1979-83
Contemporary South Korean art became a focus of international attention in the 1970s with a group of monochrome paintings showing a kinship to Minimal Art. Park is the artist to represent that trend. In this work, scratches made seemingly without calculation but actually according to a pattern cover the whole painting, partly overlapping one another. Like other works in his "Ecriture" series, it makes us see in its stoic and flat appearance not a Minimalistic expressionless surface but rather the artist at work and marking the painting with innumerable lines. Indeed, he has likened his working process to art practiced as a form of spiritual training, as noble literary figures of old did in painting orchids in india ink. He says that his aim is to elevate himself through repeating the act of painting and ultimately to reach the state without all attachments and become one with nature. In the orderly repetition of delicate scratched lines, we read, not the forceful gestures or unrestrained expression we find in some other works, but a serenity of spirit deriving from a life in harmony with nature corresponding to the concept of "Resonance" revered in Eastern painting.
1931-
Genre | Paintings |
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Material/technique | Oil on cloth |
Dimensions | 193.8×258.5cm |
Acquisition date | 1983 |
Accession number | 1975-00-0581-000 |