LIM HYUN LAK

The event of One-second Ink Painting

In Buddhism, an instant or charna (刹那) refers to a measure of time, equal to one seventy-fifth of a second (about 0.013 second). Buddhism teaches us that all continues in the cycles of creation and extinction for every charna. One second is the perceptible smallest unit of life time in repetitions of creation and extinction. Artist Lim Hyun-Lak presents the imminence and urgency of life energy by relating the time of one second and breath as the nature of life to the spirit of ink wash painting. The fundamental element of Oriental painting is ink and its core is the stroke. The character of a stroke is associated with a moment or a breath. Lim takes note of the moment of a stroke, seeking to become one with the stroke. He also arbitrarily defines the state of one breath as “one second.” His experience of becoming one with the stroke is perhaps a state of tension concentrating on physical, spiritual density in ink wash painting. He bears the meaning of a wild plant with one stroke. The wild plant becomes one with the artist and is reborn into an ink wash painting in the tense state of one second. The artist accounts for this event as the “grain of life” and his “agreement” with the wild plant.

- Jung Jong-gu (Curator of Daegu Art Museum)