John Pai: Liquid Steel

부드럽고, 섬세하게 

조각가 존 배(John Pai, 1937- ) 교수의 연구서 'John Pai: Liquid Steel'가 10월 24일 리쫄리(Rizzoli)에서 출간된다. 

'John Pai: Liquid Steel'는 철사를 소재로 한 조각에서 강철 조각까지 '공간 속의 그림(drawings in space)' 아티스트 존 배 교수의 작품 세계를 망라한 도서다. 대부분의 현대 조각가들이 스케치 후 금속 세공인에게 맡기는 것과는 달리 존 배 교수는 구상 없이 노동 집약적인 용접에서 구부리기까지 모든 작업을 직접 수행한다. 

1937년 서울에서 태어난 존 배 교수는 11살 때 미국으로 이주해 15살 때 웨스트버지니아주 오글베이에서 개인전을 열었다. 프랫 인스티튜트(Pratt Institute) 장학생으로 입학해 대학원에서 조각을 전공했다. 1965년 27세에 최연소로 교수로 임명됐으며, 2000년 은퇴 후 코네티컷주 페어필드 자택에서 작업해왔다. 

A Slice of Wave to Go, 1980. Photo: Geoffrey Quelle

뉴욕중앙일보에 따르면, 배씨의 조부는 구한말 일본의 군사적 침략에 맞서 싸운 의병장 배창근이었고, 부친 배민수 박사는 스페인에서 활동하던 작곡가 안익태에게서 애국가를 받아와 국내에 보급시킨 독립운동가였다. 

저자 존 야우(John Yau)는 럿거스대 메이슨그로스미술대 교수다. 영화 '파이' '블랙 스완(Black Sawn)' '꿈의 광시곡(Requirm for a Dream)'의 대런 애로노프스키(Darren Aronofsky) 감독의 존 배 교수 인터뷰, 도형태 갤러리 현대 대표의 에세이(John Pai: the Silent Monk)도 실렸다. 편집은 리아나 배(Liana Pai)가 맡았다.  

John Pai: Liquid Steel

Author John Yau, Contributions by Darren Aronofsky

The first comprehensive monograph on the master contemporary Korean American sculptor, from his seminal wire sculptures to his never-before-seen early works formed of steel.

John Pai (b. 1937) is a prolific multimedia artist whose handmade three-dimensional sculptures are, paradoxically, still objects that seem to exist in a state of movement and transformation. This full-career survey of Pai’s inventive work consists of his rarely seen early work up to the present.

Pai’s incredibly intricate, three-dimensional abstract “drawings in space” are made of endless lengths of individual steel or copper rods and textured sheets made from hundreds of rods welded together. Unlike many contemporary sculptors who draw a sketch and let metalworkers do the actual construction, Pai continues to do all his work himself―from choosing the materials to the labor-intensive process of welding and bending the metals into complex and sometimes massive forms.

Immigrating from Korea to the US at age 11, Pai showed his prodigious talent for art at a young age. He received a scholarship to attend Pratt Institute, and in the 1960s, Pai became the youngest professor appointed to the faculty at Pratt. Leading its fine arts and sculpture programs for nearly four decades, Pai proved a talented and beloved educator, nurturing generations of sculptors and fostering the burgeoning Korean artistic community in New York with those such as his contemporary Nam June Paik, reflecting a sensibility outside the mainstream of American art.

About The Author

John Yau is an award-winning poet and art critic who has been publishing art criticism since 1978. He is a professor of critical studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has written for Art in America, Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, and Hyperallergic Weekend. Academy Award®–nominated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was born and raised in Brooklyn. Aronofsky heads Protozoa Pictures based in Chinatown NYC. His credits include π, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Black Swan, Noah, mother!, and The Whale. He is a friend of the artist.

Publish Date: October 24, 2023

Format: Hardcover

Category: Art - Individual Artists - Monographs

Publisher: Rizzoli Electa

Trim Size: 10 x 12

Pages: 248

US Price: $65.00

https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847873777