Jonghwan Jin showcased his new paintings created between November 2023 and February 2024 in his solo show Any Season. These paintings capture the transition from winter to spring, translating the gradual transformation of landscapes through the progression of the seasons into abstract paintings. A close examination reveals the sensations of circulating air, fluctuating temperatures and humidity, and the shifting wind and light. The stacked layers of colors and planes, interspersed with lines and dots, conjure landscapes that feel familiar. Each piece, like a sprout emerging from the depths of the soil, embodies the accumulated sensations of color and time that Jin encountered and absorbed throughout the winter.
Human senses—sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste—are the primary conduits through which we initially receive all information. Through these senses, we understand the world not by feeling as we think, but by thinking as we feel. Accelerated time offers us convenience but also leads to a kind of ‘emotional numbness,’ rendering us insensitive to the slow and subtle stimuli of the world around us. This desensitization erodes our ability to empathize and connect with our surroundings, fostering self-centered thinking and veiling our pure inner world.
Jonghwan Jin’s works in Any Season evoke a synesthetic imagery that engages not only the visual sense but also other sensory domains. Capturing the moment when flower buds bloom on tree branches amid a brief warm spell in winter, In Time for Spring brims with lines that convey the vibrancy of sprouting buds and the energy of life preparing for new birth. There are also paintings that, though the same in size, depict different scenes, each creating a unique flow. In Cloud Chasing the Wind, Jin captures the movement of clouds driven by the winter breeze of an unknown origin. Sunset-Tinted Air holds the earthy blue tones intermingled with the encroaching darkness of the sky. Between Leaves depicts leaves blooming side by side yet each in its own time. Above the Frosty Air tactically captures the biting cold of winter air that stings the nose.
As reflected in their titles, these new works encapsulate what Jin felt between the long, dark winter and the coming of vibrant spring. Going beyond his previous direct depictions of the seasons, Jin has explored how to visually express the inevitable and irresistible changes in nature. Using senses beyond sight, this series contemplates how to portray the transitions of seasons through sensory experiences.
In the time of winter, the air moves slowly.
Above the languid clouds, the sun continues to rise.
Now, the dry branches, having endured the winter,
begin to stir, reaching towards the approaching sun.
Before dawn, around 6 a.m., a faint green emerges within the tree buds…
Perhaps I was waiting for spring to arrive?
What sensations might we perceive when we, like the artist, confront everyday landscapes and observe the varying temperatures and the speed of the wind, the subtle and robust scents of the forest, and the movement of clouds from a non-visual perspective? And before all that, how can we revive our senses?
It is about gradually sensing the breath of spring we encounter after passing through the winter with our unfamiliar senses. It is about contemplating nature that organically generates life through the cycle of emergence, growth, decline, and demise. It is about thinking about a season—any season—that tacitly exists within this natural cycle. The mystical sensibility towards nature, hidden within the dense abstractions of Jin’s work, serves as a conduit to awaken our senses, leading us to a profound sensorial contemplation.
Through his practice, Jonghwan Jin revives our dormant, overlooked senses. By slowly savoring his works that capture the quiet presence of a season, we are invited to expand our sensory contemplation. Using our senses as a compass, we embark on an inner journey that accumulates everything—what is seen, what is unseen, what is understood, and what is unknown.