In the Buddhist temple, you can easily see a moktak. But, do you know how it is been made?

Actually I didn’t know that even after I had read the manuscript 'Magical sound of a moktak’. I knew how moktak looked like, and how it sounded. However I didn't know what type of wood and tools do monks use to carve it. So, when I first started drawing, I was really at a loss.

After asking all around, I visited a moktak master artisan who had been living in Geochang. The story of making moktak was far more interesting than what I've thought. To make a moktak, we need old roots of an apricot tree. Fresh roots are not usable because there is too much sap inside it. For three years, it should be buried in the mud to let out the sap. This is just a beginning. After three years of waiting, the tree roots need to be salted, steamed, and dried. Finally, it can be utilized as a material of a moktak.

To make a moktak, the tree is cut in blocks, shaved using ax-like tool called ‘ja-gyui’ and bored holes with knife. Only the moktak master artisan with years of experience can carve out a moktak that has a lucid echo. Though a moktak has a simple shape and sound, its producing process is complicated and time-consuming.

‘Magical sound of moktak’ is a story about an old and deaf Buddhist Monk. Even though he cannot hear any sounds, he steadily carves moktaks with a pleasant mind. At the first time I thought the story indicated ‘stuck with one thin g, then it leads you to success.’ Cause if you exactly know what to do, success is just a matter of time and patience. I know how to draw, I know how to print a woodblock. So I simply started drawing passionately without thinking too much. Unexpectedly, the drawing of ‘Magical sound of moktak’ took more time and effort because the amount of the prints I had to work on increased. Furthermore, the work time lengthened like the afternoon shadows. How should I express the deaf monk in the wordless drawing? And what about the emotion I feel when I hear the sound of moktak? It wasn’t easy to see the endless prints I had to work on, and the mounting prints I’d messed up. The ruined prints seemed like a meaningless waste of time. As I tried to do well, more prints were under my satisfaction.

What I was concerned most was the scene of ‘deaf Buddhist monk’. Personally, I wanted this scene to become a main theme, so I composed my painting in many different ways. And there were some concerns like ‘how about using more colors in this important scene, even though the other scenes were painted with only four colors’, or ‘as the other scenes are monotonous, will it be better if ‘calm’ is expressed in more multifarious and diversified way in this scene?’

But, the more pictures I paint and the more things I want to express, the higher barriers I make. I feel as locked up inside of the wall where I can go out just by opening the door. One day, I concerned about my piece as usual, the idea of the scene came across my mind when I was in my way to atelier listening to the babbling of brook. The appearance from behind of Buddhist monk in black oval looks neither happy nor unhappy. He just goes his way in his life. I used only 3 colors in this scene unlike the others, it lacks for nothing, and it is a flawless in itself. It was obsession with doing well and right from wrong that ruined everything.

 As an apricot tree with resin can become a ‘Moktak’ making brilliant sound only after draining off resin and plowed out, isn’t it same the work of Buddhist monk making ‘Moktak’? Even though it is not in the story, I became understand the mind of Buddhist monk who make Moktak restlessly with great pleasure by making this ‘Magical Sound of a Moktak’. And I can understand dimly why the sound of Moktak is so mysterious.

  I’m really thankful for Han Seung-won and Lee Sang-hee who wrote this story, other member of Borim Publisher who gave me a chance to draw these pictures, and finally my lovely family and friends who supported me with warm heart.

I will make this Nami Concours as my rock which can help me to cheer up whenever I feel arduous. I will do my endeavor to make wonderful pictures and books with attitude like an empty Moktak, and become more modest and sincere.