Dansaekhwa master Park Seo-bo's little-known personal life revealed in two new books
Two years after his death, two books on dansaekhwa master Park Seo-bo have been published in English and Korean. They shed light not only on Park the artist, but on Park the father and husband as well.
Graphic novel “Park Seo-bo” and biography “In the Words of Park Seo-bo,” released as a set by leading art publisher Skira, explore the master’s artistic career and his lesser-known personal life.
“In the Words of Park Seo-bo” is written based on manuscripts written by the late artist himself and traces his artistic life and journey as an artist until the early 1980s. The book, edited by Park Seung-ho, the artist's son, who also heads the Park Seo-bo Foundation, starts with the first episode, “I am Ninety,” about the large-scale retrospective entitled “The Untiring Endeavorer" held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in 2019.
“Before you met me, you may have heard rumors that I am like the ‘Horned Goblin.’ Well, I shaved off (the horns) this morning,” the artist writes, recalling what he said at the press conference on the opening of his retrospective, conscious of people's preconception of him as an eccentric.
“I took off my fedora and patted myself on the head, a friendly gesture. The atmosphere relaxed a bit,” he noted.
“It is true that in 1956, my ‘Ban-Kukjeon Manifesto’ signaled the beginning of the Contemporary Art Movement in Korea, and that around that time I took part in uncommon events like ‘goblins’ would. However, those who labeled me with that nickname were people who fiercely defended their vested interests in the National Art Exhibition, or Kukjeon,” the book continues.
The other book, “Park Seo-bo,” was written by Choi Jin-ho, a storyteller and acclaimed graphic novel artist in the field of science. It re-creates Park’s life from his childhood to his final moments in 2023 like a panorama of a human life.
The cartoon shows how Park pursued his artistic career, entering Hongik University in 1950, just before the Korean War, and how he met his life-long partner and supporter, his wife Yoon Myung-sook, also an art student at Hongik University.
The graphic novel ends with scenes of the artist's last moments at the hospital, just before closing his eyes for one last time, calling his studio with his wife's help: "I need to work the moment I arrive. Prep the canvas."
“Assessments of Park Seo-bo have been divided both during his lifetime and after his passing. This book, however, invites readers to discover the side of him that may have been missed. Seen as a whole rather than in fragments, a person cannot be blindly adored or indiscriminately despised — a realization that underscores the very reason for this book’s existence,” director Park noted in a press release on the publication of the two books.
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