SUH SE OK – PEOPLE
2021-08-23Suh’s People series is an expression of the essence of the human race through subjects that he discovered through many years of meditation. With only a few brushstrokes of ink, Suh delivered messages of liberty and peacefulness to viewers.
Influenced by his father, who was a scholar and independence activist, Suh Se Ok became well-versed in calligraphy and poetry at an early age. In 1946, however, Suh abandoned his pursuit of a literary career in favor of one in fine art, joining the Arts Department of Seoul National University–the first art academy in Korea–as a member of its inaugural class. While still a student Suh won the Prime Minister’s Prize at the 1st National Art Exhibition in 1949. Suh belongs to the first generation of artists who lived through the tumultuous Japanese colonial period and ideological confrontation during the Korean War. Impacted by this, Suh responded at his own pace to the demands of the time, including the removal of vestiges of Japanese imperialism and trends in local art scenes that absorbed influences from the West in the late 1950s. He began experimenting with abstract ink painting by reinterpreting elements of Muninhwa, the literati painting proactively embraced as part of leisure activities and meditation among intellectuals. In 1960, he formed the Mukrimhoe, or Ink Forest Society, a group that signalled the start of experiments with abstract ink painting by blending the technique of literati painting and methodology of Informel, as well as contributed to the modernization of traditional oriental painting.
Opposite – Person, 2000s
Exhibition runs through to September 18th, 2021
Lehmann Maupin
74-18, Yulgok-ro 3-gil, Jongno-gu
Seoul
South Korea
