“Tasting Art is quite simple!

'The Cho (a specially blended liquid, based on a special Korean traditional vinegar, used as an art-device)’ will be provided to the audience (applicant) for an extraordinary tasting experience for ‘just once’ : there is no way to acquire ‘The Cho’ after the first experience.

There is no need to wonder about how to understand the art:

How can you understand the Tasting-Art more clearly then by actually tasting it?”

He provides a 'once in a life time tasting exhibition' for the audience to experience the Taste of Satori: the moment of speechless and mindless state of consciousness.

It is to experience a glimpse of your True Nature through the once in a lifetime tasting experience.

         The Cho proto type 2-1

'The Cho' is based on a Korean authentic craft vinegar matured in traditional way which the artist used for a medical reason after he experienced a serious accident.

However, during the years of recovery, he came to realize that ‘Awakening in Consciousness’ does not necessarily require a spiritual commitment or personal sacrifice but can be attained through other ways of life such as Taste.  He also recognized that Taste, as well as Vision, can be an effective Trans-Art devices to show us a way into another dimension of consciousness where our true nature is indwelling.

Therefore, he decided to introduce Tasting-Art: 'The Cho'.

After his critical realization on the Art of Tasting, the artist customized a limited amount of 'The Cho' and aged them for years according to the traditional maturing method, for the purposes of the Tasting-Art exhibition.

He transformed 'The Cho' into a Tasting Art device.

약식동원 (Yack Sic Dong Won) :

In Korea, we have a long tradition of a ‘cultural food philosophy’ which regards food as same as being the medicine.

'The Cho' is a specially blended liquid based on ‘Cho’-a Korean authentic craft vinegar.

The artist's mother hand-crafted ‘Cho’ and matured it in a traditional way according to the family recipe preserved for generations, in order to help her son to recover from the injury and physical disorder caused by the critical accident, which will not be discussed in detail here.

Thus, it has a great personal significance to the artist. ; The Cho is based on a product of his mother’s years of sacrifice as well as a symbol of unconditional love and devotion.

He had to go on taking ‘Cho’ compounding it with everything that he eat and drink.

During the recovery, by giving up most of his personal preferences (including drinking, smoking as well as most of his dietary habits) and after surrendering his tendency towards pleasure, the artist discovered another dimension to Taste.

He came to realize that Art and Taste may share the same quality of showing a pathway into another dimension of consciousness beyond the workings of your Ego (beyond the mental algorithm of the thinking mind where our true nature is indwelling), if your state of consciousness is highly elevated.

He wanted to express the multi-dimensional nature of Taste in his painting and tried very hard, but was unable to succeed.

Watching the Taste,  Seeing the Taste,  Showing the Taste

As he was about to give up on visualizing the Taste in his paintings, suddenly, he came to realize that the best way of showing the taste is by literally showing the Taste.

A Korean expression refers to the act of tasting food as ‘Seeing the Taste’ or ‘Watching the Taste’ as well as 'Showing the Taste'. [맛보다, 맛을 보여주다]

He decided to use ‘The Cho’ directly to express the ‘Taste of Speechless and mindless state of Consciousness’ by providing ‘The Cho’ to the audiences in order for them to actually experience what he discovered:

A glimpse of Satori - a Taste of enlightening and awakening your true nature.

After the recovery of his health, the artist customized a limited amount of 'The Cho' just for the Tasting-Art exhibition. He aged it for a long time, according to the traditional method, in order to express the quintessence of Tasting-Art - it became the elaborated form of Trans-Art with the element of ‘FUN’ supplemented in it.

By using ‘The Cho’ as an artistic device, the artist attempts to express a "Glimpse of Satori: the taste of your ‘True Nature’" by providing a once in a life time Tasting experience.

                   The Cho proto type 3-2

It is not possible to discover your true nature by searching for it; just as an eye cannot visualize itself by looking for it.  

But it is possible to have a glimpse of your True Nature.

True Nature is what is left of you when your mind (reactive thinking process) is subsided from your consciousness.

It is impossible to actually remove your mind structure unless you are fully awakened to the existential quantum leap, but it is possible to have a glimpse of the Trans-Ego state of awareness through the speechless (hence, mindless) Tasting-Art experience, even for a split second.

The artist attempts to elevate your consciousness by providing you an 'only once in a life time chance' to experience an extraordinary Tasting-Art dish that can lead you to the moment of speechless (hence, mindless) state of consciousness.

By the full concentration of your consciousness on what happens in your Tasting-Art experience, you might discover what you are when your consciousness is undisturbed by the Ego (reactive and repetitive process of the thinking mind which inevitably tends to analyze, to compare, to label and to make conclusions) after experiencing the transformational-taste, even for a just a moment.

Trans-Art (including Tasting-Art) can show us a path into the origin of art where the art-inspirations are generated from, thereby showing the origin of our consciousness: the original state of being before 'the composition of Ego-mind' assumed the possession of our consciousness. That liberated state of consciousness is our true nature and it is also the origin of the Trans-Art works where the formless inspirations and the light of creational sparks originated from.