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Lot Essay
"People say my current work is similar to minimal art, but I don't agree. My work is more related to the oriental tradition and its spiritual concept of space. I am more interested in space from the point of view of nature. Even though my paintings may represent an idea about culture, the main focus is always based on nature. In other works, I want to reduce the idea and emotion in my work, to express my interest in space from the point of view of nature. Then I want to reduce that-to create pure emptiness. This has been an old value that still exists in oriental philosophy where nature and men are one. This tendency is evident in my work from the 1970s and 1980s-not just in recent years."
- Park Seo-Bo
Born in 1931, Park Seo-Bo is one of the most important artists for Dansaekhwa, the Korean monochrome painting movement which dominated the local art scene from the late 1960s throughout the 1970s. His input in liberating artists from institutional conservatism led him to be one of the major figures in establishing the movement. Despite visual resemblances to Western paintings such as American "Colour-Field" and "Minimalist" paintings, Dansaekhwa articulated a different logic to those of the West. Unlike Western paintings that focus on the formal elements, Dansaekhwa held great regard for the reflective nature and the meditative condition of traditional Asian literati paintings. The paintings also performed a role as a spiritual cleansing process for the artist through enhancing their self-awareness and self-negation in chorus, returning the artists closer to nature. It is a core of Park's claim that the act of making his work is not "paint" but "discipline". The intensity of Park's attentiveness is presented in tightly repetitive markings in Ecriture No. 206-85 (Writing No. 206-85), (Lot 52). Inspired by instinctive scribbling, Park resumed his noted series of Ecriture, Myobup in Korean in the late 1960s. The series has been continued so far over more than seven decades of his artistic career, evolving the profound depth and maturity in different mediums, colours and styles. In Korean Myobup refers to techniques and methods of depiction associated with the line in ink painting. Park's dramatic accumulations of lines in Ecriture No. 206-85 evoke the charm of eastern calligraphy. Eastern calligraphy was thought to reveal the universal life force of qi, transmitting the essence of our being, bringing unity between the artist and his true self. Analogous to its black and white characteristics, Park too, toys with the infinite aesthetics between these two colours. Weaving his monologue within the condensed spherical loops of the pencil, Park Seo-Bo lays bares his capacity in surpassing the medium by removing himself in every pencil stroke, emptying his soul to marvel within the infinity of the given space, allowing him to enter a transcendental experience.
Park's works have been extensively exhibited in Korea and abroad since the 1960s. Selected exhibitions venues include Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of History in Taipei, Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, and Tate Gallery Liverpool in Liverpool. He also participated in multiple international Biennales such as Paris, Sao Paulo, and Venice Biennale. His works can be found in the permanent collections of The Samsung Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of Art in Seoul, National Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Fukuoka Museum of Art in Fukuoka, among numerous others.
- Park Seo-Bo
Born in 1931, Park Seo-Bo is one of the most important artists for Dansaekhwa, the Korean monochrome painting movement which dominated the local art scene from the late 1960s throughout the 1970s. His input in liberating artists from institutional conservatism led him to be one of the major figures in establishing the movement. Despite visual resemblances to Western paintings such as American "Colour-Field" and "Minimalist" paintings, Dansaekhwa articulated a different logic to those of the West. Unlike Western paintings that focus on the formal elements, Dansaekhwa held great regard for the reflective nature and the meditative condition of traditional Asian literati paintings. The paintings also performed a role as a spiritual cleansing process for the artist through enhancing their self-awareness and self-negation in chorus, returning the artists closer to nature. It is a core of Park's claim that the act of making his work is not "paint" but "discipline". The intensity of Park's attentiveness is presented in tightly repetitive markings in Ecriture No. 206-85 (Writing No. 206-85), (Lot 52). Inspired by instinctive scribbling, Park resumed his noted series of Ecriture, Myobup in Korean in the late 1960s. The series has been continued so far over more than seven decades of his artistic career, evolving the profound depth and maturity in different mediums, colours and styles. In Korean Myobup refers to techniques and methods of depiction associated with the line in ink painting. Park's dramatic accumulations of lines in Ecriture No. 206-85 evoke the charm of eastern calligraphy. Eastern calligraphy was thought to reveal the universal life force of qi, transmitting the essence of our being, bringing unity between the artist and his true self. Analogous to its black and white characteristics, Park too, toys with the infinite aesthetics between these two colours. Weaving his monologue within the condensed spherical loops of the pencil, Park Seo-Bo lays bares his capacity in surpassing the medium by removing himself in every pencil stroke, emptying his soul to marvel within the infinity of the given space, allowing him to enter a transcendental experience.
Park's works have been extensively exhibited in Korea and abroad since the 1960s. Selected exhibitions venues include Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, the National Museum of History in Taipei, Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, and Tate Gallery Liverpool in Liverpool. He also participated in multiple international Biennales such as Paris, Sao Paulo, and Venice Biennale. His works can be found in the permanent collections of The Samsung Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of Art in Seoul, National Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Fukuoka Museum of Art in Fukuoka, among numerous others.