2001, Vol., No.11

Rene Magritte and the Paradox of Representation

Jung, Hun-Yee | 2001, (11) | pp.7~25 | number of Cited : 1

The Position of Magritte in the modernist art history is very ambiguous. If the 20th Century art contributed art history by way of stylistic innovation, Magritte' works always remained in the 'old fashioned' space of illusionistic rendering. Modernist art overthrew the ideal of painting as window, rejected any status as a 'medium', and finally arrived at the point where art becomes the thing in itself. Perhaps Magritte walked the same road, but his method was not reductional. This study mainly deals with the ideas of 'inside' and 'outside' in Magritte's Paintings. The idea of 'inside' and 'outside' corresponds with the concept of 'words and image', of 'mind and world', and of 'reality and representation'. What is crucial in this dual system is his conviction that canvas should lie in between these two opposites. For Magritte, the purpose of painting is not merely to describe the visible, but to evoke what is invisible within that visible. For him, the differences between images and language were not merely stylistic matters. Magritte concerned not only with the perceptual field but also with the linguistic area of representations as such. The most demonstrative example is his <This is not a pipe> series. Here, Magritte let us pay attention to the rupture between the vision and language. There is the strong interaction of picture and text which reciprocally deny each other, and finally point at the paradox of representation as such. Andre Breton, who was a leader of the surrealist movement, said that the goal of surrealism is the synthesis of perception and representation. The representa tlve aesthetic of surrealism, the concept of Convulsive Beauty is something that happens contiguously without any preparation or expectation. There lies the para dox that how a sign, any kind of sign could be both sign and object, a reality constituted as sign, an absence transformed into presence. Magritte says that there is no 따timate signification not only in painting, but also in any representation as such. Because we never know what mind is, what mind know, what mind know when it knows something. For Magritte, painting is a kind of hole, blind area where the inside and the outside, the container and the contained, style and content, words and image merge into a new reality, the experience of which is always convulsive.

Self-therapeutic Aspects Shown in the Work of Jean-Pierre Raynaud

Young-Ae Kim | 2001, (11) | pp.27~42 | number of Cited : 0

This thesis explores the self-therapeutic aspects shown in the work of Jean Pierre Raynaud(France, 1939-). Raynaud 血plies both concepts of object and architecture in his art, which was a leading trend of 1960's art movement that proclaimed to combine art and life. Raynaud, however, is distinguished from these movements (Nouveau Realisme, Pop Art, Minimalism, and Earth Art) for he considered art as psychological reflections of his personal symbolization into sub jects and colors. Therefore, Raynaud's art reflects his personal history and it motivates to heal him by artistic creation. Therapeutic aspects of art were often found in ancient wall paintings and sculptures. This tradition has continued to show up in modern art in order to satisfy artists and viewers unconscious desires. Artists sometimes pretend them selves to be mad or insane for not finding an alternative way to express their unaccomplished desire in real life. They considered art-making another source to relieve their desire and ultimately a healing process in a tolerable manner of the society. Raynaud is a typical case of a latter example; his first step into the art world was caused by personal background. When he was 4 years old, his father was killed m World War II bombing raid, and Raynaud's childhood was marked by this early trauma. After all in 1961 when he was 22, this trauma pushes him into a nervous breakdown. However, Raynaud overcomes this state of mental disorder, which lasted for more than a year by creating self-images as an in1morta1 or repeated depiction of death in his objects. He used the standard commercial products but the basic element of his visual universe was death. This concept enables him to transform the fear of death into a catharsis. Raynaud, therefore, is making art as a means of transcending the difficulties of his own personal history into his self healing process. Raynaud's marriage life wasn't such a stable one either. His divorce from his wife in 1970 was another traumatic event mat effects his art life. From then, Raynaud once again identifies the world as a dangerous and intolerable place. In order to protect himself from the outer world he changed his house into bunker like place where only himself could enter. The exterior of the house was closed and the interior covered with white square ceramic tiles. Raynaud considered this house as a laboratory), in which he co따d work and solve deeply personal problems. Square tiles answered the artist's need for perfection of form and provided with a material that he could use to create a completely sterile environment. For him, the immobile serenity of the white tile synthesized all his dreams of the absolute. Since 1975 Raynaud has turned his interests into an outer reality instead of his usual defensive attitude from it. It is due to an inspiration received from an experience making modern stained-glass windows for the Cistercian abbey at Noirlac. With this he could learn how to accept the outer world and accomplish what he wants by using exterior elements.Raynaud didn't take the exterior world Just as It was but he proposed with a vision which could mediate between the outer world —chaotic and filled with danger and his own inner world-in perfect order and intended the pure. This differentiation with the conventional outer world reflects his longing for the spiritual one. Interior of his house is filled \vith light like a Gothic church, transcended into a spiritual space, and the color of his pot changed from red to gold. His flowerpots were painted in gold and signified a sacred vase. Raynaud's attitude towards absolute spirituality reaches at its zenith when he be gins to destroy 區 house in 1993. It represented that he takes the meaning of constructing the house more important than it's physical existence. In the same year, this concept of infinity was actualized when he suggested the golden pot to travel around the world by breaking down the cage which was coveriring the pot for a long time. Moreover, working outdoors made it possible for Raynaud to accomplish a vision for another world. He displayed his work in a public place or in nature, and often combines natural and artificial elements into his work of art. Being set outdoors, his art is a representation of pure and spiritual value arranged to har monize within natural and cultural atmosphere. That is why he uses white tiles not only on the inside of the work but also on tl1e outside of it. Raynaud's sug gestion therefore reflects his desire to purify his fear and instability relieved into an alternative world. As a conclusion, Raynaud presented a self-therapeutic characteristic of art by visualizing his internal desire and fear in various artistic methods. The reason why this aspect of Raynaud lies as a crucial role is because it could combine his various styles into one explanation, which is 'art as healing'. This aspect therefore distinguishes Raynaud from all the other post 1960's art world with an original interpretation.

