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| This is one of the new San-shin icons created by Horae for his 1998 exhibition. It follows traditional but uncommon motifs, and the result is entirely fresh. The tiger is as surreal as any, with that "retarded" look Horae loved. The San-shin is a yonger female, very rare. She wears a white Korean han-bok instead of Chinese royal robes; her hair is held up with a gold pin but sports no crown. She rides on the tiger in the Shamanist style. She holds a huge mature ginseng [insam] root, not only a symbol of health and longevity but also of "male-ness", granting this icon a Daoist theme of yin-yang [eum-yang] balance. There is no Pine-tree depicted, which breaks with historical tradition. |
| NEXT: An excellent article by Lauren Deutsch, L.A.-based writer and friend of Korea, entitled "New Roads to the Old Spirits: Dr. Zo Zayong's 'Old Village' Movement". |
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| More of the "New" San-shin Icons that Zo Zayong Painted Himself, based on his collection of antiques and his own ideas |
| In this one, San-shin is bald with only a "Cloud-Cap" on the back of his head, like a Buddhist monk or a Daoist adept. He crouches casually, petting his surreal tiger's lepord-spotted head. He holds the common white-crane-feather fan. There is no background at all, as if it were a statue. |
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| This one is actually an exact copy of the 19th-Cen painting in the Main Hall of the great Jik-ji-sa Temple in Kimcheon City. Note the leaf-mantle on the boy-dongja. |
| This one has a very Daoist character: San-shin as a comfortable retired gentleman, enjoying his devotion to the Way of Nature and Longevity. |
| These are both quite unusual and Shamanic -- on the left San-shin wears a Mudang's hat, and on the right he is a miniature figure riding the tiger, like a Korean Leprachaun. |