain and the pain brings numbness. The tragic event of 9/11 is an exemplary. The event stimulated an apathetic population, and they experienced relief from their boredom. Everyone was excited to produce, consume and reproduce all media related to 9/11. It became a pure spectacle. Although there were countless analysis, discussions, and rumors surrounding the event, the net result was still no answer: A void. My endeavor as an artist is to image these states of impossibility.