Meditation

This painting belongs to Yoong Bae’s Meditation series. Bae arranged multiple seated figures in silhouette in a grid pattern. While the layout may seem like a silk-screen print, a closer look reveals that each figure was painted one at a time. The multiplicity of figures evokes monks in meditation or scholars reciting classical poetry/texts, or even the tradition of painting a hundred or a thousand Buddhas as an act of devotion.

The subtlety of Bae’s style is evident in his use of ink. The upper part of each figure is painted in a darker tone, while below the waist, each is painted in light gray. The light area is sprinkled with ink dots, creating a mottled effect. The figures seated in the lower rows are more clearly rendered, and the figures in the upper rows become increasingly hazy, as if one is looking at the meditating monks from a distance through early morning fog. In a strange way, the multiple images seem to intensify the isolation of each figure.