Friday, August 3, 2012

The Artistry of Oh Su-Fan



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 cats 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)