91-Year-Old Ha Chong-Hyun Turns Painting Inside Out
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- Ha Chong-Hyun, now 91, pioneered the 'back-pressure method' (bae-ap-bub) in the early 1970s by stretching hemp cloth and pushing oil paint through it from behind, manipulating it with handmade tools on the front
- Lisson Gallery in London will exhibit a decades-spanning selection of Ha's work from September 24 to November 7, opening the day before his first North American museum retrospective at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco
- Ha is recognized as part of the Dansaekhwa ('monochrome painting') movement alongside Lee Ufan and Park Seo-Bo—a term retrospectively coined in the 2000s for 1970s artists characterized by spare simplicity of color and material
- Ha's use of hemp as a support began out of postwar necessity: conventional art supplies were hard to obtain after the Korean war, and coarse sacks that had carried foreign grain and relief supplies were among the materials available
- Born in 1935 in Sancheong during the Japanese occupation, Ha lost his grandmother and a young sibling in a violent storm at sea while returning to Korea after liberation in 1945
- Ha titles every work 'Conjunction' followed by date numbers, and since around 2010 has expanded his palette with brighter reds and blues, occasionally holding a flame to the surface to singe the paint
Why it matters: The London show (September 24–November 7) paired with the San Francisco retrospective gives Ha, at 91, his first major North American institutional recognition—a milestone for the Dansaekhwa movement, which only received its name retrospectively in the 2000s despite originating in the 1970s and now commands international gallery representation through dealers like Lisson.
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