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Lot Essay
Yun Hyong-Keun is one of the most important artists of Dansaekhwa, the Korean monochrome art movement, which dominated the local art scene of Korea throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Along with Lee Ufan, one of the most internationally sought-after Korean artists, Yun is widely known for his simple yet highly meditative paintings, evoking the concept of nature in art, a core idea of traditional Asian ink painting.
Yun's work appears to be a part of nature, or even unified with nature, without any hint of artifice. His process of art displays a state of making and unmaking; the results bridge a character between made and unmade. Yun's ultimate philosophy of nature and art is the most significant element that differentiates his art from Western abstract painting which emphasizes the artificial process by the artist rather than affirming a harmony with nature. Yun finds most insight in the moments of being his most 'natural' self, unlike Western artists who pursue inspiration from unusual moment and energy. Yun aims to exclude anything artificial or compulsory from his art, which can risk appearing to be apart from nature. Yun uses great reserve when making his art, and tries not to force his own intentions onto the works. Lee Ufan recognised this quality from Yun's art, stating "Neither the brush nor the umber paint is a slave or tool used for expression."
Donald Judd, the leader of Western minimalism, was another artist who was fascinated by Yun's meditative painting. Judd was instantly mesmerised by his art when he met Yun during his visit to Korea for his exhibition in the early 1990s. He noticed a profound depth and spirit in nature from Yun's painting, which has a resemblance to the beauty of Korean traditional architecture that Judd had been captivated by for a long time.
Kim Whan-Ki, one of the most important pioneers in the history of Korean abstract painting and his father-in-law, was the most inspiring mentor to Yun, especially for the sense of materiality. As Kim gradually transited from using heavy texture to applying only a thin surface echoing Asian ink painting (Fig. 1), Yun's 1971 painting, Blue (Fig. 2) explicitly displays this transformation from the thick density of his early 1960s paintings to a diluted pigment completely absorbed into the canvas as if the paint was ink fading onto paper.
As early as 1973, Yun started experimenting with his signature colours of using two kinds of oil pigments as a symbolic depiction of the earth; Burnt Umber represents earth, and Light Ultramarine the ocean. As this 1975 masterpiece - Umber-Blue (Lot 51) - exemplifies, the unique mixture of two pigments allows a colour of great range and depth, which Yun preferred to call "the colour of rotted leaves." Opposed to the deliberate application of thick oil paint, this diluted thin paint naturally drives Yun to release any compulsive desire to control his material and invites nature to create various textures and a great range of absorbency. More importantly, this process allows Yun to add the concept of time into his painting. After the labour intensive process of the application of numerous layers of thinned paint, the canvas is placed upright to dry so that the element of nature and gravity can be involved in the process as the paint soaks into the raw canvas. The big body of deep brown colour paint produced by thick brushes disappears, marking its existence, evoking the ephemerality of time. The pulse of the artist is imbued in the thick brushstrokes, producing a sense of the rhythmic breathing of life itself, which acts as a medium to connect the painting with the world outside and with the viewer.
Yun's work appears to be a part of nature, or even unified with nature, without any hint of artifice. His process of art displays a state of making and unmaking; the results bridge a character between made and unmade. Yun's ultimate philosophy of nature and art is the most significant element that differentiates his art from Western abstract painting which emphasizes the artificial process by the artist rather than affirming a harmony with nature. Yun finds most insight in the moments of being his most 'natural' self, unlike Western artists who pursue inspiration from unusual moment and energy. Yun aims to exclude anything artificial or compulsory from his art, which can risk appearing to be apart from nature. Yun uses great reserve when making his art, and tries not to force his own intentions onto the works. Lee Ufan recognised this quality from Yun's art, stating "Neither the brush nor the umber paint is a slave or tool used for expression."
Donald Judd, the leader of Western minimalism, was another artist who was fascinated by Yun's meditative painting. Judd was instantly mesmerised by his art when he met Yun during his visit to Korea for his exhibition in the early 1990s. He noticed a profound depth and spirit in nature from Yun's painting, which has a resemblance to the beauty of Korean traditional architecture that Judd had been captivated by for a long time.
Kim Whan-Ki, one of the most important pioneers in the history of Korean abstract painting and his father-in-law, was the most inspiring mentor to Yun, especially for the sense of materiality. As Kim gradually transited from using heavy texture to applying only a thin surface echoing Asian ink painting (Fig. 1), Yun's 1971 painting, Blue (Fig. 2) explicitly displays this transformation from the thick density of his early 1960s paintings to a diluted pigment completely absorbed into the canvas as if the paint was ink fading onto paper.
As early as 1973, Yun started experimenting with his signature colours of using two kinds of oil pigments as a symbolic depiction of the earth; Burnt Umber represents earth, and Light Ultramarine the ocean. As this 1975 masterpiece - Umber-Blue (Lot 51) - exemplifies, the unique mixture of two pigments allows a colour of great range and depth, which Yun preferred to call "the colour of rotted leaves." Opposed to the deliberate application of thick oil paint, this diluted thin paint naturally drives Yun to release any compulsive desire to control his material and invites nature to create various textures and a great range of absorbency. More importantly, this process allows Yun to add the concept of time into his painting. After the labour intensive process of the application of numerous layers of thinned paint, the canvas is placed upright to dry so that the element of nature and gravity can be involved in the process as the paint soaks into the raw canvas. The big body of deep brown colour paint produced by thick brushes disappears, marking its existence, evoking the ephemerality of time. The pulse of the artist is imbued in the thick brushstrokes, producing a sense of the rhythmic breathing of life itself, which acts as a medium to connect the painting with the world outside and with the viewer.