▲ 자두 1991, 캔버스에 유화, 53×45.5㎝(Plum 1991, Oil on Canvas, 53×45.5㎝)

In the situation where contemporary aesthetic prevails dominantly, he has actually demonstrated that the realistic painting is still lively and appealing. It is a valuable result of satisfying desire that is reflected modern aesthetic sense; probably normal for the people living in the present. The modern sensibility manifested in his works would become the following subject.

He prefers to utilise much brighter and clear colours rather than holding on to deep and somber reflection required realism in the past. He has accommodated the sense of using contemporary colour that belongs to the present, which the public can call the age of colour.

It might be not intentional selection, but his open and natural response as a person living in the contemporary era. One of the most highly valued formative features in 19th century’s realism art was chiaroscuro, which had been important more than realistic representation through the ages. People in the past normally accepted the phenomenon that shaded the objects darker than usual by emphasising the light.

▲ 정물 1990, 캔버스에 유화, 91×91㎝(The still life 1990, Oil on canvas, 91×91㎝)

The contract was critical created between the light and the shadow; it highlighted dramatic elements of the painting. It was a strategy that the painting could strengthen visual impression through the intensive contract. On the contrary, Koo’s paintings are rather likely relying on our ordinary point of view.

He has properly restricted shading in his works; not to exaggerate the reality, but average for the eyesights. It makes them look bright, lucid and clear. Moreover, they create an illusion as if the viewer can see the real object right in front of the eyes. It is one of the reason why the colour of his paintings gives the feeling that is alike transparent.

Representing the actual scene is the method to recover the purity of expression, excluding the painting technique. It is possible that people can feel intimate by seeing his works because they can recreate the reality it appears to be. Koo(ARTIST KOO CHA SOONG,具滋勝,서양화가 구자승,구자승 작가,구자승 화백,KOO CHA SOONG) prefers to use modern objects rather than old ones as motifs in his still life paintings.

△Shin Hang-Sub/Art Critic