James W. Sullivan is
the Artist in Residence at JIIAF 2018
Hadong, South Korea
제임스 설리번 – 대한민국 하동
the Artist in Residence at JIIAF 2018
If I Was Here / If You Were There
James W. Sullivan is the Artist in Residence at JIIAF 2018
내 속의 또 다른 나 –
“If I Was Here / If You Were There” consists of two figures who are yet conjoined, together in the world.
The title suggests that each “inhabits” the other–each is aware of the other’s life, thoughts, perhaps even needs.
Together they form a circle of thought and purpose that I believe is essential in this world today:
the necessity that we become aware of the other, and the other aware of us.
Together we must become aware, actively and forcefully, of our place in the world as humble inhabitants,
not owners or lords or overseers. Like these figures, we are fragile, and our place within the world and within nature is fragile.
When we arrive in this valley and look up the hill, we see two distant figures who seem to look for us and welcome us.
When we come nearer and approach them, they ask us to look outwards,
to the hills and mountains that surround this area and to the people that might come after us.
The construction of the figures may seem surprising–built of plaster, straw, reeds, bamboo and other materials,
they are assembled with what is at hand. I began them in Dallas, with my local materials,
and completed them here in Hadong with materials local to the area and common to life here.
My concern as a sculptor has always been to make figures whose “being” is “in the world”, who arise from the world,
I have always attempted to construct them from the materials of each locality in which I work–Dallas, Berlin, Guatemala, Hadong.
They are built from within, reflecting the place and nature of their locality, just as our own bodies reflect our history,
our place, the opportunities and things at hand.
If the materials and construction seem fragile they are also strong and adaptable; at times suggesting the possibility of decay,
they also suggest the possibility that they and we endure and are built anew each day as we proceed into the world, together.
Once again I thank you all for this opportunity to look, think and work here in Hadong,
and to contribute to the growth and life of this place and this time. I look forward to our future, together.
© James W. Sullivan, JIIAF 2018
Artistic Director : 김성수_KIM Seong Soo
Curator : 임수미_LIM Soo Mi
Assistant Artist : 김석구_KIM Seok Gu, 김영환_KIM Young Hwan, 정은송_JEONG Eun Song
Assistant Builder : 소태웅_So Tae Woong
Location : 경남 하동군 적량면 동리 산 81-1 지리산아트팜
Jirisan Art Farm, San 81-1, Dong-ri, Jeongnyang-myeon, Hadong-gun, Gyeongnam-do, S Korea
Date : May 21-27, 2018 / Sept. 24 – Oct. 30, 2018
Again, If I Was Here / If You Were There
Jirisan Biennale 2025
‘Creating, Staying, Returning’
생성하고 머무르고 돌아간다.
James W. Sullivan is the Artist in Residence at JIIAF 2018
My sculpture is rooted in two main streams one is an idea about the body, the body as not something we see from outside but something that we feel from inside. And the question is how to construct such a sensation. The second is within material and the touch of material, that becomes the means to attach to this feeling, this inner feeling so the material itself is very open and raw-it can be sometimes more fine and other times more rough and almost disappear into a chaos.
나의 조각품은 두 가지 중요한 흐름이 작품의 근간을 이루고 있다.
하나는 몸, 즉 우리가 겉으로 보는 몸이 아닌 내면으로부터 느껴지는 몸에 대한 것이다. 그리고 문제는 어떻게 이런 느낌을 갖게 할 수 있는가에 대한 것이다. 두 번째는 재료가 갖는 물질적 특성, 감촉을 통해 이러한 내재된 몸에 대한 느낌들을 표현하는 것이다. 이 내적인 몸에 대한 느낌은 물질 그 자체로 매우 개방적이고 원시적으로 표현할 수 있다. 그것은 때로는 부드럽게 때로는 거칠게 그리고 거의 혼돈 속으로 사라지기도 한다.
Material use has changed with changes in location. The use of straw began around 1989. The location determined the availability of wheat straw, which was part of the culture. In Hadong, an agricultural region with large rice production, the aim was to use a natural material connected to the locality. This approach altered the nature of the sculpture’s surface, embedding it in a specific location.
내가 작업하는 지역을 바꿀 때마다 사용하는 재료도 변해왔다. 원래 짚(Straw)이라는 재료를 1989년부터 사용해왔다. 그리고 나는 그때마다 밀짚(Wheat Straw) 사용가능한 지역에 살고 있었고, 문화의 한 부분으로서 자연스럽게 밀짚이 내 작품의 재료가 되었다. 하동의 경우 볏짚을 사용하게 된 이유 또한 이 지역의 농업 산물인 자연 재료를 사용하고자 하였다. 물론 내 작품의 재료에 변화를 준다는 것은 작품의 표면에 변화를 주는 일이 될 것이고 이러한 방법을 통해 지역과 장소에 더욱 가깝게 접촉될 수 있게 된다.
© James W. Sullivan, Jirisan Biennale 2025
Jirisan Biennale 2025
Arts Committee Chairman : 홍가이_Kai HONG
Chief Artistic Director & Commissioner : 김성수_KIM Seong Soo
Italian Contemporary Art Exhibition Curatore : 마리아 만치니_Maria Mancini
Moha Ahn(Jong Yuen) Post-Digital Exhibition Curator : 에스더 김_Esther KIM
Homage to AI movies Artistic Director : 심은록_SIM Eunlog
Food@Art plating performance, Artistic Director : 에리카 김_Erica Kim
Visiting Children’s Environmental Art Contest Director : 김종식_KIM Jong Sik
Metaverse Director : 씨감버스 갤러리_CGAM VERSE gallery
Assistant Artist : 김경식_KIM Kyoung Shik / 윤상우_YOON Sang Woo
Location : 경남 하동군 적량면 동리 산 81-1 지리산아트팜
Jirisan Art Farm, San 81-1, Dong-ri, Jeongnyang-myeon, Hadong-gun, Gyeongnam-do, S Korea
exhibition period : November 4 – December 28, 2025