EXHIBITED:
Hong Kyoung Tack: Purgatoriu, CAIS Gallery, Seoul,October 23- November 22, 2008ILLUSTRATEDHong Kyoung Tack, CAIS Gallery, Seoul, 2008,color illustrated, p. 23

The art of Hong Kyoung-tack always features brilliant colors. His expertise in stacking symbolic patterns together allows him to construct images full of philosophical vitality and rhythm. One of Hong Kyoung-tack’s most iconic works, “Library 8 (Captive Woman),” is set in a library full of books. Through the windowlike gaps in the shelves on both sides, we can see the figures of two women dressed in Renaissance clothing, their hair styled traditionally, exuding a serene and formal religious tranquility. They are so similar that one might think that one woman is the double of the other, both captured in the same astonishing moment within the same image. The layers of books on the shelves are drawn with sharp, smooth colors, just like the color spectrum, creating a sense of contemporary film and modern popular culture. On the other hand, he uses the classical realist approach to paint the well-dressed women. The tree branches and blooming roses are a subtle nod to the fragility of life. The work inherits the traditional symbolism of western works. “Library 8 (Captive Woman)” uses expressive methods to highlight the differences between different eras, and also depicts the transmission of knowledge across time and space, the non-linear timeline of history, and the value of transience and eternity.