Self Portrait

Self Portraiture has long been a popular and important tool through which artists undertake an introspective examination of their own identity and existence. Using it in his own exploratory journey, Kang Hyung-Koo magnifies the details of facial features to a shocking degree to reveal the diversity of emotions. Kang has intermittently painted self-portraits with various facial expressions over the past 20 years. His 2009 Self Portrait (Lot 480) is the quintessence of self-portraiture as the expression of self-consciousness. It surprises with its audacious composition - a centre-staged frontal view of the face, which fills the oversized canvas without ornamentation or background to hint at any form of narrative. Then it captures the viewer's eye with the perfect clarity of the facial features, such as the wrinkles and hair - and the artist's charismatic eyes gazing back at the viewer. The unique quality of Kang's self-portrait is deeply related to the work of the Joseon Dynasty literary artist Yoon Doo-Suh (1668-1715). In his Self Portrait, Yoon not only accurately describes his own face but also marvelously expresses the single-minded spirit of the scholar, transcending mere descriptions of the materialistic and ideological reference. The Korean artist tries to express the concept of existential 'self' and his spirit as a decent man, rather than vaunting his social status, by emphasising a strong ethereal gaze with a beard delicately expressed in thin lines. Following in the path of Yoon, Kang's Self Portrait successfully displays his own existence and at the same time achieves the universality of the human being. In front of Kang's powerful painting, we come to realise it is a portrayal of our own selves in our own time.