Episode 63: Masterpiece
“This work is not just about the heart sculpture you are looking at now.”
Kang Lim took out 15 sheets of prints hidden inside the marble sculpture.
As paper reminiscent of ancient papyrus appeared, the students’ eyes widened.
They looked like archaeologists who had just discovered a new site.
Drawings that looked ancient emerging from a classical marble sculpture.
What kind of materials could give such an impression?
How could a painting be so mysterious?
Kang Lim’s work was astonishing when seen for the first time, but it quickly became new once again.
It felt like watching a face-changing performance that kept transforming.
“This work consists of 15 story illustrations. The heart sculpture you see now is the bag brought by the woman in the story. So the title of this work is <The Woman’s Bag>.”
Kang Lim began to fix the prints one by one on the white partition wall.
The students hesitated and flinched slightly.
Without needing to discuss with each other, they approached Kang Lim.
Everyone gathered in front of the pictures.
They just wanted to quickly dive into the world he had created and listen to the story.
As a strange tension filled the classroom,
Goo Haeyoung also quietly took a deep breath and approached the story Kang Lim had written.
Everyone gathered to savor and appreciate the illustrations.
With hands on each other’s backs or shoulders, they showed expressions of disbelief…
With long-lasting eye contact, the story began.
<The Woman’s Bag>
There was a woman holding a heart-shaped bag with both hands.
In fact, the term “woman” was just a figure of speech; the figure was genderless.
A bald person wearing loose, long white clothes.
Without distinct facial features, only the outlines suggesting a human form were drawn.
- [There was a scale that was said to be the scale of God.]
The center of the scale looked like a sharp spear, and the arms were shaped like elegant arrow shafts.
Two silver trays hanging from chains were shining.
- [The scale was floating in the air, tilted to one side.]
The shadow of the scale floating in the air was cast over the heads of people.
Although thousands of people were looking up at the scale, the shadow was not fully filled.
Like the woman seen earlier, all the people were bald and wore long white clothes.
- [People wondered what God valued so highly, seeing the tilted scale. There was always a line in front of the scale, and everyone brought what they thought was the most valuable.]
People climbed up a large ladder and placed their items on the scale.
One by one, they climbed up and placed their offerings on the scale.
Bountiful grains, a young lamb, spears and shields, a red flask, shining gold coins, scrolls filled with dense writing…
- [But no matter what they placed on the scale, it didn’t budge, and the tilted balance was never corrected.]
The scale was piled high with the objects and lives people had brought.
- [People resented the scale that ignored what they valued.]
As the scale did not move, people took back their belongings.
Muttering lips, drooping shoulders, and excessively sagging arms.
Exaggerated human forms conveyed feelings of disappointment.
- [Then one day, a woman appeared and said she would move the scale.]
The woman came to where the people were gathered and pointed at the scale with her index finger.
- [She brought a bag with great effort, saying it contained love.]
Holding a heart-shaped bag, the woman struggled with each step.
The large heart was so heavy that it dragged on the ground continuously.
Each time the end of the bag touched the dirt, she felt a pang of emotion.
- [The woman finally placed the bag on the scale.]
Climbing the ladder with the heavy bag, the woman placed it on the scale.
She took a praying posture.
- [But no matter how long they waited, the scale did not move…]
People also assumed the same praying posture and waited, but the scale remained tilted.
- [The woman left in tears, disappointed.]
Her frail figure and the long shadow she cast swayed desolately.
- [After that, people stopped placing other items on the scale. They could not find anything more important than what the woman had brought.]
The once numerous people disappeared, leaving only a few handfuls of barren sand on the shadow left by the scale.
- [As many days passed and the woman did not return, people began to divide into two groups.]
The white clothes of some people started to turn black.
People in white and people in black whispered among themselves.
- [One group said they should open the bag to verify the woman’s claim, while the other said they should keep it safe until she returned.]
The people in white and those in black started pointing fingers at each other.
Wrinkled facial features showed emotions of hatred.
- [Eventually, someone from one of the groups opened the bag.]
In the dark night,
A person, whose clothing color couldn’t be identified,
Opened the heart left by the woman.
- [Someone from the other group killed the person who opened the bag.]
As the bag was opened,
A person, whose clothing color couldn’t be identified,
Killed the one who opened the bag.
After reading the story, the audience can write their answers and reasons for the following question and place them inside <The Woman’s Bag>.
Which of the following is false?
God
The scale
The bag containing love
Other ( )
For a while, silence filled the classroom.
A student fidgeted with their lips, pondering what could be false in this story.
Another student stood with their mouth open, as if not understanding what it meant.
A student, delighted to encounter a magnificent work, looked at Kang Lim with a flushed face…
Goo Haeyoung also had to take a deep breath and try to calm his mind.
In his mind, countless answer sheets were already fluttering.
What if people all over the world could participate in Kang Lim’s work?
Just imagining it made him break into a cold sweat, and he had to clench his right hand to hide his trembling.
