Jimin Bae, Overlapping Memories and Landscapes

Sur Heui Yeon (Ph.D. in Oriental Aesthetics)

Jimin Bae’s artworks are not simply landscape paintings. She captures moments where different times, spaces, memories, and sensations overlap and disperse in a single frame. Her works do not seek a single perspective but rather are scenes created by the accumulation of multiple experiences and impressions. From the moment that ink seeps onto the paper and the process by which many layers of materials interlock with each other and form a new relationship, there are constant overlaps, combinations, and organic connections in her works. She expands the traditional principles of Eastern painting in a modern fashion, experimenting with the reproducibility of brush and ink and the formativeness of white space.

The aesthetics of hanji, brush and ink

In her work, the brush and ink are not just technical elements but represent a formative process taking place when the materials and the artist’s spirit come together. Influenced by her calligrapher mother as a child, Bae developed an appreciation for aesthetics shaped by the flow of ink and the movement of brushes. She expressed as the following:

“When I touch hanji, the traditional handmade Korean paper, it feels like my own skin; it’s so comfortable. The process of spreading ink on the paper and allowing it to soak in feels like a natural law. I embrace that flow in my work.”

These remarks reflect her approach to her work and her acceptance of the flow of nature. The expression, “the flow that feels like a natural law” goes beyond a physical phenomenon. She views this flow from a religious perspective, stating that her work has been profoundly influenced by her own religious experiences. Her embrace of the flow of ink on hanji can be seen as stemming from a belief that it follows a divine will, much like the laws of nature. This suggests that her artistic approach transcends mere visual aesthetics and is deeply rooted in a spiritual pursuit, seeking to convey profound religious resonances. When ink permeates paper, it becomes irreversible. There is a decisiveness to a single stroke. This is a fundamental principle in Oriental painting. While she respects this quality, the artist actively embraces the unpredictability and fluidity inherent in brush and ink. She brings about naturally flowing energy and sensuously rhythmic qualities, using the inherent characteristics of ink that spreads on hanji. This aligns with the principle in Eastern aesthetics that the flow of life and spiritual resonance, or energy and rhythmic vitality, should be engendered in a painting. In her work, the use of blank space as well as the space between brushstrokes plays a crucial role. This white negative space is not merely a void but serves as a bridge between forms and a catalyst for expanding the dimensions of time and space.

Collage: Realization of multi-layered space and time

In the artist’s current work, collage is a process of intertwining and reconstructing space, time, memory, and perception. After completing a landscape, she reshapes its narrative and forms a new relatoinship by cutting, rearranging, and layering its pieces. In this process, the original image is deconstructed, and elements in her painting connect in unexpected ways, generating a new visual flow. This approach is in liine with the compositional perspective found in traditional sansuhwa, or Korean landscape painting. In Oriental painting, three perspectives or distances are harmoniously arranged: looking up at a mountain from its base to its peak represents height distance; viewing the mountain from the front toward the back signifies depth distance; and observing a distant mountain from a nearby one conveys plane or level distance. The artist also avoids fixing a single perspective, allowing multiple viewpoints to coexist within a single frame. Through this, her work does not merely capture a specific moment but visually embodies the sensation of time flowing and changing.

“There is a moment when various elements are in harmony in a scene. When separate things gradually connect, that is when the artwork is complete.”

Collage is a commonly used technique in Korean-style painting, but she refines it in her work, aligning it with the traditional materiality of hanji. Hanji is a thin, translucent paper that can be layered. Her collages take advantage of hanji’s unique properties, creating an effect that multiple layers of space and time overlap within a single frame.

Disassembling and reassembling landscapes

Jimin Bae’s work originates from urban landscapes. Growing up in Busan, she witnessed the city’s transformation and disappearance. The scenes in her works are not just representations but an endeavor to capture things that should not be forgotten in a changing city. The bridges that recur in her pieces are not just structures. They serve as devices that link the flow of the city while also representing a sheltering space she experienced. The artist recalls the warmth she felt under a bridge on a rainy day during her childhood and captures this sensation in her work. She reconstructs multiple landscapes within a single frame, creating a scene where various experiences intertwine. As if time is intersecting, different elements weave together, forming new relationships.

Modern interpretations of Korean painting: tradition and new endeavors

Jimin Bae reinterprets traditional Korean painting through a modern lens, utilizing its classic techniques. She highlights the reality that students today are not engaging with ink, stressing the importance of maintaining traditional materials. However, she does not simply adhere to tradition; instead, she contemplates the process of evolving it into a modern artistic language. As she states, “It is important to preserve traditional techniques, I believe they should not stagnate; they must continuously change and expand.”

The artist reinterprets traditional Korean painting techniques within a modern context, pushing beyond existing frameworks through continuous exploration. She does not merely illustrate time and space but blurs their boundaries, thereby allowing a variety of elements to interact and generate new meanings. This approach is not a simple repetition of traditional compositions. It offers a new perspective that merges the context of the times into personal experiences. Her pieces transcend tradition and shed light on connotative meanings, encouraging viewers to see the familiar world from a new perspective. Her approach is rooted in the elemental techniques of Eastern painting, but the spatial composition and structure of her work reflect a modern sensibility. Overlapping various elements through collage is an approach that reinterprets traditional Korean painting methods within a modern context. She does not simply regard the exhibition space as a place to display her artworks but interprets the space itself as part of her work, creating a new dimension of experiences through the interaction between the artwork and the space.

Time and senses overlapping

Rather than simply reproducing tradition, Bae Jimin reconstructs and reinterprets it from a new perspective, creating a novel form of language that transcends the past and present. Her work is dependent on reinforcing brush and ink’s physical properties while inheriting the principle of rhythmic vitality in a modern fashion. The way she engages with paper and ink is dynamic and ever-evolving, generating an intense visual experience where forms flow, permeate, collide, and intertwine in unexpected ways. She tirelessly fuels the depth and potential of Korean painting within a single frame, blending changing time and senses in a single frame. It is a process in which memories, space, experiences, and emotions collide and incorporate into a single organic stream. We encounter familiar scenes in her works, while simultaneously experiencing entirely unfamiliar sensations. She questions what time is, what space is, and whether we can see a single scene. She continuously deconstructs and reconstructs the scene to find the answers to these questions. The artist does not simply execute paintings. She accumulates memories, represents the passage of time, and materializes sensations. The moment we encounter her work, we transcend the realm of simple appreciation. It is a moment of intense collision where time and space intersect, beyond visual experience. She layers time through paper and engraves sensations through ink. All elements connect as one in her scenes, ultimately giving birth to a new spatiotemporal dimension.