Ham jin: Head
CHAPTER II 2020. 6. 18 - 7. 25
CHAPTER II Yard 2020. 8. 26 - 9. 26
Ham Jin (b.1978), who has presented human figures and their extraordinary microcosm established by the micro-sculpture technique, introduces his new series produced during a year at Chapter II Residency.
In his early works, Ham delivered certain implicative messages about an existential condition that every modern individual belongs to, by embodying human beings, animals and unknown creatures in extremely small figures made of synthesized clay and non-conventional materials. Since he selected black clay as his major material a decade ago, he has been committed to developing particular techniques to reinforce a sense of scale while reducing figurative elements. This approach has enabled him to concentrate on authentic values which his creative outcomes possess at the present moment rather than easily being distracted by their certain storyline. Also, one of the significant achievements of the period is that he managed to no longer cling to a practical representation of targets to satisfy his visual goal of creation.
In 2019, at Phantom Mode, a group exhibition of works by residents of Chapter II Residency, Ham presented tiny-scale pieces smaller than 10cm in the shapes of unidentified creatures or organisms. Especially, the exhibition tacitly indicated that the residency period could have been a crucial transition phase for Ham as he lessened narrative factors in his practice and attempted to detach himself from his previous ways of producing, such as relying on effects of achromatic clay’s simplicity. At the same time, it was intriguing that his desire for successfully depicting the appearance of particular targets subtly evolved into focusing on the act of constructing a configuration itself.
In respect of semantics, “the aim for constructing a configuration” mentioned above has a clearly different context from his early works. For example, in Underneath it (2005), one of his early representative works, a single or group of tiny statuettes played a critical role of deciding an entire situation of the work. Hence, it was necessary to make the figures in discernable shapes in order to effectively convey their given roles and what they signified. On the other hand, Ham’s new series emphasizes the process of assembling colored clay fragments through actions of the artist’s hands and their detailed movements. Instead of following a conventional mode of representing shapes decided depending on an intention, he is convinced that forms appeared by inspirations and visual motives of each moment have a meaning. This approach and his final figures led by it have many parallels with what Tachisme had sought. Thus, although his aesthetic outcomes spontaneously remind us of certain images, the images are not original motifs of his creation.
In this sense, his new series has similarities to the generation process of stalagmites often discovered in caves. Stalagmites are upward-growing mounds of mineral deposits that have precipitated from water dripping onto the floor of a cave for a long period of time. Most stalagmites have a form of standing statues which have color layers of a wide spectrum and they are occasionally designated names of particular objects or figures when their shapes are reminiscent of them. While Ham is immersed in delicately adjusting a hand maneuver and controlling the level of power applied onto the medium every moment, his unique manner of examining the whole and its sections ultimately leads to establishing an object. Therefore, how the piece is perceived later is a secondary result caused by the sequential actions of making it. This ex-formal aspect is a vital ground allowing him to not only resist uniformed interpretations or consumption of his practice, but broaden his approaches of producing artworks towards multiple directions.
Ham Jin studied Environmental Sculpture at Kyungwon University. His practice has been the subject of solo exhibitions such as those at Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (2007), PKM Gallery and Doosan Gallery since his first one at Project Space Sarubia (1999), and he was selected as one of the artists presented in the Korean Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005). Ham has attended to numerous group exhibitions at international prestigious establishments including Mori Art Museum (2005), Foundation Cartier pour l`art Contemporain (2005), Espace Louis Vuitton (2008), Minsheng Art Museum (2010), Busan Museum of Art (2013), Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (2016), Seoul National University Museum of Art (2017). Also, his works are included in collections of Seoul Museum of Art and Doosan Collection.
