"For art establishes the basic human truths which
must serve as the touchstones of our judgement. The
artist faithful to his personal vision of reality,
becomes the last champion of the individual mind and
sensibility against an intrusive society and an
offensive state.”
(John F. Kennedy)
How right Kennedy was. Art inspires us and inspiration is the ingredient that makes our lives extraordinary. The yearly ArtBasel, the world's most esteemed display for artists, allows us each year to face an avalanche of inspirations and impressions. One artist, however, has touched our senses and taken our breaths away this year the most: Ran Hwang.
The Korean artist, born 1960, creates pictures of unique expression. Using thousands of simple buttons and pins, she creates large wall installations that only from afar show their breathtakingly vivid picture. Through the immensely repetitive manual work facing the white wall, she says, the experience of her own installations is a form of performance that leads toward finding oneself, like a monk practising Zen.
What struck us in her works was the vision which leads her from the first hammered pin to the precise, vivid and emotional expression of the finished work. Her installations represent a fight for freedom of the individual mind and expression and serve us as a touchstone of our judgements. But regardless of all intellectual examination, it is the incredible beauty of her work that left us speechless.
In the end, it was the vision within her work, the breathtaking beauty of its expression, and the inspiration her message gives that moved us deeply.
In all her works, we see the ceaseless application of her -and our- philosophy:
Passion Of Perfection
