As the act of drawing requires tools yet rejects their full utilitarian motives, the act of carving petroglyphs does not solely aim for utility. Per Jean-Luc Nancy’s interpretation, this act toward the self is rendered from the other–marking the step toward existence. With the invention of paint, we turned to paintbrushes as tools for drawing. And recently, iPad drawings and Photoshop editing have emerged as extensions of these brushes. From petroglyphs to iPad drawings, can we consider processes that involve technologies and machines as extensions of the hand, art? Giorgio Agamben interpreted techne from an existential viewpoint and believed its philosophy as encompassing not only crafts but such acts as poetry. Hence, we must revisit petroglyphs to rethink this question. Beyond the obvious purpose of artistic creation, the act of drawing were traces of humans interacting with the world. Here, the boundary between technology and art is blurred. Drawings on iPads and Photoshop were not intended solely for artistic creation. As such, we can interpret these inventions as other forms of interaction. Consequently, we may understand Gyomyung Shin and his use of technology in Machina Sapiens and Mixed Gaze within this context. 

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How can we compare Shin’s act of drawing to the general act of drawing itself? Substituting his hands, the artist utilizes machines by feeding language of encoded data. In his 2023 solo exhibition at ROY GALLERY Apgujeong, Mixed Gaze, Shin demonstrated this process and worked through his artificial intelligence robot “Lee Il-O”. As the artist blends machinery and technology into his work, attention naturally shifts to the interplay between art and technology. Crucial to this process is perceiving oneself through the other that technology facilitates. Through the hand, the brush that it holds, and coded commands to visually interpret individual bioinformatics, how much of that output still resembles the self? Unlike landscape or imagery, visual perception of the self is closely linked to such allegories of the cave and stories of Narcissus and delves into questions of existence. In Greek mythology, Narcissus blinded by love for his own reflection drowns in the pool in his self-obsession. The process of equating essence and image is at the core of Shin’s exploration in Mixed Gaze. Here, the tool (“Lee Il-O”) as an extension of the individual renders the self as the other–exploring age-old questions of existence.