Venice exhibition highlights Korean contemporary artist Ha Chong-hyun
Coinciding with the Venice Biennale 2022, a retrospective of Korean contemporary artist Ha Chong-hyun is on display at Palazzetto Tito, a historical palace located in Dorsoduro, southeastern Venice. The exhibit includes rarely-seen early paintings with creative experimentation from the renowned 86-year-old artist.
The retrospective is a collateral event of the 59th Venice Biennale and is held jointly by La Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, the Seoul-based Kukje Gallery and the New York-based Tina Kim Gallery.
The exhibition, under the curatorial direction of renowned curator Kim Sun-jung, aims to shed light on Ha’s 60-year career. Ha is one of the few pioneers of abstract art in Korea, and is known as a leading member of the “dansaekhwa” movement -- the first contemporary art trend in Korea after the country’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. “Dansaekhwa” refers to monochrome painting.
It is not surprising that Kim has selected works from the artist’s signature “Conjunction” series that he has stubbornly pursued since the early 1970s. Interestingly, the curator also highlighted the little-known path of an artist who was at the forefront of Korea’s contemporary art scene with the 1967-1968 “Naissance” series, which highlights traditional elements. Also included is the avant-garde 1967 painting “White Paper on Urban Planning,” which addresses urbanization and the changing physical landscape of Seoul.
In particular, “White Paper on Urban Planning” touches on the radical transformation that South Korea went through during the 1960s under the autocratic rule of President Park Chung-hee from 1961 to 1979.
"In ‘White Paper on Urban Planning,’ the upper half of the canvas is flat, but the lower half is literally folded, physically wrinkled like waves. The folds allude to the forced compression associated with the rapid urbanization and industrialization of Korea,” Kim explained.
Kim’s special tie with Ha dates back to 1993, when she first came to the Venice Biennale and saw his art at the small exhibition allocated to the Italian Pavilion at the 45th Venice Biennale - two years before the Korean Pavilion was established in 1995 at the 46th Venice Biennale.
At this year’s Biennale, two Koreans -- Ha and Hanji artist Chun Kwan-young -- are featured in the Biennale’s collateral exhibitions, taking place alongside the prestigious contemporary art event. Read More…
