RAINA SEUNG EUN JUNG - A SPACE BETWEEN MOMENT AND MEMORY.
M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) meet emergent artist Raina Seung Eun Jung - LONDON.
One of the most enriching parts of my job as a teacher is that I get to meet different people at a very particular stage in their lives and see work that is sometimes made in line with who they are, not just who they want to be or who they feel they should be. In the space of a tutorial - that work is sometimes confirmed - it becomes clear as to how somebody thinks... they can hear their own voice back - sometimes for the first time - and If you are really fortunate - you witness the rarest of moments - when they join the dots for themselves...
M-A (A SPACE BETWEEN) has a commitment to instinct always - and the uniting of voices from different spaces is central to our appreciation of MA - a space that often remains undetectable in a media beyond a sharp intake of breath.
When asked how I choose the works for the magazine I always reply with the same answer: It must make my heart beat faster.
I first saw some drawings taped to a wall of an empty studio by Raina Seung Eun Jung, oil pastel grazed over thick cartridge paper to form impressions of spaces, interior spaces - that had a specific atmosphere - a fleeting tension that immediately drew me in...
City Kids, 2021 - gouache on silk.
Please describe the process behind your work?
I investigate the coexistence of heterogeneous things while pursuing what I wanted to record. I grew up in Seoul with the uneasy coexistence of traditional Korean culture and my generation’s globalised multicultural outlook. Currently, my expanded painting practice seeks to break the boundaries of medium and homogenised versions of culture by offering the viewer the essence of the moment as a form of memory and creating the space for both of us to exist fully.
I want to know how my knowledge of traditional painting techniques can be applied to record contemporary digitised life. I feel most comfortable using painting to communicate my ideas and trying to reach someone who needs to hear from me. I will keep developing my technical and conceptual competence and push the boundaries of my work as an artist and curator, questioning the reason for my existence and communicating while finding a reason to live.
Your work has such an immersive quality, both in terms of subject and scale - when did you realise that you needed to create works of this nature?
I think I am writing a book called my life through my paintings. I keep writing a book that doesn't know when it will end. I capture my reality, just like shooting scenes from scenarios. As with movies, in the process of filming each scene, you can plan how the movie will be edited and what the result will be, but it is difficult to predict perfectly. Rather than being difficult and obsessed with perfection, the thrill of discovering the unexpected picture is more attractive. Some of my paintings, too, are planned, drawn, structured, and focused on telling a specific story. But when I trust the process and let it flow, it becomes more powerful when I discover unexpected combinations. The scale of the work is determined by the moment I think of the scene. I have this certain voice saying, “This scene should be this size.” based on the vibration and influence of the moment. I make this decision because I want to convey the scene I experienced realistically to the audience. Because I want to show what I see and feel. That kind of mind seems to help give a sense of immersion. I try to communicate by showing the world I see.
Safety greens, 2021 - oil on canvas.
Your use of colour is very specific, can you explain why you are drawn to such palettes?
Colour acts as a language to explain my deep inner feelings. So, the colours in my paintings are not simply for the description of the subject. My emotions exist even at the moment I am drawing, and emotions exist in the scene that I am drawing, so the overlap of emotions from various timelines is captured in colour. The emotions I experienced in that scene and the emotions I experience in the process of painting over time arenexpressed in my own specific colours. For me, colour was the first place where I could be free. Growing up in Korean society, I was able to get closer to myself after finding a way to express my emotions through colour during my growing-up days when I was used to hiding my emotions.
You seem to be drawn to fleeting moments within your work which are very specific and yet have a particular informality to them as well - how do you decide upon what you will paint?
For me, the small things matter. It's because I believe that small, extremely mundane moments built my reality. So I stop and look. Pause for a while and observe those small moments fully, and draw a scent that remains strong. The moment you fully look at and draw creates more value than is left only as a memory. I hope that the small reason I will live tomorrow will also reach the audience as a vibration.
Where you at, 2021 - oil on canvas.
The layering of imagery within your work is fascinating - it feels some how digital and yet you apply physical paint, physical layers - what keeps you returning to this process?
The expression of my emotions through the colours I mentioned earlier is the basis for the layering process. It is the unconscious basis of the scene that I painting. Maybe it is my inner state that I do not want to be found out, and it probably started with a desire for someone to know. In this way, layers work to capture the elements that make up the scene one by one, such as my condition, my point of view, physical, and psychological, the existence of the other person, and the surrounding environment. Of course, painting is two-dimensional, but objects and scenes exist in more than two dimensions, so in the process of capturing that energy, I choose layering. This is because I intuitively believe in the power and space of things that exist in the invisible, and that we only see when we look closely.
Siesta with Maart, 2021 - oil on paper.