< Taewoo : Artist's note >

[ Artist statement ]
Through the thought of "臥遊; Wayu," I draw works that express contemporary landscapes and still lifes.

"臥遊; Wayu" is,

'臥: to sprawl out' and '遊: to enjoy,' that is, 'to sprawl out and enjoy.'
It is the idea of 'Zong Bing,' the first landscape painter and theorist of China's Northern and Southern Dynasties. He used to enjoy touring the famous mountains. However, after he became old and could not travel on his own feet, he captured the landscape of the famous mountains on canvas, hung it in his house, lay down, and enjoyed it.

'Zong Bing' called it spiritual liberation beyond the limits of one's body and age, leading to mental training.
As time goes by, people age, get sick and grow old. But this does not mean that 'mental thinking' and 'freedom' that allows them to contemplate the world get old either.

The existing '臥遊 [Wayu]' refers to cultivating a clear mind while admiring the mountains and stream in the picture sprawling. It is like you can 玩賞[Wansang]* the landscape that has disappeared and beautiful places where you cannot go through writings or pictures by those who had been and seen those places.
(*玩賞[Wansang]: enjoy seeing something as a hobby)

I thought spiritual liberation in Wayu was a pleasure and interpreted mental enjoyment in a modern way based on Wayu and put my own humor into the work.
I tried to realize my own '臥遊山水[WayuSansoo]' through the perspective of contemporary people and me ,catching up with the flow and change of the times.

In the past, I went to the mountains in person to do outdoor sketches and researched mountains and streams to work in my way. But these days, everything I experience, not only what I encountered in person but all the media I came across online, become my work environment and inspiration.

'山水[Sansoo]' is the subject of my '臥遊 [Wayu].' It means mountains and water. However, it is not limited to nature, such as '山[San; mountain]' and '水[Soo; water],' but means everything surrounding me, including objects and the place in which I live.

I can '臥遊山水[WayuSansoo]' in my own space by drawing these landscapes and bringing them into my place. And then, I can create '遊[Yu; meaningfulness]' by communicating with the landscape in that space. And through this, my mind becomes the most pleasant state.
I am now building my landscape and still life paintings through expressing landscape and still life that I had encountered in various ways in my unique way, adding a sense of modernness.

What I want to accomplish through my work is
not just inheriting the old in itself
but embracing the good of the old and continuing it to the present day.
And that is the purpose of my work.

/
To '臥遊[Wayu]':
Lying inside the house, enjoy painting
Spiritual training through seeing the world from the inside

-From Taewoo's Note-