Beekeepers and Colossus
As my sculpture Hesitant has officially joined the Parkseobo Foundation’s collection this July, I think it's time for some behind the scenes insights into its story.
The journey began three years ago, in July 2022. I had received an invitation to present a large-scale work as part of a cultural event. I had just two days to propose an idea. Although I had never worked on anything beyond 45 cm in height before, I accepted the challenge.
As you might expect, the vague invitation never really went anywhere, turns out realizing a sculpture, especially at that scale, is a bit more complicated than the initiator thinks. Sculpting is a complex, time-consuming process. A couple of weeks simply weren’t enough (at least not this time).
Still instead of shelving the idea completely, I decided to go for it -- now or never. It was an irrational decision, but also an exciting one.
I chose to revisit a small composition from 2020, featuring a female figure and her reflection. To keep things manageable (for a variety of prosaic reasons) the design was simplified and a full-scale prototype in clay was created . From that a hefty fiberglass mold was cast at the foundry.
I’ve never worked in huge studios and at the time, my workspace was modest, to say the least. More importantly, there was no elevator, just a narrow, beautifully spiraled staircase. Where would I even put a large bronze sculpture? There was no physical space for it, only room in my mind and heart.
So the pale fiberglass mold sat in my studio for quite a while, waiting for its final steps.
A year later, I returned to the project as a part of preparation to my show in Seoul, with a fresh perspective.
What once felt harmonious now seemed redundant. We removed the massive feet and even the simple face. For a long time my sculptures wore a kind of primitive face, but this time I decided to remove even the symbolic eyes, replacing them with criss-cross cuts.
The solid, bold form carries purposeful imperfections on the surface, symbolizing the corrosive nature of chronic hesitation.
And those intersecting lines on the face? I wanted to strip away any sense of individuality to make the figure even more anonymous. To me, it’s something like an idol, representing the uncertainty we all face from time to time. At least, that’s how I feel. It’s never easy to explain.
The final sculpture looked different from the original prototype, and yet it felt strangely familiar. Then I realized what I’d been looking at all along: one of my favorite childhood drawings had resurfaced in bronze straight from my unconscious. Beekeepers by Pieter Bruegel. That’s where the heads of my sculpture surprisingly came from. I'm still in awe of the magical mechanism of imagination that seamlessly weaves our memories and impressions.
Source: https://canon.codart.nl/
In this piece my two long-time artistic loves -- Ancient Egypt and Bruegel --meet in an unexpected way.
Hesitant is a metaphor for the fear of action. And yet, its physical embodiment was born from a sudden, irrational impulse to challenge myself. Now it's a quiet souvenir of personal courage. And I'm glad it found its home in such a beautiful collection.
