Jiwon Son: Aggregates
Born in Korea in 1968, Son was raised in a village of only about ten families but within walking distance of the city of Kim Cheon. She grew up without TV or indoor plumbing. Though the family emigrated to the United States when she was seven, memories of her early childhood remain strong: “Our home was surrounded by mountains. Because we didn’t have a car, we walked everywhere. The mountains were very much affected by the seasons, white in winter, covered with flowers in springtime. My grandfather had a garden in the mountains, and my grandmother would seek out herbs and plants that grew naturally there.” She also recalls Buddhist temples whose interiors were covered with colorful patterns. Her father, a master carpenter, built several traditional homes in their village and remained a carpenter in this country.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
One might ask the same of Aggregate 02L-B001, whose patterns grow fainter near its center, or of the even more mysterious Aggregate 01L-C101, whose yellow green patterns stand out from the lighter background in similar hues at the bottom but seem less distinguishable as the background grows darker at the top. Roaming over these seemingly vast fields, the viewer experiences both a sense of difference and of unity: to what extent are these human patterns, determined by culture and history, differentiable from the more continuous field in the background, which one might identify with nature? The luminosity of Son’s work helps give this contrast an emotional wallop: it seems we’re observing the ancient confrontation between human intentionality and the almost undifferentiated vastness that houses time and decay.
