부조 회화 작품은 자연에서 톱밥과 점토 등의 재료를 구하고 혼합하는 과정 자체에서 마주하는 여러 문제들을 직면하는 방식으로 제작된다. 초반 재료와 맞서 싸우다가, 후에는 받아들이게 되는데, 한달에서 몇달이 걸리기도 하는 그 마무리 시점은 표면에 균열이 일어날 때로 작가가 아닌 자연이 결정하게 한다. 이를 작가는 “하나님의 키스”라고 표현한다. 소디의 작품에 담긴 우연성은 자연이 품고 있는 특징인 각 창조물의 독창성을 재현한다. 전시장에는 자연 모티브가 나타나, 바람과 햇볕의 양에 따라 다르게 성장하는 자연물의 독특한 형태와 생명력을 고스란히 담는다. 보스코 소디의 작품이 강렬하게 표출하는 우연성과 독창성에의 찬미는 관람객으로 하여금 자신과 자연, 주변을 돌아보게 한다. 삶의 유한함 속에 고유함을 부여받은 존재로서 자연스럽게 서로 연결될 수 있도록 돕는다.
멕시코 시티 출생으로 뉴욕과 멕시코, 유럽을 오가며 활동하는 보스코 소디는 2019년 조현화랑에서 열린 국내 첫 개인전을 통해 특유의 풍부한 질감이 살아있는 블랙과 화이트의 부조 회화 작업을 소개하고, 이후 2022년 전시를 통해 거친 표면의 파란색 작업을 국내에 선보인바 있다. 이번 전시는 조현화랑에서 열리는 보스코 소디의 세번째 전시로 11월 24일 마무리되며, 11월 22일부터는 조현화랑_서울에서 네번째 전시가 진행될 예정이다.
Bosco Sodi, known for his richly textured and vividly colored relief paintings, presents Dawns, his third solo exhibition at Johyun Gallery. From September 4 to November 24 at Johyun Gallery_Dalmaji, the artist introduces his broad and varied body of work using unprocessed natural materials such as wood, clay, stone, sawdust, and burlap. In addition to monochrome relief paintings that capture the sky at dawn, the artist presents a series of burlap sack paintings including a large-scale work over 4m in height, and new sculptures made from Mexican volcanic rock. This exhibition follows the artist’s deep explorations and even deeper colors, found in the acceptance of nature’s passage of time.
The first floor of the exhibition space features ten gilded granite sculptures and fifteen sack paintings, each with a circular colored shape; some with gold leaf. Regarding this work, the artist describes them as metaphors representing a seed or the sun in sacks that "already having a kind of universe in them." On the second floor of the exhibition hangs a large relief painting, its lavender surface pregnant with the first light before dawn—the primordial energy of creation. Somewhere in the contrast of old repurposed burlap sacks and the volcanic granites; the arenaceous lavender and lustrous gilt, lies the primordial force of creation.
The artist gathers granites from his home country Mexico, plating them without any surface processing or buffering, just as they are, imperfect in the unique way of nature’s heat and pressure. He uses a 24k gold surface plating method, similar to how gold leaf was used during the Medieval times to express figures of transcendence.The process is initially a struggle against the material, then acceptance. The finishing touch is not the artist's but nature's—when the cracks begin to appear on the surface—which can take anywhere from a month up to several months. The artist describes that finishing touch as the moment God kisses his paintings.While gold in traditional art was used to express transcendence and other lofty values, Sodi's works embrace nature’s incomplete things and pauses time upon the igneous textures.
The coffee sacks are an influence from his philosopher mother who taught him of the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic, which is about embracing imperfection and the beauty of natural process, which continues to have a profound influence on Sodi’s artistic practice. Sodi works with natural imperfections in the simple forms created from humble and organic materials, emphasizing "embracing mistakes requires that I am playful with the materials. A rigid scientific approach has no room for such mistakes." His explorations of the unexpectedly imperfect ephemeral requires a material interaction that is painstakingly labor-intensive.
His relief paintings are born of tension, such as in obtaining and mixing materials from nature, such as sawdust and clay. The process is initially a struggle against the material, then acceptance. The finishing touch is not the artist's but nature's—when the cracks begin to appear on the surface—which can take anywhere from a month up to several months. The artist describes that finishing touch as the moment God kisses his paintings. By embracing the unexpected, Sodi's work reproduces the uniqueness of each creation, a characteristic of nature. In the exhibition space, nature motifs capture the unique form and life force of nature’s objects that each respond and grow uniquely to the varied wind and sunlight. Bosco Sodi's works are undeniable celebrations of chance and originality, quickly turning the viewer’s gaze toward the self, nature, and their surroundings. The refraction of that gaze helps us connect organically as beings given something unique within a finite stay in this life.
Bosco Sodi (b. 1970 in Mexico City) currently lives and works in New York, but is also active in Mexico and in Europe. His first Korean solo exhibition was in 2019 with Johyun Gallery, where he presented his richly textured black and white relief paintings. In 2022, the artist presented his second solo exhibition with Johyun Gallery, and a series of rough-surfaced early-morning blues. This third and latest exhibition with Johyun Gallery continues to November 24th, and his fourth opens November 22, at Johyun Gallery_Seoul.
