"Capturing the Moment of Extinction"...The Blue-Hued Art Painted Over Dozens of Times

Jang Seungtaek's Solo Exhibition "Layered Painting: Almost Blue"
At Hakgojae Gallery Until May 17
Exploring the Essence of Existence and Perception Through Color

A large canvas, as tall as an adult, lies on the studio floor. Attached to a specially made device designed to evenly apply paint, there is a brush. Like a scraper, the brush is pulled across the canvas in one stroke from edge to edge to apply the paint. Pigments mixed with acrylic paint and a special medium are layered dozens of times. The key is to boldly pull the brush to maintain uniformity without the paint clumping. After waiting for the paint to dry, dozens of additional layers are applied. If a mistake occurs during the process of applying new colors, the work must be started over from the beginning. The color scheme is estimated roughly, but different colors react with each other, revealing unexpected hues. After a week of such work, a single piece is born.

Jang Seung-taek is photographed in front of his artwork displayed at Hakgojae Gallery in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Jang Seung-taek’s solo exhibition "Layered Painting: Almost Blue," presented at Hakgojae Gallery in Jongno, Seoul, consists of about 20 paintings created through this process. Jang Seung-taek, who has expanded the concept of color field painting by exploring the materiality and depth of color, presents in this exhibition a blue hue imbued with fear of extinction and mystery.

This exhibition is "the result of changes in thoughts and attitudes toward life." The artist said that as he reached his mid-60s, he increasingly thought about "extinction," and expressed such melancholy through blue tones. "From testimonies of near-death experiencers, I heard that memories pass like a panorama in the moment of death. I thought color could express that moment," he explained. "Just as life is the accumulation of fleeting emotions, I believed that joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure could be captured through color."

In fact, his works sometimes appear as if capturing a part of life’s panorama passing like a slideshow. The traces of time glimpsed through multiple layers of color evoke different memories for each viewer.

The artist deliberately chose blue but does not pursue monochrome painting alone, showing a cautious attitude toward the label "monochrome painter" sometimes used. Born in 1959 in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Jang Seung-taek graduated from the Department of Western Painting at Hongik University and the Painting Department at ?cole Nationale Sup?rieure des Arts D?coratifs in Paris. His works are held in collections including Hakgojae, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Seoul Museum of Art.

The exhibition runs from May 17 at Hakgojae Gallery in Jongno, Seoul.