Artwork text
The old figure's steps are heavy. Alone, he might have sunk to the ground. But the
pony goes ahead and looks back. “Come quickly,” it calls, moving farther away. The
staff supports his hand. “Stand up, lean on me once more,” it says, planting itself in
the earth. A small boat on the sea. “This way,” it seems to point, following the
horizon. “Follow me,” it goes ahead, opening the way. The old figure thought he
was walking alone. But he was not. The pony calls, the staff lifts him, the boat opens
the way. The whole landscape was carrying him onward.
Key context
Byun Shi-Ji was a Korean modern and contemporary painter who treated Jeju’s Fūdo not as scenery but as a condition of existence. Through solitude, waiting, wind and the colour of dried grass, his art formed a glocal modernism rooted in Korea and open to the world.