RED BUBBLE, 2023

Donghoon OH

Art is a technique to create Fantasy & illusion. 

Starting from kinetic art, which expands dynamism at the border between architecture and sculpture, he (Donghoon Oh) is an artist who expresses an original perspective on the shapes of humans and animals through the transformation and expansion of spheres(球). By developing his viewpoint (perspective) on the figurative art of spheres and the human body from the nostalgic déjà vu of 'soap bubbles' to a more creative and microscopic phenomenon, he has built his own unique formative world and has his own clear color. 

The artist is said to have gotten the idea for his current sculpture from young children's soap bubble play. When he blows soap bubbles in a container using a straw, it shows a condensed form of large and small spheres. When you blow into the air, the condensed bubbles separate and disperse into the air, forming a complete circle. It floats in the air for a moment, its surface displaying the bright colors of a rainbow, and then explodes and disappears without a trace. The children keep blowing on the straw to see those bright colors again. That may be nothing more or less than a fun game that stimulates curiosity in children. However, the adults who watch the play, not the children, find the play meaningful rather than fun. 

Children fall into phenomena while adults search for meaning. What kind of situation or meaning is that phenomenon? That is why the soap bubble play is imprinted as a childhood memory, and it is the adults who awaken a belated sense of loss. This happen is occur after the phenomenon has been sufficiently meaningful. From an adult's perspective, soap bubble play is fantasy play. It is a play that creates a fantasy in front of one's eyes and calls upon the fantasy. Bubble Man, born (created) from illusion play, must be as light as a soap bubble, and the structure created by combining circles and circles, like soap bubbles in a barrel, must be repetitive and expansive. Contingency and variability were adopted (selected) as qualities and virtues that a bubble man must possess. 

'Soap bubbles' are a momentary dream, illusion, passion, and desire. The works are "shapes that appear at the border between reality and unreality, reality and illusion." However, as the typical image represents, soap bubbles are also the source of imagination and the size and color of dreams for a bright future. Questions about nature's providence, the source of life, time, space, and existence are all part of the circulation loop. 

Mirage and our lives 

Just as soap bubbles appear and disappear in the air, or do not know where they will fly when the wind blows, also like the story of life in the world where people live I think. They are déjà vu as if you have seen them somewhere, mirages that seem as if they really exist that much, and shapes that appear on the border between reality and unreality, reality and illusion. 

The more three-dimensional sculpture resembles a human or animal, the more they tend to resemble curves rather than straight lines and each side. Although it may become somewhat rough during the manufacturing process of cutting and welding the material, it expresses the inherent unique properties of the hidden physical properties themselves in a round shape. This is to convey friendliness and humanity to the viewer.