Renowned dansaekhwa artist Park Seo-bo dies at 91

Park Seo-bo, one of Korea’s most renowned masters of dansaekhwa (Korean monochrome painting), died Saturday morning, according to a Chosun Ilbo exclusive. He was 91.

Park Seo-bo, 91-year-old master of the Korean abstract art scene, speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for his upcoming eponymous museum at the JW Marriott Jeju Resort and Spa in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on March 14, 2023. [GIZI FOUNDATION]

Park Seo-bo, one of Korea’s most renowned masters of dansaekhwa (Korean monochrome painting), died Saturday morning, according to a Chosun Ilbo exclusive. He was 91.

Earlier this year, Park announced on his Instagram that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and that he wanted to use the time he had left to paint.

“There’s still so much to do, and I wondered why I was being punished like this,” he said during a press conference back in March. “But I’m strong. I have a knack for accepting whatever comes my way. I decided to treat my cancer as a friend and to just live together with it.”

Park is a pillar when it comes to Korean modern art, particularly the dansaekhwa genre.

Ever since the 1970s, he had worked on his "Myobeob"paintings, or "Ecriture"in French, meaning “writing.” Myo in Korean means drawing and beob means method.

His works are centered on repetition, with countless pencil lines drawn over fresh paint brushed onto a canvas, then layering another coat of paint and redoing the process all over again. His work is associated with asceticism and introspection.

Park gained recognition for his achievements in the dansaekhwa scene, earning the Korean government’s Geumgwan (Gold Crown) Order of Cultural Merit, the highest honor among the cultural merit awards, in 2021.

He held solo exhibitions all over the world, and famous museums including MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the M+ in Hong Kong hold some of his works.

His eponymous museum, tentatively called the Park Seo-Bo Art Museum, is currently being built in Seogwipo, on the southern side of Jeju Island. It is scheduled to open to the public in the summer of 2024.

He is survived by his wife and three children. The funeral will be held at the Seoul National University Hospital’s Funeral Hall in Jongno District, central Seoul.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]