Water-Young-Il Ahn On the day of Friday April 10, 2015, I Angie Ramirez visited the Long Beach Museum of Art and came across a painting that I found breathtaking. The painting happened to be by 80-year-old painter, Young-Il Ahn. Water ALB14, is a painting inspired by the ocean. It is a large piece of art; one that is even taller than me; keeping in mind I am five feet two inches and this painting measures at exactly 72 x 60 inches. It is oil on a canvas and is part of Ahn’s A Memoir of Water Works. This painting is a startling piece of work.
In this painting, Ahn uses bold colors and texture to mimic the immensity of the ocean and the constant movement of the waves. He uses mostly different shades of blue, red, green, and yellow. The bright colors he uses are more of a representation of his own creative style. Ahn captures a more private moment using bold colors creating an emotional impact. He used bright colors and elaborately used more of a royal blue than red, yellow, and green. . He also used graceful and sensuous lines that seem to appear as small brushstrokes. The surfaces on this painting are textured beautifully and do happen to show a bit of small harsh lines, almost like dabs giving the artwork a dramatic feel. This work of art is represented as non-representational art because it takes nothing from reality. It is created purely for aesthetic reasons. The intent was to use the elements and principles of art in a way that results in a visually stimulating work. Ahn clearly used a limited palette to paint this artwork because he used limited colors. There might be different shades of the colors but still sticks to four main colors.
Ahn makes this artwork asymmetrical because it is not identical on both sides of a central line and simply lacks symmetry. Asymmetrical balance often has more variety, visual interest, and liveliness. There appears to be heavier darker values than lighter values; along with the textured form being more intense than a smoother form. The color in this painting is balanced. The center of this composition is stronger in color while the lighter areas contrast perfectly on the other parts and edges. There is no movement depicted in any way but does give us a hint of spontaneous motion with thin lines but also does not give us an obvious focal point.
Young-Il Ahn returned to Korea with his parents in 1945. At the age of 19, he staged an exhibition in New York Prior to his move to America. In 1966, he chose to settle in Los Angeles California as a sponsored artist of Zachary Gallery. The 1970’s was a difficult decade for Ahn and found solace in painting almost 400 pieces of the water series inspired by the Pacific Ocean. This specific painting was inspired from back in the 1970’s when Ahn was in a small fishing boat near Santa Monica and got lost in thick fog. He drifted for hours and was frightened that it was the end for him. He felt helpless but as soon as the fog lifted, he saw the beautiful sunlight shinning over the ocean and all of a sudden became a meditation for him. Because of this incident, Ahn now paints portraits of the ocean in an array of colors and textures that led to his current development of contemporary aesthetic. This applies every meaning to his artwork. Being lost at sea inspired him to view the ocean in a new way and a way to express himself and how he felt at that moment. He could have felt lost and helpless giving the painting a feeling as if he was desperate with hope to find something or someone in the middle of nowhere; giving his painting nothing other than small brushstrokes.
I selected this art work because it amazed me how the painting looks like a solid royal blue color at a distance but when I walked up to it, I found so much incredible detail to it that I was in awe. It is very aesthetically pleasing and beautiful to me because of its size. I love how he gave it texture because it added a bolder feel to it. The color choice was also very pleasant. Before writing my paper I thought, “oh how boring” but once I read the text panel, I had an immediate change of heart. I appreciated the fact that I was able to witness such an amazing art piece in person. There were a couple of other art works that were similar in the way that the appeared to be one solid color at a distance but had great detail when I got closer but what really caught my attention with this specific art work was the dominating royal blue color. I made the connection with him being lost at sea and the color since our ocean is blue. It looks like a piece of the ocean. When I look at the ocean, it simply looks blue, but once I get closer, there is so much detail in place and so many things that no one notices when looking at it far away. I felt the same way with this painting. Also, when I first looked at this painting, it looks like if it was blurred or pixelated at a distance, almost like if it was cross-hatching. When I look at the ocean for a very long time, and I just stare at the endless water, I begin to notice tiny oddly shapes objects and specs in my vision; something that my eyes are actually perceiving but similar to an optical illusion due to the brightness of the sun reflecting on the ocean. This is exactly what I felt with Ahn’s art work. Its astonishing size helped make this assumption because I felt as if I was staring into the ocean for a long time and began to see those specs. Overall, this is an amazing and startling work of art. Seemingly simple, Young-Il Ahn’s artistry and mastery with paint is displayed to be appreciated. His practice is meticulous and encourages a meditative state during the creative process.