Calligraphy, the art of letters, is one of my hobbies. To be specific, Eastern letter calligraphy, also known as seoye (서예) has been the hobby of most Korean scholars, also known as sunbi(선비). Seoye was thought to be artwork and study at the same time, and it was said that through this one could gain wisdom and clarity in the academics. As it spread to the majority of the society the genre expanded and became what we know as 'Korean art' nowadays.
A few months ago, I came across a thought - about the necessity of calligraphy. Yes, indeed handwritings are beautiful and they are known to reflect your traits - but were 'anachronic' in many ways. Most recent design activities are conducted on digital platforms via tablets, and moreover, most people used fonts as they were well-organized and neatly made. I began to think - if there were already-made fonts, free to use, why not just manipulate them? Is there a need to newly write every work - unless you are making a new font? I was mesmerized by Tolstoy's idea of what is art and opinions against art - arguments made against its inefficiency.
While discouragement against creation lasted longer than the expected, unidentified Youtube algorithm led me to the 'unknown' world of creation, and I was recommended to watch a clip of a random 3D pen artist making BMO from The Adventure Times. The narration indicated boredom of the process of creation, yet the scenery of the product seemed glorious and tempted me to engage in the activity of what seemed more like labor.
Youtuber Sanago's creation of Sonic the hedgehog via 3D pen
After finding out that the videos were results of 50 to 5,000 times forward of the original work, I was interested in finding more about the man.
TED Talk of WonJin Gwon, a 3D pen Youtuber
<Art of inefficiency, 3D pen>
"Sanago" is a man named WonJin Gwon, who started his Youtube channel as a fan of another Youtuber. He had also spoken at TED Talk at Hongik University, under the title of "Art of inefficiency", and these are some of his words that impressed me.
저는 아까도 말했듯이 예술 혹은 창작활동의 효율, 그리고 노력의 정도는 중요하지 않다고 생각해요. 남들이 보기에는 되게 지루하게 보일 수도 있어요, 아까 그 악플 다신 분들처럼. 근데 적어도 저는, 이 창작활동을 하면서 전혀 지루하게 보내지 않습니다[지루하게 느껴지지 않습니다]. 오히려 이렇게 천천히 만들어내는 이런 활동들이, 천천히 노력해서 만드는 이 활동 자체가 어떤 저의 작업의 원동력이라고 할 수가 있는데 3D펜이 되게 천천히 하는 작업에서 오는 특징이 있습니다. 3D펜으로 작업을 하게 되면요 그 대상을 굉장히 오랫동안 관찰할 수가 있어요. 작업에는 효율이 없다고 했잖아요. 저도 마찬가지로 이런 피규어를 하나 만드는데 보통 3, 40시간 정도가 걸려요. 3, 40시간동안 짱구 얼굴을, 짱구 아빠 얼굴을 보고 있으면 굉장히 지루하겠다, 라고 생각하겠죠. 하지만 저는 그런 게 오랫동안 작업을 하는게 대상을 굉장히 심도 있게 바라보고 또 내면에 있는 저의 짱구에 대한, 어떤 생각들. 내면의 저와 소통을 하고 있다고 저는 생각을 합니다.
Like I previously said, I don't think efficiency in art or artwork and degree of effort matters. To others, this may seem boresome. Like those hate comments. But at least I don't think these are boring. Rather, slow-paced activities, those that require slow effort, are the driving force of my work and 3D pen art is one of these traits. If you create with a 3D pen, you can observe an object for a long time. I've told you the work is not efficient. Likewise, it takes me 30~40 hours to create a figure. Looking at Shin Chan's, and his father's face for 30~40 hours - sounds boring, doesn't it? But to me such long works let me examine the subject with detail and communicate with my inner ideas about it.
내면의 나와 소통한다는 것은 되게 어려운 생각일수도 있는데 쉽게 말하자면 단순히 내가 그것에 대해 생각을 하는 것을 넘어가지고 어떤, 나도 모르게 무의식적으로 사물이나 대상에 대해서 억압된 생각을 가지고 있다던가, 아니면은 어떤 콤플렉스를 가지고 있는 것들을 마주하게 된다는 것을 말해요. 그런 생각들을 내 '내면의 욕구'라고 한다면은 그것들을 저는 3D 펜을 통해서 표출시키는, 예술로 승화한다는 말 많이 쓰잖아요, 그런 것처럼 어떤 내재되있는 그것에 대한 생각들 그리고 콤플렉스 이런것들을 작품을 담는, 어떤 하나의 그릇을 만든다고 생각을 하면은 편하실 것 같아요.
Communicating with inner-self may sound complex but simply put, this means thinking beyond the prior invisible repressed thoughts within self or complexes that one has. If we call them "the inner greed" I express them via 3D pen, the inner thoughts and defects, and make a bowl that overwhelms all, like the saying 'turning into sublimity'.
His words reminded me of Michelangelo's words.
And I realized that calligraphy had the same beauty.
The instant-ness of our lives probably contributed to the incapability in enjoying the display of steady mastery. Yet the beauty lies in its procedural nutrition, and when the flower blooms, that is hence the moment for admiration.
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.
- Michelangelo
And I realized that calligraphy had the same beauty.
The instant-ness of our lives probably contributed to the incapability in enjoying the display of steady mastery. Yet the beauty lies in its procedural nutrition, and when the flower blooms, that is hence the moment for admiration.
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| Calligraphy of Korean letter '꽃(flower)' May 07, 2020 |
