Chung Suejin (b. 1969) is one of South Korea’s leading abstract painters, known for her thorough exploration of the unique logic and structure possible only in painting. Viewing the inherent logic of color and form, which are the pure visual elements of painting, as a 'visual language,' the artist has built her own distinct artistic world through multilayered abstract works.

At first glance, Chung's works may appear to resemble figurative paintings, but a closer look reveals that there is no narrative or sense of reality within the many images. Although they seem to be composed of familiar everyday objects and backgrounds that feel vaguely recognizable, they appear deconstructed or combined with disparate motifs, resulting in a diverse blend of surreal expressions.
 
As viewers attempt to decode the hidden meanings in her paintings, they eventually end in failure. This is because Chung is not depicting anything representational, but rather purely visual subjects. Her paintings begin with an exploration of the inherent logic of painting itself through the combination of color and form, the most fundamental elements of composition.

From a formal perspective, Chung Suejin's paintings lack linear perspective. Various images float freely, as if gravity has disappeared. Chung states, “I see the flat surface, which is often considered two-dimensional, as essentially three-dimensional.”
 
Noting that while we think of a flat surface as two-dimensional, the human eye can only perceive three dimensions, the artist shapes a multi-dimensional space on the flat surface, not through a single perspective, but through multiple viewpoints. What may appear to be a disorderly and perspective-less composition is, in reality, a carefully crafted system of layered three-dimensional coordinates and grids.

In her 2006 solo exhibition at ARARIO GALLERY, Chung presented paintings that featured freer, more dynamic brushstrokes, in contrast to the meticulous detail that previously filled her canvases. The works from 2006, which exude a sense of freedom compared to the intricate depictions and multi-layered spatial compositions of her earlier pieces, can be seen as part of Chung's exploration of her visual language at the time.

In this way, the artist has twisted the elements of figurative painting to explore the abstract nature of painting, grounded in its inherent visual properties. While building her unique visual language, Chung has also continued to explore humanity, particularly human consciousness, through her work. In this process, the canvas becomes not just a two-dimensional plane, but a space where multidimensional time and space can converge, and where consciousness is made visible.

For example, the Brain Ocean (2000) series originated from questions about the limits of human existence and the completeness and incompleteness of being. Chung metaphorically likens the process and space of the ceaseless thoughts in human consciousness to a ‘Brain Ocean.’ By allowing disparate motifs—such as waves, onions, and human figures—to coexist freely and float or repeat on a single canvas, she encapsulates the nonlinear dimension of human consciousness, where thoughts constantly repeat, overlap, and fade, through the imaginative language of painting.

The methodology of visualizing the human consciousness on a flat surface, as seen in the Brain Ocean (2000) series, has continued in her later works. In her 2011 solo exhibition “Pyramid Dialectic,” the artist presented a series of works that reflect the 'visual logic' she had been contemplating and refining.
 
Chung defines this 'Pyramid Dialectic' as a logic that describes the process of 'something coming from nothing' and the transition of 'the invisible becoming visible.' She believes that just as the world before our eyes reflects human consciousness, painting too reflects that consciousness, and this is where her visual logic unfolds. In other words, the invisible aspects of human consciousness become visible through various combinations of color and form, and the flat surface thus transforms into a multidimensional world imbued with consciousness.

In her 2014 solo exhibition, Chung Suejin published a book titled Budo Theory, which organized her 'visual theory of making the world of consciousness visible.'
 
Chung explains that while working on her 2006 solo exhibition, she noticed that the 'monsters' that had emerged in her paintings continued to multiply across the canvas. This prompted her to establish ‘Budo Theory’ as a way to define and impose order on them. The 'monsters' refer to undefined, chaotic, and unnameable forms that resist categorization.

Through ‘Budo Theory,’ Chung was able to define the 'monsters' that appear on the multidimensional surface, which visualizes the invisible world of consciousness, as 'multidimensional creatures.' In other words, using ‘Budo Theory,’ the artist was able to bring the unknown and chaotic entities—these monsters—into a realm of perceptibility. She later named this the 'World of Multidimensional Creatures' and used her works to explain the meaning structures embedded in a world of symbols and representations.

In last year's solo exhibition “The Last Scenery of Mind” at LEE EUGEAN GALLERY, Chung Suejin presented her 20-year exploration of the multidimensional world of consciousness through painting, showcasing the further solidification of her ‘Budo Theory.’
 
Her new works from this exhibition prominently featured expressions that emphasized the surface texture of the paintings. For example, in Ice breaking (2022), the eye is drawn to the large, thick red paint marks where the texture of the surface is exposed.
 
The artist explains that the essential information of a multidimensional being is revealed in the texture of the painting’s surface. Whether in thick textures or even the smallest brushstroke, the surface texture ultimately reflects a specific state of consciousness perceiving the subject, allowing viewers to infer the movements of consciousness based on this.

“The information transmitted by colors, forms, and shapes that make up a painting is not a specific meaning, but a structure of meaning. The structure of this meaning acts as a vessel of one's own interpretation. Freedom of interpretation is within the limits of the structure of the vessel.
 
That means that each freedom to derive a specific meaning is within the limits of the structure of the meaning. What the picture presents is the structure of meaning. It is up to the viewer to decide what to include in the structure of meaning. This is why many interpretations are possible in a single painting.”

Currently actively working between Seoul and New York, Chung Suejin graduated from the Painting Department at Hongik University and earned her MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She held her first solo exhibition in 1999 at Cigong Gallery in Daegu and has since had solo shows at Project Space SARUBIA, ARARIO GALLERY, Doosan Gallery, Mongin Art Center, and Gallery Skape.
 
She has also participated in group exhibitions at venues such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Tirana Biennale, the BizArt Center in Shanghai, and the Busan Museum of Art. Her works are included in collections at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon), Arts Council Korea (Seoul), Doosan Art Center-Yonkang Foundation (Seoul), Seonhwa Art and Culture Foundation (Seoul), and the Long Museum (Shanghai, China).

References

• K-ARTIST.COM, 정수진 (Chung Suejin)
• 정수진, Chung Suejin (Artist Website)
• 프로젝트 스페이스 사루비아, 정수진 – 뇌해 (Project Space Sarubia, Chung Suejin – Brain Ocean)
• 아라리오갤러리, 정수진 (ARARIO GALLERY, Chung Suejin)
• 아트허브, 몽인아트센타 - 입체·나선형 변증법 (Arthub, MONGIN ART CENTER – Pyramid Dialectic)