“My Canvas is the American Continent and My Brush is a White Train”

Installation artist Jeon Su-cheon, a 58-year-old professor at the Korean National University of Arts, will launch a “moving line drawing project” by taking the vast American continent as a canvas starting on September 14 (local time).

This project is to cross the U.S. from New York to Los Angeles by a train covered with a white cloth for eight days and seven nights.

Jeon explained that he intends to create a new artistic world through a white line drawing the train is producing on the sketchbook of nature and display Korea’s identity represented by the color white.

In a press conference at the Korean Cultural Service in Manhattan, New York on September 8, the Korean artist said, “I chose a running train as a new expression genre. I can communicate greatly through a moving medium, which will become a work of art in itself.”

A free discussion forum will be held inside the running train with panelists such as pianist Roh Yeong-sim and novelist Shin Kyeong-suk.

Meanwhile, artist Jeon Su-cheon expressed regret over an installation art titled “Wolincheongangjigok” in the Arizona desert that he had to give up because of a lack of funding despite some financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Committee on Cultural Projects for the 60th Anniversary of Independence and other companies.

Cheon was awarded a special prize at the Venice Biennale in 1995. The installation artist came up with a plan for this project in 1993 and has been trying to go ahead with the project since 2000. However, he was forced to put off the project two times due to financial shortages and eventually put the prolonged plan into practice this year.

Yi-Young Cho lycho@donga.com