In the beginning was a tiny drop of water. That got into a pond and streamed into an ocean. And then it formed a bud from the dust of the ground and sprang upherbs of the field, and lush vegetation grew. The water also created insects, animals and man that could hang around freely there. Every place the water once had run through was full of life, and into the life flew like a river all the human sentiment, dream, will and hope in the universe. You, with a desperately pounding heart for a lover! So it is for the movement of the water. It is when the water, transformed into the blood, overflows vigorously from your burning heart through the vein of the whole body what you call the love begins. Without water, there is no love in the world. Youth also comes forth from the water. When a boy's heart is full of high waves, he would know it is time for him to become a man. That wave makes us dare to dive into the great adventure of life. That's why life is a voyage. Life can't go out of water. Nor it will. Our craving for something is a kind of thirst. Do you want 2% more of something? That is nothing but the water. We, with the tall waves of our heart, launch a boat into the sea of life looking for the water we want. Hero is the one who gets the water he needed by his own strength on this voyage. The canvas of SongPhil-yong abundant in water is in praise of the aura of life. That is for talking about the beginning, growing, and the eternal circle of life as well. What our honored ancestor wanted after all through deep absorption in appreciating paintings under the subject of watching the fall or water, was to feel the life by feeling the water. The one who can feel the water is the one awakened, and the one who knows water is the one wise. SongPhil-yong wants to be awakened by painting water, and to be wise by observing it. With the brush strokes flowing like water, he wants to catch the ultimate form of life. In fact there is no better teacher than water for an artist. Water is the best artist in the world. It forms the mountain by rain, carves the valley by the stream, and shapes the earth by the river. It adds to that color and luster by putting forth new buds of suitable plants. At sunset it draws magnificently on the sky with the clouds, at sunrise it reflects colors of the morning light with fresh dew drops. Talking about the harmony of the all creation, nobody could deny the fact that the key element of the harmony is water. With water, the Earth became the most beautiful jewel of our universe. SongPhil-yong learns from water and paints it. The fact object of the painting is teacher of the painter requires great care and caution. That could reach for the state of fear. But water always flows unhindered and runs unrestrained. The first lesson the water gives is not to be obstructed. There no difference of individual excellence and mediocrity in front of flowing water. Water does not bother being in humble and rough place. That may be the reason they say 'the highest excellence is like that of water'.The painter learning from water just paints out of his own reason without hesitation like the water. Being nothing but himself like water he gets closer to the born knowing state of self sufficiency. The water of course SongPhil-yongpainted is that of our motherland. Though being the most ultimate and universal thing that covers the whole earth, the water displays different light and shape in a particular time and place. Supposing the flow were just a flow, that could not signify much for man. Now that the flow makes shape and color, we recognize it and empathize with it. Ephemeralas the shape and color may be, or fleetingas our empathy with that can be, only with that we can go forward to the enduring substance. In that sense water is the truth that became flesh. As the one truth is incarnated in different philosophy and religion according to culture and region, the water flowing through our motherland vividly reveals our temperament but in the end it all flows into the ocean and becomes one. SongPhil-yong's recent works on water are with the setting of Damyang, Bogildo area in Jeollanam-do near his atelier, and that also includes Jirisan, Byeonsan, Seoraksan, Geumgangsan. Especially Geumgangsan attracts him to visit scores of times and to discover anew water and the meaning of water. Now for him Geumgangsan is the synonym of celebrated water as well as a celebrated mountain. Going up Geumgangsan with an intention to draw mountains, he received the mountain's revelation about drawing water instead. His Geumgangsan water scape, including Samilpo where they say once four beautiful youths in Silla dynastyon a boat ride forgot returning home for three days in fascination with the superb view Guryongpokpo, the largest waterfall in Geumgangsan Bibongpokpo named for the resemblance between the falling water along the rock and the soaring phoenix to the sky Oegeumgang, located in the East Sea, east of Haegeumgang, engendered with his blue and bold brush strokes, cleans up the audience' heart as the spirit of water. Seoraksan Towangpok which looks like white silk spread on the rock by an angel Gyeongpoho, though its boundary is dwindledto 4km from original 12km, still retaining its grandeur; anonymous seasonal waterfall in Jirisan formed by rain in the summer; Bogildo and Seyeonji, one of the most beautiful examples of Korean traditional garden all the water in the beautiful scenery which he meticulously painted after his own painstaking field investigations, vividly reveals our motherland is one of the places where water's will to form and will to create is reflected most beauteously. The most impressive work of SongPhil-yong's painting on water is that of waterfall. The relentless falling of Guryongpokpo is cathartic enough to reach our inmost heart. The imposing waterfall like an experienced carpenter's one swing of hammer to hit a nail, pays up the hardship of the artist in the past twenty years sketching in search for the true representation of our motherland. Seasonal waterfall in Jirisan falling with roar which could wake up the earth asleep, is in the spirit of beating our body to the stage of being numbed. The reason the beating feels rather pleasant is with that the old remnants in our body could be swept away. On the other hand, the elegant flowing of Towangpok and Yukhwapok seen from a distance looks like an angel flying down with dancing graciously and makes us fall into the sensation of pleasure and latitude. Oil painting as it may be, his expression of the nature on the basis of composition and brushwork of the traditional painting has a retinal appeal to us as a great harmony of past and present. Paintings under the subject of Samilpo, Gyeongpoho, Seyeonji replace the vertical world of waterfall by a horizontal world of peace and placidity. The world would be warm and peaceful if people could look around the width of the world just like water and try to get together with others, while people always try only to go up somewhere higher now. With the generosity and magnanimity, his paintings of lake and pond can become a 'mirror-like still water' and function as a mirror reflecting our lives. The reason we could get composure in front of his painting is the state of mind of the artist at the site conveyed to us as it is. One impressive thing noteworthy is all the paintings on water in this exhibition of SongPhil-yong are rendered in monochrome of blue or green. There is no need to explain blue is the color of water. Besides water all things are painted in blue, so with regard to color, there is no distinction between water and earth in his painting.That is probably the eye of water. Water does not distinguish you and me, oneself and others. If it could be received, it would flow even to the most destitute place without hesitation and become one with that. The thing distinguishes water from others is not water but the things argue about the difference.Water in the end tries to embrace the difference, too. Waves try to touch the rock at least once moretime, the rain is eager to moisten the mountain and field with at least one more drop. With this kind of endeavor of love make the shellfish thrive on the seaside rocks and the plants in the wilderness. Like this all the world becomes lover of water. Likethis water is the beginning of love, and the beginning of life. Blue and fresh painting on water by SongPhil-yongis a lengthy love letter written line by line by the water in our motherland toward this earth andus. If the wooing of amiable water is grateful, we should try to live like water embracing the world abandoning insolent and exhausting pride of ours. We should try to forgive the world and ourselves. Just like the cool and blue water of SongPhil-yong…
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