Review
Ha Chong-Hyun
April 20 – August 27, 2022
Istituzione Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa – Palazetto Tito, 2826 Dorsoduro, Venice
These paintings need not much description; they need to be seen. Ha Chong-Hyun’s works constitute a most original part of art history.
The artist trained as a painter in postwar Korea and soon became part of the aspiring art scene of the country’s reconstruction period. Between 1969-1973 he was an active member of AG (Avant-Garde Association) and experimented with space, moving the canvas beyond the 2-dimensional by incorporating materials such as plaster, timber, barbed wire or newspaper. His Conjunction-series ‘turned the canvas around’ by employing the so-called bae-ap-bub-technique, invented by Ha himself, pressing oil paint through the back of coarse canvas. The various examples in the exhibition are a concentrated explosion of colour and emotion.
The exhibition presents works from the early 1960s to the present day, giving a concise yet emblematic view of the Ha’s oeuvre, its subjects, development, and constant reconsideration. The paintings dating from 2022 show an artist sure in his gesture and artistic language but open and vibrant in its implementation.
Ha Chong-Hyun’s paintings are an expression of doing it differently, of progressing, surpassing the basic strands of art history. A study of material as well as of technique. An example of finding clarity through concentration and play.
This exhibition is a collaboration between Kukje Art and Culture Foundation with the support of La Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice; Kukje Gallery, Seoul; and Tina Kim Gallery, New York.