Previous Next

Chaekgado*

The rooms of the nobility of Joseon were decorated with simple furniture, such as display cabinets, writing tables, pictures, and folding screen made of wood.

A common subject for pictures and folding screens in this type of room was the bookshelf. The painting of items associated with learning, centering on books and the four treasures of the study, as well as other artifacts, show a geometric beauty which sometimes looks three dimensional, similar to perspective drawings of architects, and sometimes like still life paintings with items composed freely.

I remember I had the feeling of seeing a forest of buildings when I looked at the bookshelf paintings when I was young. For this design, I took a part of a bookshelf drawing and turned it into a pattern. I repeatedly used a group of books like a checkered pattern to create the image of the forest of buildings that I had in mind from the childhood.

* Books and Scholars’ Utensils