▲ Ro So-jung

Abstract art is one of the most noticeable art trends today. Abstract art avoids re-creation of visible forms through copying but exposes the inner world of the artist with dots, lines and surfaces. In other words, abstract artists tend to study their inner world and make it appear in a form of painting. Some people say it is difficult genre to approach but they can surely understand as long as they read the intension of the artist and that is the charm of abstract art.

Artist Ro So-jung is an abstract artist. Her series work <Untitled> displayed at the 2018 Korea Art Festival International Fair received positive response for the lively surfaces and colors and simplicity of lines; the lines are crossed here and there and the texture is rich and embossed. One might take it as abstract but it is not as cold as one might feel about the genre.

She tried a certain order in the work but we can see regular directions of lines and attractive divisions of the surfaces. Through these elements, we can find the mutual values of moderation and vitality at the same time. 

In terms of materials, Ro used acrylic to ease the eyes of the beholders. She picks only the quality paints to maximize vividness of the work.

“The reason I didn’t give a name to the series is because I want the beholders to draw their own images from the work. Everybody might give a different title to the work and I think that’s one of the pleasures of abstract art” explains Ro.

Abstract art is known to start by the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky and hit the peak by the American artist Jackson Pollock. The former has distinguishing characters in dots, lines and surfaces. Influenced yet creative about Ro, in relation to Kandinsky, is that she emphasizes on composition and inner tension in addition to dots, lines and surfaces; the composition means contents and the tension means vitality; the tension, however, is not the external element but the inner value of the forms or the co-relation of spiritual things and the balance of its power.

A movement starts from a dot and develops into a line which joins the tension and the direction. Ro stretches this line to horizon and develops into vertical and diagonal. The first means the simplest form in limitless movement, the second in limitless but warm movement, and the third as a sense of unity between coldness and warmness. 

Ro’ works in this respect can be interpreted as combination of active and passive pressures and as resonance of the movements. In terms of the colors, Ro uses red, blue and yellow with additional options of grey and black in order to release a warm energy. 

“If I say about my works in a word, I would say ‘self-restraint’” says Ro. 

Ro graduated from Sunhwa Arts School as a top student and majored in fine arts at Seoul National University. It is interesting to know that she is a fitness athlete and won a number of prizes in competitions: top prizes in bikini and fitness model, second prize in sports model; she has 11 fitness certifications. 

“Fitness is a good tool to train my capacity of ‘self-restraint’ and ‘concentration’. Like many things are intermingled in our life, abstract art and fitness for me exchange positive energy and affect each other. So I’m naturally enthusiastic about both genres and I’m ambitious to challenge a world fitness competition next year to see my capacity in a global stage.”

Ro added “What I have built and am doing now have only been possible thanks to my chairman father Ro Mu-sup, my mother Jin Young-shin and my teacher Seo Bum-suk.”

▲ scenery 53x73 acrylic 2018