Artworks Gathered in “Ship of Diversity”
“Ship of Diversity” = Artwork Collection Concept of the Tokyo International Forum
By Tatsumi Shinoda (Selection Director for Tokyo International Forum Artwork)
Series No. 17 Artist in the Spotlight
Shim Moon Seup
Shim’s sculpture is different from the usual. To make it more understandable, just imagine the gait of the visitors who view his works.
With traditional western sculpture, the sculpture work is on a base. Viewers sometimes walk around the work. Looking around the work means that their steps are almost drawing a circle.
The gait of viewers of Shim’s work do not form a circle but, rather, they walk in a parallel formation. There is no base and his works are placed directly on floor. His work in the Tokyo International Forum is a wooden sculpture. I can image people would rather walk in a parallel manner at the front and in the back, rather than walking in circle.
In addition, at the height of your knee and waist, there are horizontally-protruding pieces of wood. I impulsively wanted to sit on the low wooden bench-like extension.
Thinking about the viewers’ gait, height of his works and my impulse, his work seems to be different from the usual sculpture. It is said he sometimes uses beams and poles from old Korean houses. There are works which make you recall ancient agricultural tools.
His works are mostly ocher in color, which brings to mind wooden pieces and mud in Korea. He was born in 1942 in Korea. His name is written as 沈文燮. He graduated from Seoul National University of Arts. He is a sculptor and also works as a professor at the Art University in Seoul. His look is exactly like that of an Oriental artist hiding his sharpness.
There are works in which the vertical element is apparent. There are large scale works using iron and stone. In the work placed at the Tokyo International Forum, the horizontal existence of wood is overwhelming. In this wooden work which makes you think of a simple agricultural tool, it seems to have its center of gravity close to the floor.
I often visited Shim’s personal exhibitions in Tokyo. I remember I saw a work in which a dependent rectangular stone was standing. It was placed in the corner and was easily overlooked. However, as I was curious, I went back and saw the dependant stone.
I thought, “It is easy to miss. It seems as if it is existing in time and space without a beginning or end.”
When you think of Oriental tradition in which people love cross sections of giant trees and natural stones, you can not help imagining the difference between the space of western sculpture.
The ideal of sculpture generated from the Orient might be something like this: the sculptor should not be dominant, the work should seem to be made from nature, such as giant trees and natural stones, which should continue to exist in the flow of time without changing from the ancient times.
Shim’s works are asking such questions.
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