CHAE SUNG-PIL

CHAE Sung-Pil

Born in 1972, Jindo Korea

Education
Present / 2012 Currently enrolled in Doctoral program in Plastic Arts– Université Paris 1
09.2005 Master2 (DEA) in Plastic Arts - Université Rennes2
02.2003 M.A in Oriental Paintings - Seoul National University
02.1998 B.A in Oriental Paintings – Seoul National University

Solo Exhibitions

2011 Musée d’Young-Eun, Kwang-Ju, Corée
2010 Gallery Christine Park. Paris, France
2009 Gallery Sejul. Seoul, Korea
2008 Gallery AROA. Paris, France
2007 Gallery Brasilia. Paris, France

Group Exhibitions

2013 Gallery Opera. Singapore
Gallery 89. Paris. France
Art Paris. Paris. France
2012 Korea tomorrow. Hangaram Museum(seoul Art Center). Seoul. Korea
Gallery Opera Seoul. Seoul. Korea
Sonamu. Ara gallery. Seoul. Korea.
Sonamu. 89 Gallery. Paris. Korea
DeaGu Art fair. DaeGu. Korea
Doors Hotel Art Fair. Seoul. Korea
Monochrom in Korea. Gallery Dorothea van der Koelen. Mainz. Germany
The rite of spring. Gallery Maubert. Paris. France
2011 KIAF(Korea International Art Fair). Seoul. Korea
Gallery Maubert. Paris. France
Gallery Aroa. Paris. France
2010 Miami Scope. Miami. USA / KIAF / Korea Gallery Exibition. Daegu. Korea.
2009 CIGE(China International Gallery Exibition). Beijing. China
Chicago Art Fair. Chicago. USA / KIAF / Art Kwangju. Kwangju. Korea
2008 Chicago Art Fair. Chicago. USA / KIAF
ART Shanghai. Shanghai. Chana / Daegu Art Fair. Daegu. Korea.
2005 -2006 International Art Fair Mac2000. Paris. France

I love soil.

It’s been 20 years since I started to work with soil.
I love soil so much. Whenever I touch soil, I feel like being a little boy who used to play with dirt. When I draw with soil, I feel so comfortable like I am in the arms of my mother.
Being splashed with soil while I am working, I feel like walking on the windy field.
I love soil that much because soil never changes even though everything in the world has been changing.

To me soil is a model as well as the source of my work. I draw a sphere of soil with that material.

My work has started through the voyage to the nature or to the past with recursive sentiment. Some collected soil through the travels might be used as a material with certain sentiment, and also this material, “soil” could be a direct tool to describe the sphere of earthly image. That means what my theme, material, and image are all focused on the word ‘soil’, which might implicate the essence of life.

To me, soil is the medium that reminds me of my childhood, and also it is material as well as spirit for me to be able to feel my motherland. Humans are born on the ground and go back to dirt, and also all the creatures are going back to earth too. God created the first human being Adam with dirt on the ground. Dirt on the ground was the first material for creating human history. And also in the East, nature as an idealistic sphere is composed with 5 elements, and it is called O-Haeng. Among water, wood, fire and metal, earth is the basic foundation and also located in the center of these. Like this, through the East and West, soil is the primary element, space, and the foundation of human civilization.

Through the process of creation of painting, I’ve been searching for the never-changing essence of life, that is my “idealistic sphere” through soil. Maybe I must feel like imitating the essence of soil itself through my works.


II. Descriptions of My Work:
“World of Soil Painted with Soil”

Overview
‘Soil’ is the model and the source of my work. With the substance ‘soil’, I paint the ‘world of soil’. I begin my work by traveling around with a great longing for nature and my home country, and the ‘soil’ collected during the travels is used as the material to express my nostalgia. In other words, my subjects, materials, as well as images all come from ‘soil’.
For me, ‘soil’ is a medium which links me to the memories of my childhood surrounded by nature and is a substance and s spirit which allows me to feel my motherly homeland. Human beings are born on earth and returns to soil; all the living creatures circulate from and to the earth.
Looking at the Western history, clay was the material that the God had used in order to create the first human beings –Adams in Genesis. This story tells us that clay had always been a foundational element long before the history of the first human beings. According to the philosophical principle of Chinese cosmogony, in addition, there are five fundamental elements(soil, water, plant, fire, metal) which composite the cosmos, and soil exists in the center of all the elements, as well as being the basis of all the other elements.
Another significant material for my work is ‘water’. ‘Soil’ turns to the paint when it interacts with water, and soil can be drawn with water; and it leaves the traces even when water is gone.
My paintings are accomplished by the reactions of ‘water’ and ‘soil’, the most essential and the most fundamental elements, and I tried to expresses the foundational world with such substances.


