YUN HYONG-KEUN

Yun is often considered to be one of the most celebrated Korean Dansaekhwa artists in the global art world today. Most recently in January 2017, Yun’s solo exhibition at the prestigious David Zwirner Gallery in New York ended in great success. In addition to this, a major retrospective exhibition of the artist has been confirmed to take place next year at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul, which will run through August to December 2018. Such cases indicate Yun’s growing stature as one of the most significant figures that represent Korean Dansaekhwa both locally and internationally.

On view at the exhibition space of PKM+, Yun’s hanji series illustrate the ultimate elegance of Korean artistic beauty. With his bold division of space on hanji while filling up the composition with calligraphic brushwork using oil pigment that resembles the medium of traditional Korean ink, Yun’s exquisite artistic productions reveal the distinctive yet authentic nature of hanji.

Yun considered hanji, the traditional Korean paper handmade from mulberry trees, as a unique medium that distinguishes itself from raw canvas, cotton or linen, and not as a subordinate medium to replace them. The artist strongly believed that this was the most pertinent method of which he could truly express his inherent artistry to visualize the sublime beauty of Korean art. This was part of his self-developed artistic experimentation as a way to materialize the essence of what is defined today as ‘Dansaekhwa’.

This exhibition provides an invaluable opportunity to experience Yun’s important hanji works from the periods of the 1970s to the 1980s, of which the artist had successfully established his own signature style.