Monday 3 October 2022

Minjeong An: Drawing with a computer

Minjeong An is an artist who draws using computer technology. Her images rely on Illustrator, PhotoShop and other software skills to give them scientific conviction which she uses to wonderful effect. She combines the collecting of facts and data, with an interest in her own family and a care for ancient traditions that are passed on down from generation to generation. An image such as 'Mother's hand and the wind of healing', bringing together intimate family relationships, tales and stories told by her mother; with an attempt to scientifically measure the effects of a mother's caring contact. The hand in her images is the hand that touches and passes on the feelings of intimacy and love that we have for others and Minjeong An seeks to understand this in terms of interpersonal space, of sensitivity to touch, warmth of feeling associated with actual warmth of skin. The pressure of touch that a hand exerts differs when one is angry to when you are happy, and in the case of a hand involved in caring, that touch can be extremely delicate and sensitive. Fingertips are more sensitive than palms and they are more sensitive than knuckles. 

Shamans have stories and tales about the whistling up of healing winds. They tell of how to work with certain carefully selected winds and breezes for healing and transformation; Minjeong An also taps into these ancient traditions, her mother like my own grandmother, representing the ancient roles of 'wise women' or diviners, the holders of old knowledge, that is passed on from mothers to daughters, from generation to generation. 

The Study on Mother's Hand and Wind of Healing , mixed media, 130.3X193.9cm

From neuroscience news

Thermal sensitivity

Touch sensitivity

Minjeong An uses data in the form of visual diagrams as in the illustrations above and below, to give a certain scientific gravitas to her drawings, but she is also interested in invisible forces; stating that 'invisible love' is administered via her mother's hands.  It is, she further states, as if we are bathed in an invisible wind by an invisible fan. There are diagrams and types of x-ray and thermal imaging technology that reveal invisible data, such as weather maps and heat distribution and she uses the form and symbolism of these types of images to indicate such things as emotional change in relation to degree of love. 

Isobars on a weather map

Thermal imaging

Visual languages are used throughout society, including religious disciplines, the image below, 'Light language from the lyran anuhazi elohei elohim pink ray of divine love', was taken from the Rays Of Lyra - Plasma Body Activation Sequence, a spiritual soundtrack, which is typical of digitally produced artwork that supports spiritual reflection. Sacred geometry being central to Islamic and Christian symbolic conceptions of their respective world views. In this case it is the gravitas of geometry that gives these more religious ideas conviction. 

Light language from the lyran anuhazi elohei elohim pink ray of divine love

She uses her own work as a type of self healing votive, telling us that her experience of developing "Mother's hand user manual" helped to heal her own hurting stomach.
Regarding emotions as precious, she feels they are easy to overlook in a world that is controlled by capitalism and materialism, and she hopes that by working in this very controlled and at first sight very logical way, that she can convince us to follow other more spiritual paths. 
I was also reminded when looking at her work of astrological charts, the idea that the positions of the planets on the day of our birth being somehow an important factor in the development of our personalities, is still for many people an important way to think about how to navigate the daily round of living.

An astrological chart

The Study on Mother's Hand and Wind of Healing , mixed media (Verso)

Minjeong An has said, 'In trying to express the vitality and presence of the invisible, I employ objective verification methods such as mathematical and scientific factors, which are considered to be more convincing in a general sense'. She is also interested in what she calls 'trifles', those little things that pass us by but which perhaps are essential to our wellbeing. You can get a much better idea of her work by looking at the YouTube videos below.

Minjeong An

Diagram of Somulance


In her digital print 'What is vital for Cultivating Sprouts' she looks at how human beings need to extend care out into the world if they are to preserve and cultivate it. She draws on her father's experience in order to explain how care is central to how we water and feed the plants that in turn feed us.

What is vital for Cultivating Sprouts

I first came across her work when I was researching how to align my own work with the principles of permaculture; something I'm still working on. Some people I have spoken to see her work as graphic design, which I think is to be totally confused by the processes of production. Just because she uses software often used by designers doesn't mean she is driven by the concerns of a commercial artist. All the visual arts professions draw, but not all drawings are fine art or design concerns. In fact I think the old divisions between design and fine art are ripe for revision, and the new generation of visual artists out there are working across all available niches in an effort to make their vision reach as many people as possible and survive financially. This is not new, when you read Michelangelo's letters you realise he was working across all the sectors available to him at the time, yes making paintings and sculptures, but also working as an architect, odd job man painting images on shields, over doorways or on furniture, basically if it brought in money he could do it. 
So don't discount computer software when you come to explore you own image development, it adds to your armoury immeasurably and if you develop the skills to a high level, you have a transferable set of tools that might mean that you can survive the harsh reality of an economic downturn, when someone else cant. In my own work when exploring how to visualise tinnitus I have also at times used computer software and I don't worry about moving between analogue and digital resolutions. In fact because some of my work is only seen online, it is often the digitally made images that stand up best to being scrutinised on screens simply because they were made on screens. 
Digital image from a project exploring how to visualise tinnitus

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