Pray for Rain
Clay, Vaseline, Mixed Media, 350 x 1200 cm, 2015
Pray for Rain
Clay, Vaseline, Mixed Media, 350 x 1200 cm, 2015
Pray for Rain
Clay, Vaseline, Mixed Media, 350 x 1200 cm, 2015
Pray for Rain
Clay, Vaseline, Mixed Media, 350 x 1200 cm, 2015
Production shot from Pray for Rain
Doosan Gallery, Seoul, 2015
생각에 매몰되어 이념이 수축되고 양극화되는 과정은 오랜 가뭄에 땅이 갈라지는 현상과 비슷하다. 땅이 갈라진 틈의 부피는 증발된 물의 부피이며, 그것은 한때 그 흙이 균열되기 이전에 모두가 섞이게 했던, 이해와 관용 그리고 통섭의 부피와 같다. 여기서 나는 통합된 사회를 바라는 기도를 유감주술(유사한 것은 유사한 것을 발생시키고, 결과는 원인과 유사하다는 원리)을 통한 기우제로 승화시킨다. 점토를 벽에 바르고 건조시킨 후, 갈라진 틈에 바셀린을 채운다. 그리고 점토를 굳히고 갈라지게 함으로써, 메마른 대지와 유사하게 만들고, 그 메마른 점토에 물을 뿌림으로써 비를 내리게 하는 것이다. 하지만 여기서 또 한번의 유감주술이 등장한다. 비나 물을 의미하기 위한 '습한 재료'를 물이 아닌 바셀린으로 대치시킨 것이다. 예부터 샤먼은 자신의 경험을 토대로 사물들에 의미를 부여했다. 그리고 그 의미가 설득적일 때, 사물은 무구로써 큰 힘을 발휘 했다.나는 2007년 <바셀린 투구와 갑옷 시리즈>에서 비록 물을 포함하지는 않지만 보습이라는 기능을 가진 바셀린을 이용한 바 있다. 이러한 바셀린의 보습이라는 의미는 유감주술을 통해 기우제에서 물을 상정하는 재료로 이용되는 것이다.
The contraction and polarization of ideas in absorption of thought is a process similar to the phenomenon of the cracking of earth due to a long period of famine. The gap in the cracks in the earth equals the volume of evaporated water, which signifies the union, understanding and tolerance which integrated everything at one point before the cracking of the earth. Here, the artist demonstrates his aspirations for a unified society through the homeopathic magic of prayer for rain (a principle which believes that similar things arouse things that are similar, with outcome that is similar to its cause). The artist applied clay on the wall, let it dry, and then filled the cracks with Vaseline. The clay is left to dry, crack and become similar to dried-up land, and the work makes it ‘rain’ by spraying water on the dried up clay. However, there is another homeopathic magic here. The ‘moist material’ signifying rain or water is not really water, but is replaced with Vaseline. Since a long time ago, shamans endowed meanings on objects based on their own experiences, and when the meaning was persuasive, matters functioned as a powerful tool. Beak used Vaseline, which doesn’t include water as its ingredient but has moisturizing function, in his work Vaseline Helmet and Armor Series (2007). Such symbolic aspect of moisturizer in Vaseline is used as a symbol of water in the homeopathic magic of prayer for rain.
The contraction and polarization of ideas in absorption of thought is a process similar to the phenomenon of the cracking of earth due to a long period of famine. The gap in the cracks in the earth equals the volume of evaporated water, which signifies the union, understanding and tolerance which integrated everything at one point before the cracking of the earth. Here, the artist demonstrates his aspirations for a unified society through the homeopathic magic of prayer for rain (a principle which believes that similar things arouse things that are similar, with outcome that is similar to its cause). The artist applied clay on the wall, let it dry, and then filled the cracks with Vaseline. The clay is left to dry, crack and become similar to dried-up land, and the work makes it ‘rain’ by spraying water on the dried up clay. However, there is another homeopathic magic here. The ‘moist material’ signifying rain or water is not really water, but is replaced with Vaseline. Since a long time ago, shamans endowed meanings on objects based on their own experiences, and when the meaning was persuasive, matters functioned as a powerful tool. Beak used Vaseline, which doesn’t include water as its ingredient but has moisturizing function, in his work Vaseline Helmet and Armor Series (2007). Such symbolic aspect of moisturizer in Vaseline is used as a symbol of water in the homeopathic magic of prayer for rain.