Suh Yongsun was born in Seoul and graduated from the Department
of Painting at Seoul National University, where he also completed an MFA in
Western Painting. He taught at the Department of Western Painting, College of
Fine Arts, Seoul National University from 1986 to 2008, and served as a
visiting professor at the Hamburg International Academy of Fine Arts in 2001.
After being selected as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s
Artist of the Year in 2009, he left academia to work as a full-time artist.
The jury convened twice to review ten
mid-career artists recommended by the steering committee. In the first round,
the criteria for the award were shared and the candidates were narrowed down to
five. The second round involved an in-depth verification of materials. The
focus of the evaluation was clear: which artist, here and now, is intensely
continuing their work for the future to come?
The laureate, Suh Yongsun, has
demonstrated explosive artistic activity since entering his fifties. In 2008,
he resigned from his professorship at Seoul National University and chose the
path of a full-time painter, breaking away from the chronic ‘premature aging’
phenomenon prevalent in the Korean art world.
Like a student of art once again, Suh
became an ‘artist in action,’ traveling tirelessly with renewed physical and
mental vigor to historical sites across Korea as well as cities in both East
and West. While embracing a wide spectrum of subjects without prejudice, he
displayed remarkable drive and persistence, approaching questions of human
existence with bulldozer-like determination.
Suh Yongsun’s work may well be described
as a ‘repository of history’ that summons the memories of human life. Within
this repository, antagonistic relationships across time and space—self and
other, past and present, East and West, local and global, humanity and
nature—seem to meet in harmony. From urban and natural landscapes he excavates
historical truth anew, and upon myth and history he projects contemporary
realities.
Even as he confronts reality with intensity, he never relinquishes
the essence of form; while employing bold and rough visual language, he retains
a tense commitment to content. Each painting, project, and exhibition is
enveloped in a dense ‘humanistic web.’ In the jagged, staggering lines and
colors, and in the baroque irregular gaps and margins, we experience the
dynamic energy of a work that feels ‘alive.’ The jury highly valued both the
artistic achievements he has steadfastly drawn forth and his future potential.
▷ The winner receives a prize of 10
million KRW and a plaque. The award ceremony and a commemorative special
exhibition will be held together on November 6 at the Chosun Ilbo Art Museum in
Gwanghwamun, Seoul.
