How much does the vacuum weight? For quantum physicists, emptiness has weight because it is a potentially active and musical place, if we are to refer to “Music of Emptiness” (Di Renzo Editore), written by Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Frank Wilczekì. Just as in Eastern culture, emptiness implies a territory of possibility. It is in this theoretical framework that T-yong Chung (Tae-gu, South Korea, 1977), a Korean artist moves between Milan and Korea, works around matter. He sculpts shapes with different materials (plaster, bronze, ceramic, wax), which have their own physical and historical weight. He leaves traces (drawings, installations, chalcographies on fabric, videos) that are delicate and layered both in terms of modality and narratives. In subtraction he returns a (new) form that results in the praise of absence, lightness and elegance.
Elena Solito: We will have to start from the weight that the void holds. The empty space, the erasure and subtraction of matter. In a chat we had in 2019, talking about your work, I wrote: “Subtraction is always the most difficult act. Remove and empty to make sense”.
T-Yong Chung: When I create something, it often reflects the experiences, knowledge, and skills I’ve accumulated throughout my life. This is, in fact, a material manifestation and can be a result of my attachments or another manifestation of my ego. However, when I erase or obliterate what I’ve created, it involves the opposite elements of chance, unconsciousness, and letting go. Balancing these two opposing aspects is crucial for my work to come to fruition.
E.S.: Certain subjects recur in your work. I think about the role of containers that we talked about in your study. A simple but necessary object as a trace of human history. But also, to identities seemingly concealed through your smoothing, but instead revealing new potential precisely through those voids. It seems to me that you want to collect the traces of the human passage, to give it back a kind of eternity.
T.Y.C.: A few days ago in a meeting, I talked about the empty spaces in everyday items such as tableware. Our civilization is advancing, and cutting-edge technology is changing rapidly every day. However, one thing that has remained unchanged since ancient times is the use of tableware for our meals. More precisely, it is using an object with empty spaces to contain food. Utilizing the emptied space to fill it, this is something closer to the truth and a fundamental aspect that we take for granted. This is the most important trace of humanity.
E.S.: What is your relationship with sculpture, with classical statuary to which you restore a sense of lightness, not only through your inserts or absences I should say. But also, in the most contemporary representation.
T.Y.C.: I remember the first time I created this work. I discovered discarded Greco-Roman plaster sculptures on the streets and brought them to my studio. After leaving them there for a while, one day I started sanding them down with an industrial sanding machine in my studio. Watching the airborne plaster dust, I felt an unknown sense of freedom, and the geometrically transformed sculptures at that moment aesthetically appealed to me. Did the Egyptian and Greek sculptors create these sculptures to guide the living towards eternity? However, without emptiness, there is no space to fill, and only the void can contain something new—perhaps this is eternity. The series of this work began here.
E.S.: Lightness is an adjective that defines your work and your work, despite the apparent weight of the sculptural materials and the history they carry. But he also returns in more installation work with canvases and works on paper.
T.Y.C.: “Lightness” appears when connected to the immaterial and space. I believe my work possesses these qualities. Beyond genres like sculpture, two-dimensional, and installations, my work engages with space as a common theme. Strictly speaking, my artwork serves as a mediator that connects the visual realm to the realm of space.
E.S.: Regarding drawings, I saw in your studio a recent production. Male and female portraits done with bic.
T.Y.C.: The figures drawn with a ballpoint pen are drawings I created during the COVID-19 quarantine period in Milan. Italy was under prolonged isolation at that time, and since I couldn’t go to the studio and had nothing to do at home, I started drawing with paper and a Bic ballpoint pen. I drew one a day, and it later became dozens. The individuals I selected for the drawings include people around me, as well as historical figures like emperors from the past and Venus from Greece. It may be a coincidence, but the Bic ballpoint pen precisely has the three primary colors of light: red, green, and blue. All objects are perceived by our eyes as these three colors are reflected.
E.S.: Tell me about the latest Contact exhibition at Gallery Palzo in Korea.
T.Y.C.: The previous exhibition is special to me. Gallery Palzo is located in Daegu, South Korea, the city where I was born. Strictly speaking, it is the first place where I made contact with the world. (The exhibition title is Contatto.) During my middle and high school years, we had to prepare lunch boxes, and my mother never missed a day in earnestly preparing my lunch box. So, for my first solo exhibition in Daegu, I depicted the silhouette of the lunch box space and implemented it on canvases using techniques learned in an Italian printmaking workshop. The main artworks of the previous exhibition are framed images of abstract new spaces created by randomly overlapping these canvases. I dedicate this exhibition to my mother, who gave birth to me and raised me.
