Artist Ha Chong-hyun / Courtesy of Asian Art Museum
Korean artist Ha Chong-hyun, celebrated as a pioneer of Dansaekhwa, or monochrome painting, yet defying artistic boundaries, is set to take center stage at the Asian Art Museum (AAM) in San Francisco, a key art institution dedicated to Asian art and culture, in September.
The exhibition, "Ha Chong-hyun: Retrospective," will bring together some 50 paintings, including works created as recently as this year, highlighting Ha's artistic trajectory over the past 60 years.
Born in 1935, he graduated from Hongik University, majoring in fine art. He later served as a professor there for over 30 years and worked as dean of the school's fine arts department from 1990-94. He assumed the directorship of the Seoul Museum of Art from 2001 to 2006.
The artist, 90, is best known for his signature "Conjunction" series, where he forces thick oil paint through the back of coarse canvas, leaving textured traces on the front — a process that emphasizes the material itself and fuses physical labor with abstract expression.
"Being labeled a Dansaekhwa master does not do him justice," said Lee So-young, the Barbara Bass Bakar director and CEO, at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday.
"His diverse body of work and remarkable career deserve far greater attention," she said, adding "The upcoming exhibition is a meaningful step in that direction."
Ha Chong-hyun speaks at a press conference at Kukje Gallery in Seoul, Feb. 15, 2022. Yonhap
The exhibition will also span Ha's early 1960s informal works, where he prioritized materiality over the act of painting itself, experimenting with paper, paint and mixed media, through to his bold avant-garde pieces of the 1970s.
She also noted that the exhibition, Ha's first museum exhibition in North America, arrives at a particularly significant moment, as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Seoul and San Francisco.
Source: Korea Times News
