A pioneer of Korean abstract painting, Han Mook(1914-2016) made remarkable achievements in geometric abstraction and left a significant legacy in the history of Korean art. Han was born in Seoul, studied Western painting in Manchuria and Japan. After Han quit the position as an art professor, he moved to Paris, France in 1961 to pursue his experimental spirit and unique independent practice.

Han devoted his life to the creation of unique figurative language introspecting space-times and the root of life on the base of ideas derived from Eastern and Western philosophies. His painting is characterized by an exquisite fusion of brilliant primary colors and meticulous geometrical composition. He captured the infinite circulation of the cosmic energy in his canvas and constructed the futuristic space, boundlessly expanding and resonating out of the plane-surface. Such work reflects the manifestation of the artistic view, which seeks to express the truth of the invisible order and vitality behind phenomena, through fine art elements of the color, line and form.

This first posthumous exhibition of Han attempts to shed light on the artist’s overall accomplishments of his artistic oeuvre, and take a closer look at the essence of the artist’s pursuits. The exhibition is geographically classified into two periods, Seoul and Paris, and highlights changes of the artist’s oeuvre, starting with his figurative works from the 1950s to works that integrate space-times and dynamic geometric abstraction from the 1990s. In particular, the exhibition will examine the pure abstract work of the 1960s and print works of the 1970s, which became the basis of his geometric abstract works later on. The paper collages and works using paper brush and ink, which Han continued to produce after the 1980s, are interpreted as a transformed aspect of the artist’s later works. The drawings from the 1960s to 1990s, being introduced for the first time in Korea, also present a wider understanding of the artist’s art world. This exhibition offers a valuable opportunity through which to explore the spiritual world and artistic accomplishments which Han tried to reach.