Installation view of 《Burning symmetry》 (Roy Gallery, 2023) ©Roy Gallery

Burning symmetry
Kim Jinju
 
Roy Gallery presents Hyunmo Yang’s solo exhibition 《Burning symmetry》 from September 2 to September 27, 2023. Yang focuses on the operation of visual perception and the process through which its meaning is received. Through images constructed on the unit of symmetry, this exhibition examines the point at which the opposing concepts of blurriness and solidity collapse and intersect. In particular, it surveys Yang’s sequential inquiry into symmetry, grounded in a process of painting that moves from solid forms to soft forms and ultimately to blurred forms.
 
For Yang, symmetry becomes a clue for discovering solidity within blurred forms. Symmetry is commonly defined as the regular repetition of two or more identical shapes. Yet within this superficial definition lies the premise that a form A and its variation A1 achieve balance through a process of mutual adjustment.

Most natural and artificial products—including plants, animals, automobiles, and architecture—follow rules that repeat particular forms. Yang, however, finds balance in moving phenomena, such as the shape of a candle flame. A candle flame never ceases its wavering, as if about to extinguish, yet it maintains its form centered around the wick. Like the firm shape coexisting within the trembling flame, Yang is drawn to the paradoxical concept of solidity that remains latent beyond blurred appearances, sustaining the equilibrium of form.

Installation view of 《Burning symmetry》 (Roy Gallery, 2023) ©Roy Gallery

Symmetry, which evokes such dual properties, becomes a unit for constructing images in Yang’s painting. Although he encompasses various types—reflectional symmetry, inverse symmetry, rotational symmetry—the specific type or quantity is not important to him. What matters is not simply depicting symmetry, but exploring the process of achieving balance through symmetry.

For instance, in creating an image, he continuously addresses questions such as how to modulate light and darkness—how to divide bright and dark areas, how to determine saturation; what to render in low saturation and what in high saturation; how much of the compositional structure to reveal—how explicitly to expose the fact that the form has been intentionally constructed. In each case, he seeks a point where opposing elements within the question rely on and harmonize with one another rather than leaning to one side. As a result, what emerges is not a perfect replication or repetition of symmetry, but a form in the midst of establishing balance—wavering, pausing, and adjusting.
 
Based on this inquiry, the exhibition presents three series: ‘Shield,’ which visualizes solidity; ‘Soft Square,’ which questions solid forms; and ‘Burning symmetry,’ which blurs solidity. ‘Shield’ renders solidity—the first impression Yang associated with symmetry—as a clear image. It expresses firmness through distinct lines and planes, reminiscent of shields, wappen emblems, or turtle shells.

‘Soft Square’ contains doubt toward the solid attribute of symmetry; inspired by the vivid, flat square graphics of high-contrast children’s books, it reflects on instability and the tactile quality of painting. ‘Burning symmetry’ shifts focus from symmetrical form to the impression of solidity perceived within blurring movement. Previously constructed solid images are overlaid with blurriness, gradually breaking down and transforming.

Hyunmo Yang, Burning Symmetry No.28, 2023, Oil on canvas, 91x91cm ©Roy Gallery

The works culminating in ‘Burning symmetry’ extend Yang’s painterly world as a self-referential attempt, as though overwriting the concepts of his earlier works. In the past, he explored “darkness” by painting subtle forms perceived by vision at minimal tonal ranges. He later produced empty canvases in which even the faintest light remaining in darkness was erased.

Subsequently, he translated the opposition between darkness and light into the sensory terms of blurriness and clarity, allowing the two to coexist. In this exhibition, ‘Shield’ emerges from the concept of clarity left behind after his investigation into darkness and the coexistence of blurriness and clarity—an inquiry that treats solidity as its subject. ‘Burning symmetry,’ meanwhile, blurs the image of ‘Shield’ as though burning solidity itself.

While this may appear to return to his earlier exploration of darkness through its focus on blurriness, it signifies a new inquiry derived from numerous past attempts concerning darkness, blurriness, clarity, and solidity. Moving beyond simple contrasts of tonal value, it incorporates investigations into painterly form, flatness, and tactility. Rather than fixating on opposing poles, Yang examines the grounds that produce oppositions and the balance between them, reflecting a more refined and layered inquiry.
 
“The horizon of the sea remains blurred no matter how close we approach it. Regardless of how far we are from land, the horizon appears eternal. Only when confronted with the impossibility of arrival can we truly sense complete blurriness.” (Artist’s note, 2023)
 
Yang’s inquiry into blurriness, solidity, and meaning draws distant opposing concepts toward one another. This paradoxical imagination forms the foundation of his painting, and the accumulated traces of his brush record an ongoing movement of transformation. The more symmetry blurs, the more the square burns, the more solid they will become.

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