Wonkun Jun: It's me that you need- Malerei | Foto | Zeichnung | Objekt
Galerie cubus-m is pleased to present the first solo exhibition It’s me that you need by Wonkun Jun in Berlin. The title references a song by Elton John that the artist listened to while creating his new works.
There is also another premiere: for the first time, his abstract works are combined with photographs in this exhibition. The photographic self-portraits, taken by the artist in everyday situations, harmoniously integrate into the otherwise abstract context of the works: the contours of Wonkun Jun's face are slightly blurred, and a veil overlays the photographs. “I transferred the painterly quality of my abstract works to the photographs by using the brush function in Photoshop. With this gesture of distancing, I aimed to keep my personality somewhat at bay,” the artist explained during a studio talk.
In addition to the photographs, the South Korean artist, who was a master student of Prof. Helmut Federle at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, presents his fascinating abstract paintings featuring vibrant dots or diamonds, as well as nearly completely monochrome works. Both the abstract and monochrome pieces are developed through a special technique, layer by layer: he applies thin layers of acrylic paint on white-primed canvases in thirty layers to create the first layer. For this glaze, he exclusively uses the colors red, blue, yellow, and green, before beginning a process he calls washing in a second step. He repeats this process until he achieves the desired color gradient. What’s remarkable is that this method requires a state of absolute concentration: “I always need to be very clear and focused while painting to achieve the moment of creating distance. Meditating during the painting process is not possible.”
Fascinating color spaces emerge, which particularly reveal their complexity and richness when viewed from the side, allowing one to perceive the various layers of color. The surface, enlivened by the often uneven texture of the canvas and tiny color particles, takes on a diffuse circular or diamond structure through the brushwork, giving the pieces their individual rhythm. Wonkun Jun refers to this as the representation of emotionality. The colors themselves appear like delicate veils on the canvases. As a viewer, one almost feels able to trace the painting process and sense the different layers of color behind the surface structures. The result of this creation process is images of exceptional beauty and sensual depth.
Wonkun Jun was born in 1970 in Seoul. He studied Fine Arts at the Art University in Seoul and Braunschweig, as well as at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he was a master student of Prof. Helmut Federle.
His works have been featured in national and international exhibitions, including at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf. In the fall of 2013, Wonkun Jun was invited for a residency at the Mark Rothko Art Center in Lithuania.
Dr. Christine Nippe