Seeing Above, Through, and Below the Constructed Skin and Surface within an Expanded Painting Practice

This practice-led thesis, Seeing Above, Through, and Below the Constructed Skin and Surface within an Expanded Painting Practice, researches the legacy of the Korean Dansaekhwa movement of abstract monotone painting. Central to my research is the physical analogy between the surface of a painting and bodily skin, its relevant metaphors, and interpretations. In addition to painting’s materiality and ‘skin-like’ tactility, I have considered the symbolic value of ‘skin’ as a medium and painting method. Using psychoanalyst Didier Anzieu’s concept of the ‘Skin-ego’ that defines the ego’s development, I have investigated the metaphor of skin as a thin interface between inner and outer. I have extrapolated this to develop a practice of painting with a specific haptic visual vocabulary based on layering. The following two questions have underpinned this research: how can skin be used as a metaphor and a source of methods for painting? What are the legacies of the Dansaekhwa movement, that are currently under-discussed? My practice methods include exploring ink staining techniques to address forms of materiality and immateriality and testing diverse materials and supports for their degrees of transparency and permeability. These experiments focus on smudging subtle and muted chromatic tones to suggest silence. Through repeated processes of staining and layering, nuanced figurative imagery emerges fused within the surface and layered below the picture plane. Evoking both absence and presence, this imagery draws comparison with Christian iconography, such as the Turin Shroud and Titian’s The Flaying of Marsyas. Repetitive making processes are related to traditional Korean rituals and Christian rites of contemplation. This research aims to make an original contribution to the understanding of Dansaekhwa painting through the metaphor of skin and the concept of the Skin-ego; and enhance sensitivity to the particular qualities of beauty characteristic of Korean abstraction