Artist Geun-Taek Yoo, on his private exhibition ‘Breath of Life’ at The Korea Society Gallery in New York.
2016-07-25 l Hit 3316
Interview
Artist Geun-Taek Yoo, on his private exhibition ‘Breath of Life’ at The Korea Society Gallery in New York.
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Oriental painter Geun-Taek Yoo is holding his solo exhibition until September 6th at The Korean Society Gallery in Manhattan, New York and it is receiving a lot of attention. The exhibition is being hosted by Donghwa Cultural Foundation and The Korea Society. The show opened on June 29th and the title is ‘Breath of Life.’ The artist has been translating the scenery of everyday life into oriental paintings and now is in the position to introduce the beauty of his contemporary oriental paintings to a Western audience.
 ‘Some Dinner’, 2007, Black ink and white powder on Korean paper, 206 x 193cm |
The artist explained, “This exhibition is meaningful, since I was able to install my work and feel the reactions from viewers in New York. The show gives me the opportunity to look at my work from new perspectives. I met local critics and people in the art world at the opening, and they are very interested in my work. A critic named Robert Morgan commented that the medium and color lend a unique feeling to my art.”
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Eleven of his pieces, created between 2008 and 2014, are displayed in the exhibition hall, including ‘Dinner.’ In accordance with the title of the exhibition, ‘Breath of Life’, his landscapes that are captured from daily life create certain rhythms of their own.
He explained, “In order to fit the title ’Breath of Life’, I selected and exhibited work such as ‘Blooming Room’, which depicts blooming flowers in a room and ‘Growing Room’, which portrays an interior combined with a landscape. I felt that ‘Breath of Life’ was an appropriate title for the exhibition.”
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Recently, artist Geun-Taek Yoo moved into a new studio and is preparing a large-scale solo exhibition, which will be held later this year in Japan. The exhibition will be held at Tama Art University in Japan on September 24th.
On this topic, he divulged his expectations by saying, “I will open my large-scale solo exhibition at Tama Art University Museum and use the whole museum. It could be considered a retrospective exhibition. I am also very curious about what the reactions will be from people in the Japanese art scene.”
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The artist has been reflecting on daily life in his work with oriental materials and exposed his willingness to continue his work that constantly questions life through landscape paintings.
“My paintings are changing steadily, but the change is not special. My attitude towards the work is to constantly question the elements of a landscape painting. I will continue to agonize over finding ways to mesh the structure of life with the structure of art within the system of landscape painting.”
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Artist Geun-Taek Yoo earned a BFA and an MFA in Oriental Painting at Hongik University and is constantly creating oriental paintings with contemporary tastes. He was awarded the ‘Today’s Young Artist Award,’ established by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as the ‘Suk Nam Cultural Foundation Award,’ and is working as a professor at Sungshin Women’s University.
Written by Hyo-won Kim, a journalist at Sportsseoul, eggroll88@hanmail.net
Photographed by artist Geun-Taek Yoo
2016. 7. 29 ⓒKorean Artist Project
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