[diptych]
DIPTYCH
2022
Lacquer, Glass Fibre, Wood
Seoul, South Korea
Every surface conceals a history.
Beneath the finished object reside abandoned experiments, failures, discoveries, accidents, and revisions. The completed work appears singular, yet it is composed of countless decisions that remain invisible to the viewer.
Diptych emerged from several years of material research into lacquer.
By this stage, traditional methods had already undergone numerous transformations. Hemp had given way to glass fibre. Imperfections had become deliberate. Air pockets once regarded as flaws had been incorporated into the language of the surface itself. The work therefore stands not as the beginning of a research, but as its temporary culmination.
Constructed from two lacquered wooden panels, the work gathers together multiple strands of experimentation developed throughout preceding material studies.
Glass fibre replaces traditional hemp.
Air becomes structure.
Texture becomes image.
The surface no longer functions merely as protection. It becomes an environment in itself.
At first encounter, the work appears monochromatic.
Yet prolonged observation reveals a more unstable condition. Light shifts across the lacquer. Reflections emerge and disappear. Depth reveals itself gradually. The surface refuses immediate access, requiring duration rather than glance.
The decision to divide the work into two panels was equally significant.
Between them appears a narrow interval.
A vertical horizon.
A line of separation that simultaneously functions as connection.
The eye moves repeatedly towards this void, recognising that absence possesses as much weight as material presence. The space between the panels becomes inseparable from the panels themselves.
The work draws subtle influence from the contemplative atmosphere of the Rothko Chapel.
Yet where Rothko pursued transcendence through colour, Diptych approaches contemplation through material. Meaning emerges not from image, but from sustained encounter. The work asks for slowness. It asks for attention.
Most importantly, Diptych functions as a statement of process.
Every layer contains the memory of another.
Every texture contains the memory of a previous experiment.
Every surface contains the residue of a journey that remains largely invisible.
The work therefore stands not as a conclusion, but as a threshold.
A moment in which multiple paths of research converge before continuing elsewhere.
Like all horizons, it marks neither an ending nor a beginning.
Only a point from which another distance becomes visible.
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