Press Release
Park Seo-Bo
March 26th (sat) – May 7th (sat), 2022
Tokyo Gallery+BTAP｜Tokyo
Tokyo Gallery + BTAP is pleased to announce “Park Seo-Bo”, our seventh exhibition with Park Seo-Bo from March
26 to May 7.
Park Seo-Bo is a pioneering figure in contemporary Korean art known for his leading role in the Dansaekhwa(monochrome painting) movement. Born in 1931 in Yecheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea, Park completed his studies
at the Department of Painting, College of Fine Arts at Hong-Ik University, in 1954. The artist has developed
monochrome line drawings and a style that maximizes the texture of hanji, or Korean paper. Park participated in Five
Hinsek ‘White’: Five Korean Artists (1975, Tokyo Gallery), a group exhibition presenting the works today
acknowledged as the origin of the Dansaekhwa movement, and has held six solo exhibitions at Tokyo Gallery sincethen. This exhibition presents a total of 17 works: 15 paintings from the late-Écriture phase and two drawings.
Park’s Écriture series may be divided into three phases of different techniques: early-Écriture, characterized by pencilline drawings in the late 1960s and after; mid-Écriture, in which Park began using hanji in the 1980s and 1990s; andlate-Écriture, since 2000. Displayed in this exhibition are works of late-Écriture, also known as color-Écriture for its
vividly colored pictorial surface and three-dimensionality of vertical lines repeated across wet hanji.
The late-Écriture was inspired by Park’s visit to Mount Bandai in Fukushima during his stay in Japan for his solo
exhibition in autumn 2000. He recalls that the autumn colors he viewed from the mountaintop, constantly shifting fromthe wind blowing from various directions, were like “a surging fire.” Mesmerized by the colors of nature, Park
embarked on the late-Écriture phase. The monochromatic pictorial surface implies assimilation into nature, conveying
a message of solace and kindness that transcends the ages.
Park Seo-Bo’s artworks is housed in the collections of Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Guggenheim Museum (NewYork), Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (UAE), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, and M+ (HongKong). The bibliography on the artist includes: Park Seo-Bo: from Avant-Garde to Ecriture (Kate Lim, Singapore:
BooksActually, 2014), and Park Seo-Bo (Lee JinJoo, New York: Rizzoli, forthcoming April 2022). In 2021, Park wasawarded the Geumgwan (Gold Crown) Order of Cultural Merit in recognition of his contribution to the Korean artfield. In April this year, an exhibition featuring Park’s work is scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Venice
Biennale. A museum dedicated to the artist is currently under construction in his hometown of Yecheon,
Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Along with this exhibition, Tokyo Gallery will publish a catalog with reviews by art critics Toshiaki Minemura andKate Lim this June. We look forward to your visit.

＜Ecriture No.140112＞ (2014) Mixed media with Koean paper Hanji on canvas、130 × 200 cm＜Ecriture No.090725＞ (2009) Mixed media with Koean paper Hanji on canvas、80 × 100 cm

Press inquiries: Kayo Suzuki
E-mail: info@tokyo-gallery.com / website: www.tokyo-gallery.com
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Closed｜Sun, Mon, Holidays

Tokyo Gallery+BTAP｜Tokyo
7F, 8-10-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL: 03-3571-1808 / FAX: 03-3571-7689
www.tokyo-gallery.com