SUH SEUNG-WON

For over 50 years, Suh Seung-Won has consistently pursued and visualized a theory he coined ‘Simultaneity. The artist has created paintings which their aesthetic roots are planted in Korean traditional culture and its spirit. Since 1962, when he showcased geometric abstract art for the first time with his own vocabulary of rigid geometric forms and bright palette, Suh has contributed to the development and globalization of Korean art as one of the founding members of Origin Group and A.G. (Avant-Garde Association) which provided a turning point in Korean art history.

‘Simultaneity’, a concept Suh Seung-Won has been persistently exploring, is defined as the simultaneous and balanced manifestation of the visible and invisible (in a state of enlightenment or nirvana), via the artist. Childhood memories of the color and form of hanok and the state of emptiness and its sentiments–white porcelain, chaekgeori, traditional door gratings, Hanji on windows, washing paddle to whiten laundries–continuously gets refined and intertwined, allowing all elements to subtly and aesthetically coexist within his canvases. Suh’s visual vocabulary transmits the essence of Korean traditional aesthetics and spirit in a contemporary context; it not only established a distinctive presence in the history of Korean contemporary art but also incorporates a sense of universality that everyone can relate to.

Suh Seung-Won: Simultaneity-No Limit aims to retrace the milestones over the course of the artist’s career, under the keyword ‘Simultaneity.’ The exhibition presents a comprehensive chronology contextualizing major developments in Suh’s works spanning his geometric abstract paintings from the 1960s and 1970s, characterized by the rectangular forms in neutral tones resting in the middle of the canvas, to recent works showing state of impassivity and silence achieved through the use of bright color palette and forms in their most reductive state. Moreover, the emphasis on drawings and prints that had been regarded as collateral artwork will provide a multifaceted approach to understanding Suh’s oeuvre. A hardcover art book with essays by art critic Yoon Jinsup and Sim Eunlog will be published during the exhibition.

Suh Seung-Won received his BFA and MFA in Painting at Hongik University, where he served as a professor for 33 years. One of the inaugural members of the Origin Group (1963), Korean Contemporary Printmakers Association (1967), and the A.G. (1969), Suh was invited to participate the 1975 exhibition Five Korean Artists, Five Kinds of White at the Tokyo Gallery and played a significant role in the advent and evolution of Korean avant-garde movement. He has held numerous exhibitions at prominent art institutions in Korea and abroad including National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon; Seoul Museum of Art; Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Galerie Perrotin, Paris; Tokyo Central Museum of Art; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo.

Suh participated in international art events such as São Paulo Biennale, Biennale des Jeunes Paris, Gwnagju Biennale, Busan Biennale. He was awarded the 5th Grand-Prix Korean Art Exhibition Grand Prize (hosted by Hankook Ilbo), the Korean Art Critics Association Best Artist Prize, and Oh Jiho Grand Prize (hosted by Gwangju City Hall). His works are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; The British Museum, London; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE; Mie Prefectural Museum of Art, Tsu, Japan; Shimonoseki City Art Museum, Japan.