"Fierce Battle with Gunny Sacks and Paint: 87-Year-Old Painter Experimenting for 60 Years"

Monochrome Master Ha Jonghyun Solo Exhibition
At International Gallery Seoul Until Next Month 13... Retrospective in Venice in April

Hajonghyun_Conjunction 21-38. Photo by Kukje Gallery

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] “Do you feel the pressure? The world, you see, seems to be made by pressure. Pressure is what separates this world from that world.” Novelist Park Mingyu explains in ‘Deep’ that the imperceptible pressure is the criterion that divides the world. The invisible weight of air is stronger than the force exerted by a 1kg mass on a 1cm area. Yet humans cannot feel that pressure.

Master of Dansaekhwa (monochrome painting) Ha Chong-Hyun (87) is an explorer who has been investigating the existence of imperceptible pressure for 60 years. He is a scientist who proves a powerful force that is invisible but certainly exists through materiality on burlap sacks rather than on canvas. He says, “I have been fighting with burlap my whole life.”

Ha’s solo exhibition 'Ha Chong-Hyun' opened on the 15th at the International Gallery in Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu. In this exhibition, the artist presents over 40 works including the existing monochrome ‘Conjunction’ series, the multicolored ‘Conjunction’ series, and the new ‘Post-Conjunction’ series.

Ha, who devised the back-pressure technique (Baeapyub) of applying thick paint on coarse hemp cloth and pushing it through to the front side of the fabric, sublimated it into his own unique method and has been devoted to conjunction works applying this technique since the 1970s. He said, “After the Korean War ended, I was attending university in Seoul, but canvas and paint were expensive, so after much thought, I came up with burlap. I bought it piece by piece at Namdaemun Market and have been engaged in a persistent battle ever since.”

Exhibition hall view of Ha Jonghyun's solo exhibition. Photo by Kukje Gallery

Unlike stiff canvas, Ha applied thick paint on the back of the soft, loose burlap to fix it, and focused on the patterns created by the paint seeping through the large gaps. In times when rice was scarce, burlap sacks used for relief supplies were reborn as new canvases at the artist’s fingertips. The resulting ‘Conjunction’ series is a record of the artist’s arduous journey, capturing latent emotions and summoning them into paintings through relentless labor.

The new multicolored conjunction works, which go beyond the elegant lines and colors reminiscent of white porcelain or roof tiles, are newly varied by brushstrokes on the back of the hemp cloth reappearing as bright colors on the front. Ha, who dislikes staying still in one place, said with a smile, “My works change with each era. When my works started to sell well, I tried different approaches and created works that didn’t sell.”

Since 2010, the artist’s new ‘Post-Conjunction’ series reconstructs the surface in color and form by applying the back-pressure technique. He cuts wooden plywood of a certain size into thin strips, wraps each piece with canvas cloth painted with ink or paint, lightly squeezes oil paint on the wooden pieces, and then stacks other pieces on top. The paint seeps between the pieces due to pressure, and the artist maximizes rhythm through scratching or overpainting on top. His attempt to embody invisible pressure three-dimensionally like sculptures through materiality is read as an endless human challenge to the infinite possibilities of painting.

Artist Hajonghyun. Photo by International Gallery

Ha said, “In pursuit of change, you pass through gravel fields and waterfalls, but I take pride in that journey of change,” and confessed, “I used to want my works to sell well, but now I’m afraid they might scatter if they sell too well.” He added, “I have been doing new things all my life, but now I think it’s time to tie up loose ends and organize. I want to create a place to gather and show the traces I left and the works I painted with sweat.”

Ha, who is preparing for a retrospective at the Venice Biennale in April, will hold solo exhibitions consecutively at Blum & Poe Gallery in Los Angeles in September and at Almine Rech Gallery in Paris next year. This exhibition runs until the 13th of next month.

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