JAEROK JANG 'Another Space'

Art is typically divided into figurative art, which faithfully depicts reality, and abstract art, which aspires to the world of concepts. While figurative art reproduces reality and expresses the inner self, abstract art denies the apparent reality and is concerned with what is truly real inside. Both branches of art originate from an inner reflection on truth and pursue this authenticity in their expression.

Influenced by his mother, a calligrapher, artist Jang Jaerok has been familiar with 'ink' and its material properties from a young age. After entering the Department of Oriental Painting at Dankook University and adding depth to his work with East Asian painting techniques, he pursued a Ph.D. at Hongik University, where he began expressing 'ink' on canvas fabric. This technique is an innovative fusion that transcends Western paint materials and Oriental paper, creating new expressions and textures.

Jang Jaerok transforms visible facts into his unique artistic interpretation on the canvas. Despite the temporal gap between their origins, the cars that represent the materiality of modern society and the chandeliers of the Palace of Versailles that represent the materiality contained in classics and tradition symbolize humanity's instinctual pursuit of material. The various objects reinterpreted by Jang Jaerok using the ancient material 'ink' appear black but are not merely black, seem white but are not merely white. His realistic techniques and expressiveness provide non-linearity to linear time, deepening the contemplative experience. It is hoped that through Jang Jaerok's works, viewers will experience 'another time,' 'another space.'