After some time had passed, he could finally ruminate on Kang Lim’s work again.
This was a form of art he had never seen before.
A work where the story, sculpture, and painting all interacted with each other.
A piece completed only when the audience participated.
A comprehensive form of art that gathered all of Kang Lim’s strengths of wanting to communicate with people.
Goo Haeyoung kept looking at the students with their throats fluttering.
Good art provokes various thoughts. So soon, this classroom will be flooded with questions.
As expected, the students raised their hands one by one and started pouring out questions.
Kang Lim was flustered by the sudden break in silence.
Goo Haeyoung, as if anticipating this, raised his hand to quiet the students.
“Don’t get excited. From now on, ask your questions one at a time.”
A student urgently asked,
“Does the scale of God signify the Bible? Does it mean the standard of the Bible is wrong? If even a bag containing love didn’t move the scale, does that mean love isn’t part of that standard?”
Kang Lim shook his head and answered,
“In Western Asia, many are Muslims, and in India, most are Hindus. There are many religions in the world, and many gods. It doesn’t refer to any specific religion. Of course, the audience is free to interpret it as they wish.”
As soon as Kang Lim finished answering, another student raised their hand and asked,
“Then what does the first option, ‘God is false,’ mean? Does it deny the existence of God itself? Or does it mean God made a wrong judgment? Why didn’t the scale move when the bag containing love was placed? Was the scale not given by God? Is the scale fake?”
“Hey, the bag might not have contained love, you idiot. Can’t you think?”
“Hey, the first murder in human history happened as soon as the bag was opened because it contained love.”
“How do you prove that? How do you know there was love in there?”
“The woman left crying.”
“She could have been faking it, lying.”
The students began arguing with their own thoughts.
The classroom quickly descended into chaos again.
Amid the sudden noise, even Goo Haeyoung’s attempts to calm them down were ineffective.
The appeal of Kang Lim’s work was immense.
This was not merely because of an interesting story.
Every element, from the appropriate use of materials to the excellent descriptive power, made this story feel like a real myth.
In the end, Goo Haeyoung had to raise his voice, something he rarely did.
“Quiet down!”
Only then did the students become quiet, seeing their professor raise his voice for the first time.
Seeing Goo Haeyoung’s stern expression, they shrank back a little.
Nodding, Goo Haeyoung spoke.
“This reaction is natural; I understand.”
“Good art always brings out various meanings. Now, I will take a few more questions, but only about the materials used. Aren’t you curious about how these effects were achieved?”
Only then did the students realize that this was Kang Lim’s creation and nodded.
It wasn’t something excavated from an ancient civilization.
Some laughed, wondering why they had made such a fuss.
Next, Lee Hyunseong raised his hand and asked,
“What exactly was used to draw these pictures? And that paper, is it parchment or papyrus, or are they the same? How was that paper made? Was it imported from Egypt?”
As everyone looked at Kang Lim with curious faces, Kang Lim answered,
“This is copperplate print and the paper is printmaking paper. We learned this during the assignment on making banknotes.”
“That, that? The same thing we did in material science class?”
“Yes, but I used the roughest type of printmaking paper and dyed it multiple times in a solution made from alder tree bark. This naturally imbued the paper with an ancient appearance. It’s a technique used in oriental painting to simulate old paper.”
“Wow, they even use that in oriental painting. Crazy guy.”
Following Lee Hyunseong’s exclamation, Shin Taemin asked,
“In copperplate printing, it’s relatively easy to create extremely delicate lines, but painterly expressions are very difficult. Yet this work uniquely showcases rich painterly qualities in places. Especially the swaying shadow when the woman leaves in tears or the handful of sand left under the scale after everyone is gone. How did you overcome the expressive limits of etching, which is usually rigid and unyielding?”
As Lee Hyunseong flinched at Shin Taemin’s level of questioning, Kang Lim smirked and answered,
“By varying the etching times, I printed multiple times, and I deliberately left the edges of the plate rough to retain the ink. This made the tones in the picture richer, similar to mezzotint. Also, I left the metal shavings from scraping the ground, which created a bleeding effect. By wiping the ink differently each time and printing dozens of times, the textures became richer.”
Shin Taemin was astounded by Kang Lim’s perfectionist tendencies.
He sensed that Kang Lim must have burned through hundreds of sheets to create those three editions.
An extraordinary talent.
Is this what a true genius looks like?
With a face that turned from ashen to nearly white,
The students seemed to have run out of questions.
This was beyond their level of understanding.
Even Goo Haeyoung felt goosebumps on his neck.
Despite learning the same material science, the depth of execution could vary so significantly.
Kang Lim already seemed to have mastered numerous genres of material science, using them freely in his work.
He felt an inexplicable pain in his chest.
It was because he had encountered a work much better than he had anticipated.
Thus, he wanted to ask something that should never be questioned.
What did Kang Lim think was the answer to that final question?
In the end, Goo Haeyoung spoke.
“Kang Lim, come up to the lab right away.”