Materials –from Nature
‘Soil and Water’, Chinese Ink, Natural Silver Powder, Animal Glue (Protein Colloid Glue)
These are the only materials I use for my work –I do not use any pigment that is made through the chemical reactions.
Soil is the natural pigment which is collected during my travels. The type of soil I am collecting is the soil which can be easily found in the fields. The soil which is exposed to the surface of the ground undergoes the weathering and the oxidization process along with the history of the earth; and it turns out to be the best pigment, of which color does not fade out, when the impurities are removed.
To obtain the paint of soil, I first remove the impurities from the soil that I collected during travels and mix it with about triple amount of water. Then, I knead the mixture until it becomes liquid. After I filter out this liquid through a fine net for several times, it becomes ‘soil water’ water which only contains very fine and delicate particles of soil; next, I blend this ‘soil water’ water with the animal glue, and it finally becomes the paint made of ‘soil’ which I use for my paintings. However, the ‘soil’ is not as simple as one can easily think. The soil in Paris, the soil in Seoul and the soil in Africa are different. Depending on the region and the country, the color of each soil varies. Even if their colors are look similar, none of them are identical in the viscosity and the particles; and the contrasts between the colors of the wetted and the dried are distinguishable. Due to such reason, you can find various colors of soil in my paintings.
The second material is Chinese ink –the mixture of water and Chinese ink stick. Although only the liquid type of Chinese ink is widely known, Chinese ink stick, the basic material, is in the solid state; it is made by kneading the soot from the burnt wood with the animal glue and aromas and solidifying into the cylindrical or rectangular shape. In other words, the Chinese ink stick is made by ‘fire’, and its raw material is obtained from ‘plants’(trees). These soil, water, plant and fire are the components of the five elements of Chinese cosmology. Indeed, the Chinese ink stick has been the optimal material to express the nature of an object –together with its materiality, it holds the vast and the profound philosophy.
Thirdly, I use silver powder. I have been using silver powder as a material since 2005 to express light. To create dense and rich silver-shade background, I repeat the process of coating and drying the mixture of the natural powdered silver, water and the animal glue on the surface (canvas, wood, paper) about ten times. Reflexivity of silver, based on the angle of observation and lighting, generates the visual variability. Moreover, as the final constituent of the five elements –metal, my utilization of silver is significant. Although numerous Asian artists have attempted express these five elements in their work, none has yet experimented to utilize the elements themselves as the pigments: in this case, the canvas itself represents the Cosmos.
The animal glue (protein colloid glue), the fourth material, has been in use from quite a long time ago in both eastern and western world. Acting as ‘gesso’ or ‘medium’ in the present day, the animal glue, was applied to the surface of canvas or silk to prevent the permeation of water and oil to the fabric or to temper the pigments. The animal glue is a natural medium and adhesive; for my work, it is a significant material used for the underpainting, the composition of pigments and varnishing, and often times I achieve the durability through repeating the applications.

It has been already 16 years since I started working with soil.
So much that I like the soil.
When I touch the soil, I go back to my childhood when I played with the soil.
When I paint with the soil, I feel the comforts and warmness of my mother.
When I work with the soil splashing the ‘soil water’, I am walking on the field feeling the breeze.
So much that I like the soil.

Techniques: Dripping and Spilling –to make to be painted
The major techniques used for my work are dripping, spilling, wiping or retouching, in accordance with the process of work.
First of all, the technique which can be easily found in the completed piece is spilling. Prior to the process of spilling, however, I get an opportunity to burst out my inner self into the well-prepared surface (I apply the liquid which is the composition of the animal glue and the powdered silver on the canvas, on the piece of wood, or on the paper –I repeat such process for about ten times.): this procedure is dripping.
The dripping is done without any rough sketch; on the canvas placed on the floor, I drip from the distance, as Jackson Pollock, with the brush that is made by weaving plants listening to my inner self; it is a revelation of my inner self and a powerful action, yet, it does not interact with the screen directly, leaving any artificiality.
When ‘the soil water’ is dripped in such way, following the initial dripping process explained above, some parts are left out with silver-colored background, and the other parts are covered with the wet soil. Then I spray the Chinese ink, controlling the intensity of the ink, to cover the entire canvas.
Lying on the floor, the canvas wets sufficiently as it is build up with ‘the soil water’ and the Chinese ink. At this moment, I hold the canvas vertically to let the wet soil and the water flow. The water spills faster than the mud and flows as it is imprinting the mud, leaving the traces. By differentiating the angles and the movements of the canvas, in consideration of the rhythm of earth and the flows of wind and energy, I make the canvas “to be painted”. Through the spilling process, the rough presentations created after the drippings diminish, and the beginning of the earth, which God has created with water and mud, is drawn in tranquility.
Sometimes, I wipe the paint before it dries to give shapes; also, I repeat the process of the painting or retouch to intensify the rhythm or to adjust the deepness.
My recent pieces are my efforts to get closer to the wonder of the Mother Nature; with the subject I’ve been exploring, the materials I’ve been using, and the techniques I’ve been applying, I’ve been trying to resemble nature. Soil exists in the center of the universe; and I desire to express, through the soil, the image of the earth before the human-beings, but where we can be together ever and a day. There, any hint of mine won’t be found nor neither of yours. Therefore, I do not want to leave human work on my painting: as soil and water naturally forms the earth, I just move the canvas to find intrinsic nature.