Korean Art exhibit comes to town to mark bilateral friendship

Korean Art exhibit comes to town to mark bilateral friendship

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In-Shik Shon's works won't get lost in translation because even
though they are all in Hangul (Korean characters), the beauty of
the composition of lines, circles and curves and the attractive
colors as well as shading is more than enough to compensate for
our illiteracy.

Without intending to limit his audience, Maestro Injae In-Shik
Shon deliberately uses Hangul to highlight his Korean identity.

His calligraphy is part of an exhibition held here to mark the
31th anniversary of Korean-Indonesia friendship and the 20th
celebration of Seoul and Jakarta as sister cities. The exhibition
is jointly organized by the Korean Embassy and the Ministry of
Culture and Tourism.

True to his theme, In-Shik Shon uses Hanji paper instead of
canvas. Hanji is made mainly from the bark of the mulberry tree.
The oldest piece among authentic Hanji is Mugujungwang Daedarani
Kyung in Sukga Pagoda at Pulguksa and Baekjimukseo Hwaomkyung.
Its year of production can be traced to the 13th King Kyoung-Duk
(A.D. 755) of the Shinra Kingdom.

He uses a variety of mediums including ink, acrylic, gold dust
and coffee.

How to express rather than what to express toward objects is
always the concern I face as an artist, because the medium will
determine how long the finished work can endure, the maestro said
in his book Injae, In-shik Shon's Hunminjongum of Love.

"Anyway, beyond my works, I think that a certain harmony has
been achieved through Hangul and Hanji in this exhibition," he
added.

Through his works In-Shik Shon shows a rare talent for
sublimating the traditional calligraphy method using ink and
brush with other mediums, adding abstract shapes to convey his
particular message or poem.

The accompanying texts are in both English and Korean. --Emmy
Fitri

Korean Art Exhibition; Aug. 18 through Aug. 21 at Hotel Shangri-
la Ballroom C; and Aug. 23 until Aug. 29 at National Museum, Jl.
Medan Merdeka Timur, Central Jakarta