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Lim Ok-sang’s work

Candles have made a return to the Blue House. “Standing in the Square,” a masterwork by artist Lim Ok-sang showing public squares teeming with candles last winter, was recently installed in the main hall of Blue House. The original artwork consisted of 108 canvases showing images of candles as painted by Lim, who visited Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul every weekend during the candlelight demonstrations. The wall of the Blue House is only big enough to hold 78 canvases, which have been joined together into a vast landscape measuring 11.7 meters long and 3.6 meters high.

Lim, who was named on a culture and arts community blacklist by the Park Geun-hye administration, donned a black coat and headed to Gwanghwamun on Oct. 18 of last year to demand an investigation into the list. Throughout the demonstrations, he staged a “resistance performance” kicking a ball, doing calligraphy, and hammering nails on the square.

As someone who has used different materials and techniques to capture scenes from contemporary history, Lim immediately sensed the emotional impact of the candlelit squares. Using clay for a pigment, he created his own candles on 108 90-by-60 centimeter canvases, totaling 16.2 meters in length and 3.6 meters in height. The work made its debut in an exhibition on the theme “The Wind Rises” at Gana Art Center in Seoul’s Pyeongchang neighborhood last August and September. Myongji University chair professor Yu Hong-joon called it a “monumental record of history.”

According to Lim, the work was seen by First Lady Kim Jung-sook, an art aficionado who visited the gallery herself in September after hearing about the exhibition. Hearing about the piece from his wife, President Moon Jae-in told Yu about his plans to purchase the work while accompanying him on a visit to Andong Hahoe Village during the Chuseok holiday on Oct. 6. After the exhibition, the artwork was sold to a different collector, who then agreed to loan it for display at the Blue House.

Lim previously worked alongside Yu on a planning committee for Moon’s pledge to create a history and culture belt in Seoul during his presidential run. Because the walls at the entrance of the Blue House main hall are smaller than the gallery space, Lim removed 30 canvases from the original “Standing in the Square’” when the piece was installed on Nov. 13. The artist was satisfied with the result, saying it “fit right into the entrance, like something built in.”

“Standing in the Square” is displayed on the wall of the Sejong Room of the Blue House. President Moon borrowed the artwork from a private collector and had it installed on Nov. 13. The rental fee was paid out of the Blue House budget. (by Kim Bo-hyeop

By Lee Joo-hyun and Kim Bo-hyeop

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