Chaekgado 2022

Lim Soosik

“In all times and countries, books have been the object of longing and desire; so there are not a few people who skip a meal to buy books while enjoying building intellectual food looking for books to be collected more and more in booksellers.”

Chaekgado(冊架圖)* is to represent Lim Soo Sik's desire for books.
Lim Soo Sik, a photographic artist, read modern culture through books. His latest exhibition is also based on his interest in books. The photograph of representing a book, 'No Possession' by Buddhist Priest BeobJeong, still remains in my mind. Lim Soo Sik said, “Meeting a bookcase full of books makes me get a lump in my throat. The colorful books are well arranged in their own way, causing a strong desire to own them.”

Chaekgado(冊架圖) is another portrait of its owner.
Lim Soo Sik's work reconstructs the Chaekgado (冊架圖), which is one of the popular paintings in pictures of the Choseon period (1392-1910), as a photograph. His work for Chaekgado (冊架圖) begins by photographing various people's bookshelves. The libraries look the same. However, the books in bookstores are tremendously different depending on the tastes and trades of the owners. Also, on a bookshelf, the books, scriptures, materials, and decorations that are put to the owner's liking imply various stories and flexibility, providing great visuals. For the artist, the most attractive thing about Chaekgado(冊架圖) is a peculiar perspective. In fact, the image of the traditional bookshelf painting is difficult to represent as the image of the photo view. Therefore, the artist deconstructs and reconstructs the image. If he wants to deal only with perspective, he could solve the problem of perspective by taking photographs in part and using digital technologies. However, he chooses to sew pieces of photos together and represents the Chaekgado (冊架圖) as a mosaic. As a patchwork that is made by sewing pieces together, as a bookcase that is filled with each book, Lim Soo Sik's work is individually valued as unique in the world that includes absolute time.

If culture is defined as the complexity of internal mental activity, such as knowledge, art, religion, ethics, laws, and customs, Lim Soo Sik's Chaekgado(冊架圖) is cultural enough. As every book is made by deconstruction and construction, the culture has also been formed by sewing pieces of art and life together for a long time, and sometimes it is formed as the shape of a specific book.

For this reason, we read contemporary culture through Lim Soo Sik's photographs.