Peak Period Conversation 68 Points, Drawing 21 Points Released
Until August 21 at Kukje Gallery
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] "When I paint mountains, I see winding paths within them, and that seems to be life itself, so various forms of life are hidden within the mountains in my paintings."
An exhibition highlighting the overall artistic world of Yoo Youngkuk (1916?2002), a pioneer of Korean abstract painting, is being held.
The International Gallery in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, is hosting Yoo Youngkuk's 20th anniversary exhibition, 'Colors of Yoo Youngkuk', until August 21. This exhibition encompasses Yoo Youngkuk's major works, showcasing 68 representative pieces and 21 drawings, focusing on his diverse color compositions and the trajectory of his formal experiments.
The exhibition focuses on the art-historical significance of works that present the essence of restrained formal aesthetics through intense primary colors and geometric compositions, inspired by mountains and nature. Notably, the exhibition is organized around the variations of color expressed throughout the artist's life and works, rather than a chronological arrangement.
Born in 1916 in Uljin, Gyeongbuk, Yoo Youngkuk entered abstract art through studying abroad at the Tokyo Bunka Gakuin in Japan. He returned to Korea in 1943, at the height of the Pacific War, and continued both his artistic activities and his livelihood as a shipowner and brewery manager.
In 1964, at the age of 48, Yoo Youngkuk finally became a full-time artist. As if making up for what he called his "lost time" of 20 years, he devoted himself to deeply expressing landscapes and the depths of the mind with overwhelming energy and bold figurative elements. The large-scale abstract works with mountain motifs produced during this period realize the pinnacle of abstract aesthetics through subtle color variations, the tension simmering within, and the resulting depth of the works.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, the artist sublimated his focus on the basic formal elements of point, line, plane, shape, and color into the tempo and rhythm of color and composition in his works. Centered on abstract forms that evoke the primal colors of nature as mental images, he completed his mid-to-late period works that are primal, narrative, and emit balanced energy.
This exhibition also reveals the artist's 1942 Gyeongju photo series, various drawings, and early archival materials, providing visitors with diverse information about Yoo Youngkuk's creative process. Visitors can see in one place the sketches that contain the artist’s continuously developed formal language and various experiments, as well as the results that embody his worldview of natural abstraction on various canvases.
In the late 1970s, Yoo Youngkuk, who repeatedly returned to life from the brink of death while wearing a pacemaker, never put down his brush. The lyrical paintings born from the artist’s long battle with illness metaphorically embody a perfect parallel state, radiating a warm light of life and reflecting it to the audience like an afterimage of color.
Meanwhile, the exhibition attracted attention when RM, leader of the group BTS, visited. Known as an art enthusiast, RM has shown affection by visiting Daegu Art Museum and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art to appreciate the artist’s works. It is also known that he owns an abstract painting of 'mountains' by the artist.
Professor Lee Yongwoo of the Department of Cultural History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who planned this exhibition, explained, "The exhibition focuses on the artist’s life ahead of his time and the variations of color. Especially meaningful is that this exhibition gathers and presents the artist’s masterpieces from his peak period in the late 1960s to the 1970s, highlighting green, navy blue, purple, and black."
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