Sleepless Moon

‘Sleepless Moon’, Surman’s first solo exhibition in Korea, invites us into the primal abyss of nature, which stems from his childhood experiences in rural environments. Beginning with ancient cave artworks, imagination has consistently been the method to contemplate our relationship with nature. Just as the magic of the cave artist could imaginatively turn a figure into an animal and create a cycle of life and death, the wildness of Surman’s depictions of animals and their habitats reminds us of a long-forgotten way of life. The return of humanity to the life of the poor peasant who survived, animal-like, according to the movements of their arms, legs, head and hands, and with a relationship to nature as “both an object of worship and of sacrifice” is completed on the canvas as a response to the thoroughly modern viewer facing the gaze of the moon, rocks, trees, grasses and flowers, and the creatures that comprise “the first group to surround man,” such as cows, crows, mice and cats. As humanity resolves its technological separation from nature that arose from fear and confusion, it does so under the watchful gaze of the landscapes and animals of Surman’s memories. The artist stresses the importance of the audience as a crucial part of the work, completing its communication and extending it into the world, as in Taoism’s 無爲 ‘wu wei’, where nothing is done but nothing is left undone. The painted image of the animal conveys a sense of vitality to the network of viewers, engaging them and directing empathy toward the living world. His paintings become landscapes of the past, reconstructed in the distant future where humans have disappeared.