Posponed issues...

11:07 p.m.

Many things have changed in the past months in the Visual Arts. For example, due to the absence of art fairs, the markets have gone virtual, as also the visits to museums and art conferences scheduled for these weeks. Covid 19 not only changed our lifestyle, but has erased all the issues that concerned us before it appeared. On an online tour we discover Son Bong-Chae (South Korea 1967), who reminds us of a distressing situation: that of immigrants, although he speaks mainly of those migrations happening in South Korea.

Migrants, by Son Bong-Chae (2018)

Technique: oil on polycarbonate and led lights / Measures: 94 cm x 184 cm

The red trees of Migrants are locked in boxes, forming a poetic cutout of a bucolic landscape. The artist uses oils and, with a small brush, designs these trees with several layers of polycarbonate that he later juxtaposes. This layering creates the idea of volume, which renders the artist into a true pioneer of 3D painting (although it can also be considered an installation). The subject for this artwork came to him while visiting the hometown of his father. He discovered the beauty of the landscape but also the stories of hundreds of families massacred during the war. So that landscape no longer transmits beauty but also the suffering of what happened, using red to remember that bloody episode in history.