Cho Duck Hyun
b. 1957, South KoreaCho Duck-Hyun has been described as a historical artist who uses photo-realistic drawing and installation, meditating on the nature of history as well as, according to Young Na Kim, to ‘reflect on the grief and joy found in the traces of these various lives’. His Memory of the 20th Century series, Genealogy series, and his excavation works demonstrate his engagement with history and archaeology. Cho collects vintage photographs which he reproduces on canvas. Rendered in rich conte crayon and charcoal, his portraits often use real fabric, allowing clothing to flow into the space of the viewer.
Cho Duck-Hyun inhabits a world in which traditional values are being rapidly supplanted by western, industrial values and this is reflected in his artmaking. He is part of a generation of younger Koreans who have inherited a painful legacy of political struggle and division while experiencing rapid and tumultuous change throughout their society. His artworks have been widely exhibited throughout Asia as well as Europe and the USA. By delving further into the more basic elements of human condition, his works have gained more abstract characteristics even as they contain strongly figurative elements. Duck-Hyun Cho provides an important direction to the way images and memory of the past are represented in contemporary art with his own ironic imagery.
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