PARK SEO-BO

First developed in 1967, ‘Ecriture’ is an ongoing series of monochromes in which Park covers his canvas with a single colour and manipulates the still-wet surface with repetitive, carving gestures—actions that resemble the writing of a script. While in earlier works he used a pencil or stylus to create these repetitive marks, beginning in the 1980s he introduced Hanji paper into the series, layering and scraping the pulp on the wet surface to create a unique sequence of sculptural lines that seem to float on top of the canvas. The resulting relief paintings stimulate the viewer’s perception, evoking architectural space and the phenomenology of seeing. Art historian Alexandra Munroe has characterised this work as embodying an ‘ecstatic minimalism.’ In the early 2000s Park expanded his neutral pallet and began using vibrant colours in his works influenced by the grandeur of nature.

Park Seo-Bo has been widely celebrated throughout his career for championing Korean art, and was awarded the Artist of the Year prize from the Korean Fine Arts Association in 2008 and the Silver Crown Cultural Medal in Korea in 2011. His work has been exhibited internationally, including the Venice Biennale (2015, 1988), Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2014), Busan Museum of Art (2010), Portland Museum of Art, Oregon (2010), Singapore Art Museum (2008), Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2007), The Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai (1993), Tate Liverpool (1992), Brooklyn Museum, New York (1981), and Expo ‘67, Montreal (1967). His work is included in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, M+, Hong Kong, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, amongst others.

Courtesy Tina Kim Gallery