Morning Call
Janghan Hong
Queen's University
h 54" x w 36" x d 3"
I firmly believe that it is the artist’s responsibility to record, document, and interpret their contemporary world for the future. I tend to gain inspirations from contemporary, mainstream events and sources. I feel that majority of post-modern art has been so removed from historical context that the artists are making art for the consumption by other artists. There is a large degree of artistic interbreeding, where art begets art that begets art that begets art. The focus is no longer on the art itself, but on the artist. Whose job is not to produce art, but to explain how their art is relevant.
In few instances I refer back to the history of art. I am particularly drawn to Art Nouveau, not so much in style, but its purpose as the face of a new century. The artists involved in the movement believed that they should be involved in every aspect of daily life, even in the marketing of mass-produced goods. I believe that the artists should reach out, rather than wall themselves off from the mainstream community. I wish to create art that is relevant to non-artists. I do realize that in the present culture saturate with mediocre and unrefined media of self-expression of YouTube and Deviantart, it is hard to appeal to the masses with traditional notion of “fine art”. But as Gustav Klimt once said, “if you can;t please everybody, then please a few”.
