Untitled 1998

Curator: Before us is "Untitled", an acrylic painting crafted by Moon Pil Shim in 1998. It's a striking diptych of monochromatic abstraction. Editor: Immediately, I’m drawn to the stark contrast. The deep, almost bruised purple on one side fights for dominance against the pale, off-white on the other. It feels...unsettling, like a visual representation of opposing forces. Curator: Yes, and consider how Shim meticulously constructed these fields of color. The texture is incredibly subtle; it seems almost like fabric stretched taut across a frame. Looking closer reveals layers of acrylic paint creating this effect. How do you think this physicality influences the viewing? Editor: Absolutely, the tangible materiality grounds the work, preventing it from floating off into pure symbolism. The evident hand of the artist, the building of layers—these connect it to the tradition of labor. The almost-raw edge further strips it down to basic components: pigment, canvas, labor. Curator: And Shim’s deliberate avoidance of overt symbolism encourages close visual scrutiny. There are gentle shifts in tonality, variations in surface treatment, and evidence of the process which create a deeply visual work. Editor: But also, doesn’t this minimalism invite speculation? Is there something inherent in these colors which plays on our subconscious? The purple for bruises or wine stains, the off-white alluding to skin tone. This invites considering the politics and social contexts in which these artworks are produced. Curator: I would argue those are all possibilities arising precisely from the absence of explicit meaning. The tension created forces a focus on the fundamentals: color relationships, composition, texture...it’s all about those intrinsic aesthetic qualities. Editor: And the scale; this surely commands the viewers attention. What would change in terms of material if the image was, say, the size of an iPhone? Scale in terms of commodity or consumption makes one reconsider these minimalist forms in context. Curator: Scale undeniably intensifies the experience. It allows the surface's minute intricacies to expand and occupy our field of vision. By simplifying, focusing on the formal properties of hue, tone, and form, Shim prompts intense introspection and observation of art in its most essential state. Editor: Indeed, stripping back exposes what lies at the material bedrock: human effort, cultural construction. Food for further thought when one thinks about labor and artistic creation in contemporary society.