[Gallery Walk] Taking a Step Back... Now You Can See

Jamonbak Art Museum Project Part 1
At Gana Art Center Until the 28th of Next Month
Exhibition of Works by Yoo Youngkuk, Kim Changyeol, and Others
Artists Who Heated Up the Auction Market at the Start of the New Year

Yeo Young-guk, work, 1964, oil on canvas, 138x196cm.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] "Art must be honest. That is why I like abstraction. I paint based on what I feel in places I know well and can always run to. I am purely doing abstract work with nature as my subject."

While admiring the 1964 work ‘work’ by Korean abstract art pioneer Yoo Youngkuk (1916?2002), currently exhibited at the Gana Art Center in Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul, I also noticed this phrase written on the wall. At a time when I was at a loss about how to understand the painting due to its characteristic ambiguity and abstraction, this phrase helped me guess that the artist was expressing nature. It was not nature directly transferred onto the canvas, but nature internalized by the artist that was poured out onto the canvas.

Turning my gaze back to the painting, an image of a wide hill covered with silver grass taller than a person’s height came to mind. I felt a strange sensation as if I had entered the artist’s inner world.

At the same venue, you can also see ‘Return’ by the recently deceased ‘Water Drop’ painter Kim Changyeol (1929?2021). Some works use rough burlap instead of canvas, and when viewed up close, the water drops appear distorted. However, stepping back a few paces, the three-dimensionality of the water drops comes alive, making them feel vivid like freshly fallen dew. Around the water drops, Chinese characters arranged without meaning add an oriental aesthetic. It is said that the artist’s nostalgia for learning the Thousand Character Classic from his grandfather in childhood is reflected here. The artist once said, "The act of painting water drops is an act of dissolving everything into the water drop and transparently returning it to nothingness (mu)."

The works of these two masters also heated up the first major art auction market of the new year recently. Yoo Youngkuk’s 1989 work ‘work’ set the highest bid at 730 million won at the K Auction. Kim Changyeol’s 1983 work ‘Water Drop SH84002’ started at 50 million won and was eventually sold for 150 million won. It is not appropriate to evaluate an artist’s work by price. However, price also reflects public preference and affection for the artist and their work.

Kim Chang-yeol, Regression, 2013, Oil on canvas, 80.5x117cm

The exhibition hall also displays several sculptures by veteran sculptor Choi Jongtae (89). In contrast to the dynamic muscular male figures and physical beauty often seen in ancient Greek sculptures, the simple and humble face of an East Asian woman draws attention. Made of dark bluish bronze, it conveys heaviness and coldness. The exhibition space is decorated somewhat darkly, and loneliness and melancholy emanate from the expressions of the sculptures. "In the past, whenever I made a face, it always looked sad, but these days that seems to have flown away. Even I think it looks like a comfortable mother," said Choi in a past interview.

The Gana Cultural Foundation continues the ‘Jamunbak Art Museum Project Part 1’ exhibition at the Gana Art Center until the 28th of next month. You can see works by 12 masters of the domestic cultural and artistic world in one place. From March 5, Part 2 of the exhibition introducing another 12 artists will begin. ‘Jamunbak’ refers to neighborhoods outside Jahamun, including Gugidong, Buamdong, Sinyeongdong, Pyeongchangdong, and Hongjidong in Jongno-gu. This area is famous as a collective residential area for cultural artists such as painters, sculptors, novelists, and architects.

The Gana Cultural Foundation, together with the Jamunbak Cultural Forum and Jongno-gu Office, is also promoting the establishment of a ‘Memorial Art Museum’ that utilizes the homes of artists located in Jamunbak as art (archive) museums, and a ‘museum’ representing masters of modern and contemporary Korean art on public land in Jongno-gu. Furthermore, plans are being considered to utilize artist studios located in Jamunbak as cultural heritage such as museums in the future.

Choi Jong-tae, face

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.