Conjunction 09-52 2009

Ha Chong-Hyun made this "Conjunction 09-52" with oil paint on burlap, and right away you see it's all about process, not some grand illusion. The creamy white paint laid on the brown burlap, almost like frosting, creates these vertical bands. Look how the paint bunches up along the top edge, this kind of uncontrolled texture gives the image so much life. You can almost feel the artist's hand, the way the paint was pushed through the burlap. It’s physical. That one skinny band to the right there, it's like a punctuation mark. It emphasizes the space between the forms, letting the burlap peek through. This reminds me a little of Lucio Fontana’s slashes, but Ha Chong-Hyun is building up instead of cutting through. And that's the thing about art, it's a conversation, a constant push and pull between artists and ideas. Always something new, but always echoing what came before.