“quick o quick, a
word of truth”:
The Artistry of
Oh Su-Fan
“Quick o quick, a word of truth. One arm holding the cat,
the other the knife.
Quick or I slit the cat’s throat.”
(John Cage, April 1988)
Listening
to water flowing in Ridley Creek as I write.
Reminded
of the sound of a stream in Seorak Mountain.
The sound
is the same; the experience so different.
No
repetition. All is variation (Schoenberg).
Remembering:
the first
time I saw the art of Oh Su-Fan
after
which, suddenly,
everything
changed.
I.
necessity
of speed
the
amount of time it takes
to be
empty
and quick
the truth
is not a
word
the lines
themselves
not
symbols
to see
without
looking
to draw
without
intention
no-minded
hand
making
line as
activation
of space
love
in the
spaces
pleasure
in the
emptiness
fullness
of void
the eye
completes
the
circle.
II.
act: to
act upon
a
prepared surface
readiness:
to be prepared
a life's
discipline
the walk:
in woods, in mountains
a long
walk: to be empty
stopped
mind, opens
to what?
marks
made on that prepared surface
the time
it takes to quiet the mind so the hand can act
paintings
and drawings everywhere: a seemingly endless succession
of
mindless acts on both prepared and unprepared surfaces
A room
full of paintings, a variety of single colored surfaces
A room
full of color, no ascetic blankness
instead
the
pleasure of the senses, prepared ahead of time
to hold,
to carry
to open
up--
what
prepares the way to enlightenment?
those
colored surfaces?
contemplation
yes
but in
the natural world
a world
of physical pleasures
enjoyed.
And then,
only
then,
after
walks in mountains,
after
talk, food and drinks
after
living,
while
living an ordinary life,
loving
that life and its pleasures,
experiencing
all in its fullness,
to become
empty in that
only
then,
the
blessings come
becoming
empty in that fullness
suddenly--
the lines
are drawn,
the space
opens up,
again and
again,
no
repetition (Schoenberg)
endless
variation
quick, a
word of truth?
no word, (not this)
no truth,
(not that)
III.
keep
walking:
movement
what
lives,
moves
in
English: " read between the lines"
but here,
nothing to read
no words,
no meaning
just
look:
look
between
those
lines
and see.
Quick!
No
"fat man bearing gifts"; no this
is the
other version
the void
in all things
the
fullness of that
the
motion of lines
how the
living move and make
but what
of the space between?
that
"nothing between"?
the
no-mind of those lines
creating
the space
where the
void can
whisper ...
listen in
those spaces, to what can be heard
not by
the ear but the eye
what does
the eye hear in the fullness of the void
the space
created by the hand of Oh Su-Fan?
IV.
"Stille"--German
for silence.
Not
silent but stillness:
in the
quiet of that is born
the
activity of those lines
you can
feel their energy as the eye completes the image
the lines
and spaces created
but the
whole cannot be made
it is a
process
the
painting a song
but the
song must be sung
the eye
is singing and if the ear is open
the
painting can be heard
the
listening eye
if the
eye completes the circle
and the
circle is infinite
what
becomes of time?
in those
infinite spaces opened up through lines
drawn by
moving hands, the hands of an artist
emptied
of mind yet full of life
all of
eternity in that quickened gesture:
"to
see with our own eyes,
is second
sight
to see
with our own eyes
is second
sight."
Christopher
Shultis
Ridley
Creek, PA
2012
Oh Su-Fan (b. 1946)
Images (in order of
appearance):
Work on Paper (2009)
gouache on paper
Variation 2010 #1
(2010) oil on canvas
Variation (2004)
gouache on paper
Variation 2011 #1
(2011) oil on canvas
Oh Su-Fan in his
studio (photo by Hee Sook Kim, 2010)
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