Chung Sanghwa

each signed in Hanja and English, titled in Hanja and dated 2005 on the reverse, framed

Galerie Beyeler, Basel
Gallery Hyundai, Seoul
Private Asian Collection

Switzerland, Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Poetry in Motion, 12 June 2007 – 15 September 2007

This work is in generally good condition. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
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Abstracting Light
Chung Sanghwa

“The vogue of Abstract Art is becoming the goal of world trends; not only is this not a time for us to sit deep in our ivory towers, but more than anyone else, now that our Eastern tradition of painting is fading, we must fall into pace with times and progress.”¹ Such were the words of Kim Ki-chang, a Korean ink painter who was commenting on the development of Korean art in the mid-fifties. Although the artist identifies the growing impact of Abstract Art in the global art sphere, Kim espouses a view that sees Eastern traditions as a waning force, when in reality, its influence and investigation was to become the heart of an entire contemporary Korean artistic development: Dansaekhwa, or “Monochrome Painting”, explored extensively by a group of artists from the fifties onwards. One such artist was Chung Sanghwa, whose contemplative and meticulous works are rapidly gaining traction on the world stage. On offer in the present sale is Untitled 05-2-14 and 05-7-15 (Lot 1052), a diptych showcasing the full extent of Chung’s development as an artist.

 

Chung was born in 1932 in South Korea, and spent various years abroad, moving between Japan and France from the sixties to the nineties, before settling down permanently in his home. His works being internationally well-received, have been exhibited in various countries, such as at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne Metropole in France. His oeuvre is one that is deeply meditative, a quiet and unassuming tour-de-force that unfurls to reveal complex lattices, in equal parts mesmerising and calming. Chung’s is an art form that necessarily commands a viewer’s attention, anticipating a two-way “encounter” rather than a mere glimpsing. As art historian and critic Joan Kee observes, instead of presenting artwork that “passively transmits the artist’s intention to the equally passive viewer,” Dansaekhwa is “activated” upon its viewer’s “sustained engagement with the terms of its material and physical presence.”²  In many ways emblematic of the stylistic achievements of Dansaekhwa, that places emphasis on the physical nature of art itself, Chung’s pieces uses its arresting materiality to engage its viewer into a dialogue. They emit an energy which must be experienced, rather than simply be seen.

At the heart of Chung’s work is also a preoccupation with nature itself, a theme deeply rooted in Eastern aesthetics. Honorary Professor Kang Taehi at the Korea National University of Arts identifies three main components in the artist’s pieces, namely those of Terra (Earth), Tree and Water, and Light. The present piece, Untitled 05-2--14 and 05-7-15 is a work that embodies all three elements, all of which are fundamental to an understanding of Chung’s methodology and practice.

 

Chung’s starting point is earth, using kaolin, a type of clay, to create a first layer on his canvases, before paint is layered on. This “earth” becomes the ground upon which the artist performs his ritualistic magic, a labour-intensive method of repeatedly layering paint and peeling it off, then refilling the space, resulting in grid-like formations. Slowly, the “earth” will become indiscernible, although its essence will remain and Chung’s “faithful adherence to earth, the origin of all creation”³ fully felt.

 

Chung first started working on and producing pieces with fractal patterns and grid-like structures in the fifties, and further developed this concept after his long sojourn in Japan, and brief stay in France. Having been surrounded by talk of the Informel movement, the artist mused upon the materiality of canvas and paint, seeing the relation between the two akin to the moulding of sculptural works. Chung began to challenge the constraints of flat works, leaning more towards three-dimensionality, and thus injecting a new and exciting sculptural quality into his works. Gradually, the artist would swap primary colours for a monochromatic palette, and by 1973, the artist had all but abandoned formal “representation” in its traditional sense, and fully transitioned to abstraction. In spite of this however, although Chung’s pieces are not “representations” of nature per se, Kang believes that they are echoes of it, where “the lines forming the grid…[are] reminiscent of a growing branch of a tree or veins of a leaf, and the vast surface with uneven curves suggest fluid, circulating motions of flowing water.”⁴

 

Above all else, Kang maintains that Chung’s pieces emit light. Within even the most seemingly simple white coloured panel, exists a white of varying “whiteness”, the contents of each small grid slightly different to its neighbour, different in how matte it appears, or how flat. According to the artist himself, “Colour is very mysterious. Even [the] colour white has many different types. Whether Hanji (Traditional Korean paper) receives light, [is] shaded, or [gets] wet, they all show different colours.”⁵ The overall impression is that the work contains energy from within, its surface glowing outwards. The scholar Kang further states that these “various ripples of light suggests a galactic spectacle, and the grids born from earth and lived through the lives of trees and water ultimately transform into a ray of cosmic light.”⁶ Chung’s work is a culmination of time and space, of actions and experiences; a convergence of light upon a canvas.

 

The beautiful work Untitled 05-2--14 and 05-7-15 is a reflection of all three of these elements, but perhaps the harmony of earth, water, and light can be all the more felt through the colour palette of the diptych. While it would be easy to draw comparisons between Chung's monochromatic piece and Yves Klein's works featuring similar treatments, Chung's is a rich culmination of layering, showcasing a balance of natural elements capable of instilling in its viewer a sense of transcendence. With the “earth” forming the bottom layer of both pieces, the blue is immediately reminiscent of water, and the white brings to mind piercing light. When coupled, the diptych can be seen as an embodiment of Chung Sanghwa’s philosophy, and serves as a brilliant example of his monochromatic works. By extending existing Eastern aesthetics and challenging the confines of canvases, Chung has redefined what it means to be a Korean abstract artist, and has created a subtly magnificent oeuvre that reveals itself to be as stunning in person as it is fastidious in method. With his works often the results of months of labour, sometimes even a year, Chung Sanghwa reveals himself to be an artist who is a perfectionist, bar none. It thus comes as no surprise that he has more than solidified his position as one of the stars of Korean abstract art. 

1 Youngna Kim, Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea (USA: The Korea Foundation, 2005), p.26

2 Joan Kee, “Points, Lines, Encounters: The World According to Lee Ufan”, Oxford Art Journal 31.3, 2008, p.405

3 “From the Event Horizon: Light and Darkness in Chung Sang-Hwa’s Paintings”, Kang Taehi, Chung Sang Hwa, Gallery Hyundai, 2014

4 Refer to 3

5 Lóránd Hegyi, “Chung Sang-Hwa: On Time and Labour”, Chung Sang-Hwa, 2012, p.85

6 Refer to 3