Frieze Masters ‘Studio’: Hyun-Sook Song
Renowned for her performative brushstroke paintings, Song reflects on her daily practices in her Hamburg studio and her connection with the surrounding landscape
Renowned for her performative brushstroke paintings, Song reflects on her daily practices in her Hamburg studio and her connection with the surrounding landscape
Hyun Sook-Song: When I moved into my studio in the summer of 1999, I no longer asked myself the question ‘Wo-Zu-Haus’ (Where at Home, the title of my biography); I felt I was in the right place for the first time in Germany. My studio is just under 100 metres square and is attached to our home in the south of Hamburg, near the Schwarze Berge [Black Mountains]. The landscape is beautiful, with mixed forests, gentle mountains and heaths: but within a ten-minute walk from my studio, 500 Jewish women were forced into labour in 1944. It makes me think of the Korean women who were forced into labour under Japanese rule. On all my walks, I pass the sign for the Jewish memorial stone, which reminds me every time.
Once I had a studio in a station where the goods trains shook the building, which I do not like to remember.
My studio has a hipped wooden roof, with the southern side meeting the eastern to form a ridge. On the eastern side, there is a large skylight. An awning regulates the light. The studio has a door that leads directly into my garden. It makes no sense to interfere with the plants so that they will grow; their growth is governed by the laws of nature. I follow these laws – loosen the soil, plant, water. As in the studio, I am not entirely free to do as I please. In the morning, it is all about the necessary preparations for the work process. For me, preparation means loosening the soil, planting and watering. I say this in a symbolic sense because preparation is not only manual but also mental. In the late afternoon, I paint. My studio is a completely private space. Once I had a studio in a station where the goods trains shook the building as they went past, which I do not like to remember.
One object that is particularly important to me in my studio is the natural silk that I reeled off the cocoons of silkworms in Mu-worli, my birthplace in the mountains of Korea’s Jeolla Province. In my childhood, I used to breed silkworms with my grandmother. The metamorphosis of the silkworm in the cocoon has great significance for me. It spins the silk cocoon to protect itself during metamorphosis, and humans unwind the cocoon and dress themselves in silk threads.
As told to Livia Russell.
Further Information
Frieze Masters and Frieze London take place concurrently from 11-15 October 2023 in The Regent’s Park, London. Studio is on view at Frieze Masters for the duration of the fair.
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