HJ Kang
Reflection Post
My name is Hyeonjung Kang, but most people know me as HJ. My major is Design and Technology. One of the reasons I desire to pursue in the art field is because I love how I am not only allowed to capture a spark of reality but also open up unlimited possibilities of intertwining the reality and my imagination. I enjoy exceeding the limits of the materials, techniques, and mediums when it comes to creating art, from the rough idea sketches in my sketchbook to the final touches on the canvas. Through my major, I wish to learn how to combine and technology to bring life to the seedlings that I planted in my garden of imagination. With the potency of technology, I want to connect and transcend generation and languages with ease, revolutionizing the medium to the access of art.
For my Bridge 4 project in my seminar class, I did a research on Salvador Dali who was presumably one of the greatest surrealist artists. His passion and devotion for art and his prominent and unique artworks marked a whole revolution in the history of art. Although I already knew him and his profound work Persistence of Memory, I merely knew him for his distinctive moustache and his uncanny and eerie melting clocks, neglecting to know in depth about both his personal and artist life and about his artworks. This is probably true for most people. Despite the fact that he is well known, not a lot of people know about him and his works in depth. Because of the obscurity ad oddness of his work, people don’t seem to relate themselves to Dali and his world. This is why I decided to create a memorial of Salvador Dali in my studio class to provide people the opportunity to connect with Salvador Dali.
In my studio class, I created an open art room where people are allowed to really experience Dali’s world. Just hanging his work on a wall in a museum doesn’t do the justice as most people would pass by it shortly after merely scanning the work for few seconds. First, I created the room and the stairs with a white board which I then painted the walls with paint and constructed the landscape with clay to mimic Dali’s style. Lastly, I provided a chair in the center of the room for people to sit and feel comfortably as if they are inside his painting — his world. I was mainly inspired by his art style — the landscape he frequently uses in his works and the melting clocks hanging on tree branches — and his obsession with the idea of dream. One of the challenges I was dealing with was the color of the chair. I was originally thinking of putting a bean bag to provide maximum comfort for the peers as they experience the space. However, after the critique on Bridge 4, I’ve decided to put a wood chair so that the color of the chair can be similar with the chair of the branches to provide cohesiveness. I wanted the memorial to be put in a public space like a park to allow it to feel welcoming for anyone who passes by it. I chose Central Park because it is it is the most visited park in New York City and it is located near St. Regis hotel where Dali and his wife, Gala, lived during the fall and winter in the 1960s and 70s.
In my Integrative 1, I believed I restrained myself from the limits I had set myself as an artist and as an writer because of the fear of failing. I was unable to break the things that I was used to doing in my high school. Integrative 1 felt as a transition from the person I have set myself mainly influenced by my surroundings to a more independent person. I want to take Integrative 2 as an opportunity to explore in creating art in a more various ways and experimenting different mediums and styles both in the art and the writing field. I want to avoid from being afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone and learning from mistakes.
