Kim Jipyeong's solo exhibition “PAINTINGS LOST” is based on the written records of paintings from the Three Kingdoms period to the late Joseon Dynasty. For example, paintings such as the Yeseonggang River in Inyeong (Goryeo) and the bamboo paintings of Angyeon (Joseon) were lost and have not been transmitted since.  Although we cannot see these paintings now, the documents of the time allow for various interpretations and imaginations.

The artist created the work of the same name two years ago. The installation consists of folded folding screens and museum glass showcases. In this work, the ornately decorated folding screens are actually devoid of paintings, and the glass cases used to preserve artifacts are empty. Instead, the glass is inscribed on all four sides with selected quotes, anecdotes, and historical documents about the lost paintings, making the space in the glass box where the artwork is absent a place where the viewer can imagine the old paintings.

In the exhibition on the first floor, which revolves around the glass showcase, a new folding folding screen (a mourning screen without words or pictures) made of barbed wire has been installed instead of a folded folding screen. In addition, an arithmetic notebook made of English text paintings removed from the folding screen and a text diagram related to the theme of the exhibition are used to reflect on the history of art and the current meaning of 'Oriental painting'

In contrast to the impression of the first floor exhibition, which shows the meaning of "nothing" in "PAINTINGS LOST," the second floor displays paintings and folding screens in a variety of colors. You can see a series of folding screens that freely extend the custom of calling each part of a "long poem" by comparing it to a woman's clothing, a painting that was "accidentally" drawn based on a shoemaking poem by a shrine priest, and a text that indicates meaninglessness.
 

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"(...) 'Nothing' can also be translated as lose, spoil, disappear, forget, erase. Associated with the pressure of time or oblivion, it is neither possible nor meaningful to return this 'absence' to its place of 'presence'. The absence of something creates a sense of loss, so why not just participate in its alienation? Let the sounds, pictures, and letters of absence sing and dance with each other, and let them play freely with each other. and <ルルルルル>; pictures of letters that indicate meaninglessness, such as <虚, 無, 空>; images that are 'like' arithmetic paintings drawn without a brush; folding screens that look like singers on stage, such as Divas Divas (...)."
 
(Kim Jipyeong’s Artist Note. 2023)

References

• 인디프레스 (INDIPRESS)