E.S.: In Erasing Cogito in the spaces of Studio Divine in Seoul, you presented together with contemporary gypsoteca, parts of pastel-toned faces and a new series you are working on. Tell me about the new series, which I got to see in the studio.
T.Y.C.: Lately, I’ve been sculpting figures of people in my surroundings with clay, casting them in plaster, and then engaging in the process of erasing these plaster sculptures. Expanding on this, I also create bronze sculptures, wax sculptures, and occasionally receive commissions from collectors who tend to want their faces to become the subject of my sculptures. Additionally, I often visit a printmaking studio to extensively work with the Calcografia technique, printing on transparent canvases and layering them. I progress with my work using the silhouettes of dishes from medieval paintings, amphorae discovered in archaeology, and the shapes of commonly used plastic containers in our daily lives. Through layering, I continuously explore and experience a myriad of new silhouettes and colors, bringing me endless joy and satisfaction.
E.S.: What is your relationship to the spaces you engage with? I think of institutional ones like more traditional museums, rather than particularly connoted places (Casa Testori, Keats-Shelley House Museum, the Villa Carlotta Museum, or Cittadella degli Archivi). But also, to more private ones such as Private Choice in Paris, or LR Lex Avvocati Associati in Milan.
T.Y.C.: All spaces have their own stories, and there is a reason for the existence of each space. The relationship between these places and my artworks is very important. Before exhibiting, I always go to the location and conduct a thorough preliminary survey. I strive to understand the space, savor its stories, and feel its energy. Creating works that harmonize with the space brings me infinite joy, so I often make new artworks for each exhibition. For example, a request came in from the public institution Cittadella Archivio di Milano in Milan to create a public sculpture in their backyard. Along with Francesco Martelli, the vice president of the institution, and curator Rossella Farinotti, I decided to choose five historical figures who had been active in Milan to create portraits. Thus, we selected Luchino Visconti, Lucio Fontana, Fernanda Wittgen, Gio Ponti, and Giuseppe Verdi. After creating traditional portraits of these figures, I erased a part of the sculpture with a sanding machine. The filmmaker, artist, museum director, architect, and composer we selected were not only outstanding figures in Italy but also globally recognized. With this installation sculpture, we wanted to convey that these historical figures from the past continue to coexist with us in the air rather than fading away after death.
E.S.: Still talking about places: how is your relationship with the natural environment? I am thinking of the projects for Dolomiti Contemporanea and the widespread exhibition Arcipelago Fossile (curated by Fulvio Chimento and Carlotta Minarelli), in the Gores de Federa trail in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
T.Y.C.: When I first visited Dolomiti National Park, I was overwhelmed by the beauty and grandeur of the place. I felt insignificant, like a tiny speck of dust in the vastness of nature. Unlike the city, where humans seem to be in control, here, nature was the master. Consequently, I gave up sculpting and sought to leave meaningful yet simple traces of humanity. In the Arcipelago Fossile exhibition in 2020, I transformed bust sculptures I had created before, leaving traces of humanity that blend and coexist with nature. Instead of creating visually striking images, I aimed to make installation sculptures with a dreamlike feel, as if seen in a dream. I carefully chose locations along hiking trails that would be discovered by hikers during their approximately two-hour ascent. In the Gores de Federa trail in 2022, I executed two types of installation works. For one, I used brass plates to excavate rocks found along the trail, fitting the plates perfectly into the dug-out spaces. The other installation involved creating a giant brass chain, hanging it on the trees surrounding the hiking trail. This was an intriguing experience for me as I collaborated with high school students from Cortina d’Ampezzo to create these two installation pieces. Each student crafted a ring of the brass chain, inscribing their names on it. Most of us have had friends during our school days or childhood, and whether we liked it or not, these memories persist into adulthood. Through this installation, we subtly connected, and perhaps this glimmering brass chain will remain in their memories.
E.S.: What are you working on? What plans do you have for the future?
T.Y.C.: I persist in not sticking to a single style of work, and I continue to explore various mediums such as sculpture, two-dimensional art, and installations. I believe these works share a common theme of ‘space and myself.’ Invitations to various workshops have allowed me to develop intriguing pieces, and I have a keen interest in exploring new properties and techniques, particularly in workshops that embody the artisan spirit of Italy. I also appreciate site-specific exhibitions in new and special places, as I believe that through interaction with spaces, I discover myself in the process of creating art.
