This story is from September 11, 2017

I paint what my mind sees, not what my eyes see: Korean artist Seo Jeong Ja

I paint what my mind sees, not what my eyes see: Korean artist Seo Jeong Ja
Amidst scores of artists and art enthusiasts, who arrived at an upmarket Banjara Hills art gallery on Saturday, Seo Jeong Ja stood out as she greeted everyone who walked in with a warm, well-practised namaste. A popular name in the Korean art world, Seo is in the city with her solo show, ‘Healing’.
Whenever guests stopped to take an extra long look at one of her canvases, her eyes lit up in anticipation.
When someone said something in praise of her highly-acclaimed work, she simply nodded her acknowledgement gracefully and flashed her winsome smile. Soon it was our turn to approach her with our request — ‘Can we have an interview with you please?’. She happily obliged. But there was a small problem, we soon realised. Seo was not very fluent in English, and we certainly didn’t know Korean. Whatever little English she managed to speak was also lost on us, thanks to her Korean accent.
“How are you managing in India?” we wondered aloud, flabbergasted. She shrugged and laughed out loud. After trying everything — from hand gestures and sign language to a mediator — when we were about to give up, she whipped out her smart phone and asked us to type the question out on it. A bit skeptical, we started… “Your art works are exquisite. What is the concept behind them?”
She hit the “translate” button and smiled. Mouthing a ‘thank you’, she started typing her answer out in Korean.
“Healing refers to the cleansing of the body and soul. The therapeutic functions of art have been clearly portrayed since the beginning of philosophical art history. While studying modern art at Hong-Ik University, I also studied colours. I realised that colours possess the power to heal. I am a painter, an educator, as well as a colour therapist. In these works of art, I focused on the expressive and healing potential of colours. The colours transform into diverse tones within a square frame and are on the whole temperate and placid. Onlookers will experience the meditative effects of colour, but not without the occasional hint of anxiety. It’s a humble attempt at pursuing pure and positive visual expression,” it read, after translation.

Wow. This was working. A little more confident now, we proceeded to ask her about her India yatra so far — she had just come in from Vijayawada, where she had another solo show. But clearly, it’s Hyderabad that has left an impression on her. “Hyderabad is a beautiful city. It was three years ago that I first came here. Being a Buddhist, I could relate to the temples here. I felt a strong connection with the city. And there was a monument, an old building, to the south of the city…” she wrote, thinking hard, furrowing her brows.
Charminar? “Oh yes! That’s the one,” she said, clapping her hands with childlike glee and started typing again: “The magnificence of Charminar can woo any artist, it inspired me too.
But this time when I visited the city, I found something missing. The connection I felt last time has vanished mysteriously. It’s hard to explain, but somehow I feel that the culture of this ancient city is lost in the midst of urban concrete jungles. Development is good, but not at the cost of your roots.”
Touche
So, do monuments like the Charminar find a place in her paintings? “My art exposes things that are hidden to the naked eyes. So I am inclined to abstract art that is difficult to describe in words; that evoke variation in thoughts. The pleasure an onlooker derives from such art is very different from paintings that clearly depict what’s being conveyed. My paintings describe what my mind sees, not what my eyes see,” wrote the contemporary artist, showing no sign of impatience, smiling all the while.
As we stood up to take her leave, Seo kept apologising profusely for the inconvenience. It was indeed a pleasure meeting her, we assured. And the ‘Google translate interview’ experience of course was unique and enriching, we said, as she chuckled delightfully, before signing off with a Namaste.
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