Jean Chung : What is After a Long Blue Night?
A Review
‘This show considers freedom. It poses a question: ‘What is after a long blue night?’ the ‘long night’ being the impermanence of existence.’
Jean Chung’s paintings float and ripple in Gallery 19a. The fire radiating in the corner of the room strengthens shadows cast by the suspended works. My eye flows across the pieces, encouraged up and down to paintings placed on the floor, hung above door frames, stacked on shelves, and protruding from walls. ‘Jean wanted things to be floating in space,’ says Richard Matthews, curator.
Richard worked closely with Jean to curate the exhibition, the first solo show he has worked on as part of his independent curatorial project N.ON. N.
‘When approaching this exhibition, we thought about how we could elevate the work within the space to reflect the ocean. We wanted the viewer to feel like they’re walking into Jean’s imagination.’
The works are frameless, free and intimate, untethered by plinths or fixings so the viewer can walk around, peer behind and spend time with them as objects.
The paintings themselves are playful. The muted colours and carefully rendered depictions of ocean objects and creatures made me feel like I was entering a dreamscape. The paintings have a tension between the illustrative and the lyrical; the melodic figuration undercut by a lightness of application. Tone and colour are used to create a depth to the pieces, the works built up through dexterous layers of material. The surfaces appear hazy and subtle, although form and line are clean and refined. It is a beautiful balance.
Text and references to books pepper the exhibition: from the poetic illustrated concertina piece which tells the story of a girl who captures and releases a dolphin, to the hidden poem in a painted scroll. I ask Jean why words are so important to her.
‘I studied literature at University in Korea and originally wanted to be a novelist. I didn’t discover drawing and painting until I was 22 and realised that painting was storytelling, just in a different medium. I’ve done three solo shows and I have treated each one like a book with a different story line.’
This show considers freedom. It poses a question: ‘What is after a long blue night?’ the ‘long night’ being the impermanence of existence. It is a question that cannot be answered, the punctuation mark itself a symbol of discomfort. This exhibition explores feeling uncomfortable with this transience but instead of turning to despair, enjoying the freedom of the immediate moment.
‘I used to work for a publishing company, and I used to come home and paint. I felt this very liberating feeling that I couldn’t have at my day job and I used it as fuel to become a full-time artist. Freedom is something I feel AND is something I’m drawn towards. It’s the answer to everything I question’ says Jean.
The dolphin is a key figure in this exhibition. It frolics through most of the paintings acting as a symbol of liberation. In the concertina book, it is a friendly presence for Ina the protagonist but ultimately something she must let go. It appears to be a guide in many of the pieces, there to teach the viewer something about play and release. I ask Jean why it’s such a concrete motif in her work.
‘They are a symbol of dreams and love. I have always loved them since I swam with them in the Bahama’s when I was 11. I remember the feel of them, squeaky and soft like a fully blown balloon. From then on, I collected dolphin stickers, dolphin keyrings, dolphin books. When I came to painting the figure of the dolphin appeared instantly. I don’t need a figure to convey love, dolphins are enough for me.’
This exhibition is joyful; an expression of being untethered. If the exhibition is a novel, each piece is a sentence, there for the viewer to linger on, unknotting the metaphors and symbols. It has a strength of voice which is intoxicating, driving the viewer onwards to find new worlds in every painting.
