Chung Sang Hwa is an accomplished artist, who, through the profound simplicity, repetition and gestural emphasis placed on his works, has gained prominence on the world stage. The artist spent numerous years abroad, moving between Japan and France from 1969 to 1992, before settling down permanently in South Korea. The artist belonged to the Dansaekhwa movement, often referred to as “Korean monochrome painting”, that arose against the gloomy political reality brought about by the totalitarian Korean government and extreme poverty of the sixties and seventies, and as an alternative to the figurative styles championed by the State as a mouthpiece for political propaganda. The movement itself was thus inextricably linked to the founding of identity and the pursue of artistic freedom. In an attempt to create distinctly Korean artworks, Dansaekhwa artists delved into the roots and traditional principles of expression in search for a new identity, reconciling the past with their own personal artistic sensitivities and pioneering ideas. As such, inherent and integral to this artistic movement is the contemplation of the natural world that for millennia stemmed as a source of influence in Korean art. Moreover, Dansaekhwa artists adopted the colour white as a cultural base upon which to construct a new sense of collective identity. A ubiquitous colour of traditional Korean society, white was the colour of garments and porcelains such as the famous Moon Jar during the Confucian Joseon dynasty, and has been an indispensable colour in various ceremonial occasions and the cultivation of scholarly pursuits in Korea. Some scholars have likewise likened the importance placed on the colour white by Dansaekhwa artists to an “absence” of colour, symbolising perhaps the metaphoric “blank slate” upon which they would create their own artistic legacy. It is thus unsurprising that the first ever international exhibition of Dansaekhwa artists would be one entitled Five Korean Artists: Five Kinds of White, held at the Tokyo Gallery in 1975. Source: K Auction catalogue |
Chung Sang Hwa is an accomplished artist, who, through the profound simplicity, repetition and gestural emphasis placed on his works, has gained prominence on the world stage. The artist spent numerous years abroad, moving between Japan and France from 1969 to 1992, before settling down permanently in South Korea.
The artist belonged to the Dansaekhwa movement, often referred to as “Korean monochrome painting”, that arose against the gloomy political reality brought about by the totalitarian Korean government and extreme poverty of the sixties and seventies, and as an alternative to the figurative styles championed by the State as a mouthpiece for political propaganda. The movement itself was thus inextricably linked to the founding of identity and the pursue of artistic freedom.
In an attempt to create distinctly Korean artworks, Dansaekhwa artists delved into the roots and traditional principles of expression in search for a new identity, reconciling the past with their own personal artistic sensitivities and pioneering ideas. As such, inherent and integral to this artistic movement is the contemplation of the natural world that for millennia stemmed as a source of influence in Korean art.
Moreover, Dansaekhwa artists adopted the colour white as a cultural base upon which to construct a new sense of collective identity. A ubiquitous colour of traditional Korean society, white was the colour of garments and porcelains such as the famous Moon Jar during the Confucian Joseon dynasty, and has been an indispensable colour in various ceremonial occasions and the cultivation of scholarly pursuits in Korea. Some scholars have likewise likened the importance placed on the colour white by Dansaekhwa artists to an “absence” of colour, symbolising perhaps the metaphoric “blank slate” upon which they would create their own artistic legacy. It is thus unsurprising that the first ever international exhibition of Dansaekhwa artists would be one entitled Five Korean Artists: Five Kinds of White, held at the Tokyo Gallery in 1975.
Source: K Auction catalogue
