NYAB Event - Oh Sufan Exhibition

Oh Sufan Exhibition

Gana Art Gallery

This event has ended.

Gana Art New York presents its upcoming exhibition of Korean artist, Oh Sufan. On view from July 8 – July 30 the show will be comprised of a selection of oil on canvas works. This will be the artist's first U.S. solo exhibition in 18 years.
Oh Sufan is known for his bold abstract paintings, where two distinct cultures meet and come together to form an important dialogue. Oh's Eastern calligraphic style is inflected by Western Surrealism, Art Informel and Abstract Expressionism, as he forges his own distinctive emotional and philosophical style at once deeply rooted in Korean culture, yet open to both Western influence and interpretation.
Strongly foregrounded by bright monochromatic backgrounds, Oh's black brush strokes on bold color fields evoke what Seoul National University art professor Chung Young-Mok describes as "a physical rhythm of a shaman's sword and the five traditional Korean colors found on a shaman's robe in an exorcism ritual." The canvas of Oh's work stages a strong surface tension, rich in texture and layers of thick brushstrokes. Art critic John Russell Taylor salutes Oh as "a connoisseur of color, using it often sparingly, with the greatest refinement and discretion, which nevertheless do not by any means preclude the bold effect."
Unfettered freedom is central to all of Oh Sufan's variations, as the artist strives to express an ethical vision that goes beyond earthly desires of a chaotic world. His strokes, lines and choice of colors seek to express the deeper reality of the unconscious. Oh delights in the immediacy of both expression and response. The energy and emotion of his paintings reside in the communion of meaning between the artist and his audience. Recognition, the uncanny feeling of something finally seen and understood, is both the ideal and philosophy underlying Oh's oeuvre.
Oh Sufan was born in 1946 and lives and works in Seoul. He received his B.F.A. from Seoul National University and is a professor of Fine Art at Seoul Women's University. He has had solo exhibitions at Gallery Maeght, Barcelona; Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya; Galerie Gana Beabourg , Paris; Thomas Segel Gallery, Boston and Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm among other venues. His work is in the collections of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka and Hoam Museum, Seoul.