A Study on Paul Klee's Angel Paintings

Yang Hyesook | 2001, (11) | pp.43~69 | number of Cited : 0

Paul Klee painted angels constantly throughout his life. His angel pamt:1ngs, however, counted only about 70 pieces though he created a large number of pieces, no less than 9,000 works. Most of his angel paintings were brought into being during 1939-1940, when Klee almost faced an end of his life. These paintings carry me core of his life-time art spirit eventhough they were created for mat short period. They take a critical position as a representation of Klee's unique artistic soul rather than as image conveying western protopyal christian message. Klee's angels portray symbolic beings accepting but trying to overcome human tragedy. His artistic theme is the very process of realizing and conquering human limitation, and he carries out the theme through angels beyond this world. Angels do not show in Klee's early art works, instead some oilier images were used: airplanes, birds, and arrows. He, with these images, intended to express human’s tragic irony mat human-beings dream to have flying-like freedom but can not help falling off in reality. As he served in the Air Force during war, his plane crash motif was employed to picture the irony. Birds, in his paintings of those days, fly toward me sun but fall to me ground shot by arrows or with their wings burned. After me war, in me Bauhaus period, arrows were often used to express me human tragedy. These images underwent an artistic morphosis into angels. Klee's early angel paintings created during 1913-1938 do not bear consistency in terms of pictorial theme and treatment, and me paintings differentiated from his late angel paintings done since 1939. But they also carry transitional character in that they suggest the style in his late angel paintings: guardian angels and wish bearing angels in his early angel works went through gradual metamorphose. Full scale angel paintings created for 1939-1940 are symbolic representation of tl1e times as well as self-portraits of Klee himself. The angels are symbolized as the only hope and deliverers for European artists in those days, who suffered the Nazis regime’s artistic persecution and fled from their own countries. Klee identifies me last day with deathly dark air clouded under me Nazis regime all over me Europe. Klee's angels alarm earthly status, flight against the evil in this world, make judgement, and enjoy the happy mood of Resurrection like apocalyptic angels; Apocalyptic angels shown in the last judgement warn the last day blowing trumpets and wake up the dead. Considering his personal background which he would face death of disease on 1935, angels are employed as the main theme and his own self image to decorate his last life. In this sense, Klee's angels are never a lofty being from christian view but rather a humanistic being who has fault and weakness, from which it transforms into a flawless angel through gradual spiritual purification. Therefore, Klee's angels can be viewed as various images of Klee himself in his subconsciousness. Klee's angels can be thought in the aspect of dualism which he had pursued persistently throughout his life. His life-long task is to express something seen as not seen, reality vs ideal, good vs evil, and God vs mankind. His fervent desire to merge such extremes is realized in his angel paintings.

La scene antistique dans les annes 1920-30 a Paris: Autour de Neo-Humanisme

김성원 | 2001, (11) | pp.71~96 | number of Cited : 0

The Dilemma and its Alternative Idea of Contemporary Art Criticism

CHOI,TAE-MAN | 2001, (11) | pp.97~117 | number of Cited : 0

In 1975, Tom Wolfe criticized that present state of American art trends became fashionable one. Because art began to serve fashion and theory, he fore seen that the major museums will change their exhibition materials to The Painted Word rather than real paintings. 10 years later, Victor Burgin predicated that art theory is already end. Besides, the academic philosopher, Arthur Danto has men tioned about the end of art. As an evidence, he presented Brillo box by Andy Warhol which has showed at the Stable Gallery in 1964. These contradictory theories cause many questions; what is art criticism? what is the main goal of art criticism? And art critics can offer an exact way and sight to the audience who want to accept a useful method from them for good comprehension? Although art criticism provides broad opportunity in order to appreciate and comprehend of artworks, since art criticism appeared in the West before the 19th century with the raise of art world such as market, journalism and audience, the theorization of art has been predicted. The theorization of art caused not only the alienanon of art but also reinforced art as a theory itself. The purpose of this article is to confirm about the role of art criticism in contemporary society through to prove the dilemma of art criticism. For this purpose, I reviewed several opinions on the problem of contemporary art criticism which were wrote by art critic themselves. Most critics concerned that the institutionalization and the spread expanded consumptional situation of art caused a helplessness sense of criticism, it can be seen as a decoration for art market. No matter what criticism focused on the interpretation of artwork, it seems to be a part of written ornament. With basic investigation on these references, I examined some questions in order to understand the condition of art criticism as below. Has art criticism really disappeared in our tin1e? What is the relationship between art criticism and theory? Is it possible to prove art criticism as a practice? Can we distinguish between the use and abuse of art criticism? Is it true that the excess of information caused the absence of meaning in postmodern era? According to this critical approach, I suppose that art criticism has to return to the authentic dialectic method based on critical vision on art and society. It means that art criticism take charge of cultural action as a social activity. In conclusion, contemporary art criticism is facing in front of the claim of dialectic criticism.

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2001, Vol., No.11