Yeo Un (1947-2013) graduated from the Department of Painting at Hongik University in 1969 and earned an M.A. at the same university in 1974. He held solo exhibitions including 《Yeo Un》 (Seoul Art Gallery, Seoul, 1976), 《Yeo Un》 (Geurimmadang Min, Seoul, 1989), 《Black Drawing》 (Artside Gallery, Seoul, 2006), 《2007 Korean Art Scene and Verification》 (Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, 2007), and 《The Retrospective Exhibition: The Soul of National Spirit, Yeo Un》 (Insa Art Center, Seoul, 2014). He participated in group exhibitions such as 《Korean Representative Poets》 (Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul, 1996) and 《Peace Art Festival 2009》 (Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art, Jeju, 2009). Yeo was selected for the 18th National Art Exhibition in 1969 and the 19th National Art Exhibition of the Republic of Korea (Gukjeon) in 1970 and won a grand prize in the Western Painting Division at the first Korean Art Grand Award Exhibition in 1970.
Yeo Un received the attention of the South Korean art community when he won an achievement award for his 〈Component Ecology-4〉, a Western Modernism work, at the first Korean Art Grand Award Exhibition in 1970. In the 1980s, he introduced paintings with enhanced figurative forms, borrowing from folk paintings and shamanistic motifs, and explored the original forms of Korean culture while using various approaches and materials. Because he actively participated in criticizing contemporary social issues, he founded the Korean People’s Artists Association (Minjok Yesulga Chongyeonhap) in 1985 with Kim Yoon-soo, Shin Hak Cheul, Oh Yoon, Kim Yong-tae, Joo Jae Hwan, and Min Joung-ki. Since the 2000s, he has presented a variety of works, such as the landscape painting series 〈Black Drawing〉 using materials including charcoal, conte, and oil pastel on top of hanji (Korean traditional paper) or cloth. Through drawing works that have returned to the fundamentals of art, he paints landscapes in abstract and psychological atmosphere, similar to ink-and-wash landscape paintings. His art, however, is firmly rooted in current everyday life and experience, given that Yeo Un’s landscape paintings did not just deal with anonymous natural scenes but landscapes related to Korea’s historical and political contexts.
