ABOUT \\ PROJECTS \\ NETWORK \\ CONTACT \\ A-Z
\\ INTERVIEWS
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interviews |
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>> Atem
„It is unlikely that, say, Halliburton
would try to boost its image by using a street-artsy campaign.“ |
>>> Please
introduce yourself
... Being born and raised in Germany I am of South-Korean origin. In 1998, I started a long-term artistic endeavor by focusing on the typographic deconstruction and abstraction of the name and letter-combination ATEM, which means “Breath” in German. I have been painting ATEM ever since. Fortunately, this everlasting and quite intensive preoccupation with the ATEM-Name-Letter-Writing-Project, as I tend to call it, makes
me in turn eligible for the mysterious society of
super-class-a-graffitists. In 2006 I attained a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in International Business Studies at the University of Maastricht, Netherlands. However, I eventually realized that I had to focus my whole
professional efforts on being a graffitist and artist in order to do justice to my own expectations in terms of output-related competence craftsmanship, and knowledge. Ever since I participated in
numerous exhibitions and painted commissioned works. >>> Your style of work ... My most recent paintings are primarily
about the movement and energy of letters - most of the time as
dynamic ATEM-letter-abstractions. For the last couple of years, I found
that the center of any ATEM-piece tended to be the letter T due to its
strong symmetry, which I really like and appreciate. That is why I started
to paint the T in isolation from the other letters in order to explore
its impact alone. Another quite recent line of drawings
tends to focus more on the symbolic and literal meaning of self-devised
wordplays, truisms, poems or slogans. >>> Typography is ... …the artistic deconstruction and
redesigning of letters. >>> How do you
feel about an ever-growing interest and commercial exploitation of the street art phenomenon as new pop culture ? I like high quality urban art in all
its different manifestations – almost no matter where the work is to
be located within the still-real-and-underground or
commercial-hence-inherently-sellout continuum. Nevertheless, there are indeed more
disputable artistic endeavors thinkable such as works commissioned
by the weapons industry for example (but it is also unlikely
that, say, Halliburton would try to boost its image by using a
street-artsy campaign, eh?). However, taking the fact into account
that recruitment for the military is targeted mainly at young people, it
is not that unthinkable at all. >>> Which
cooperation or project really sticked out ? Last year in August, I was able to
take a trip to Seoul, Republic of Korea, for the first time in 13 years.
Painting there with Korean artists was a great experience and felt a
little bit like a difficult but long-awaited homecoming. Also to further understand and
appreciate the beauty of the Korean writing-system (called Hangeul) as
opposed to the Latin writing-system in use in Germany was enlightening and
motivating, which also led to some nice graffiti-wall-productions in
Seoul with Korean graffitists such as Mogi and the JNJ-Crew. >>> Do you see
your art as universal, as globally understandable ? The style within my typographic works should be globally
understandable, insofar as the deconstruction and abstraction of each element of
the letters can be logically reconstructed by the viewer. No matter how abstract and detailed a certain letter or word
appears, there should always exist some underlying logic and aesthetic
idea behind every element of the painting. The only requirement for
this is an understanding of the writing-system in use. >>> Which aspect of your
work is often overlooked ? Actually the overall idea of the paintings showing the letters
ATEM, insofar as what makes the essence and underlying design-logic of the letters is often not easily appreciated by the viewer. >>> What comes next ? Next to a lot of paintings to be
painted? We’ll see. >>> Any last remarks ? Pieceout (pun intended) and have a good time with the society of
super-class-a-graffitists! |
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urbantactics Link |
website www.atemmeta.com myspace www.myspace.com/atemmeta |
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listed with >> DESIGNDIRECTORY www.designdirectory.com >> DEXIGNER www.dexigner.com >> DESIGN AGENCY INTERNATIONAL www.design-agency.com >> ARCGUIDE www.arcintern.de >> METAMORPHOSE
www.meta-mag.de connect with us via >> MYSPACE www.myspace.com/urbantactics >> FLICKR www.flickr.com/photos/urbantactics |
SINCE 2001 |
