KwangYup Cheon
b. 1958, Korean
KwangYup Cheon has been working on the theme of “dots” since 1990. In his <Omni> series, he puts paint on a plastic sheet paper perforated with small dots to a certain size, and then grinds the convexly protruding paint surface with sandpaper for dots to completely settle on the surface. On the screen where countless dots are gathered, distinctive rhythm and waves are created depending on the degree of clustering of dots from different layers.
The mid-1980s when KwangYup Cheon stayed for a master's degree at Pratt Institute in New York was a period of exploration of Abstract Expressionism for him. In the texture of the thick oil paints, he sensed the problem of perception arising from the relationship between the visual and tactile senses, and has been devoted to it. The irregularities created by the dots on his paintings disturb the visual and tactile senses and further emphasize the flatness of the canvas.
On the other hand, the small dots which KwangYup Cheon considers to be “fragments of consciousness” are directly connected to the artist's body and time and generate a meditative meaning. It takes a lot of time and effort to wait for the oil paint dried on the canvas, grind it with sandpaper and repeat the process again and again. The fundamental form of dots, monochromatic colors, and the artist's performative labor implies one of the directions for the new generation of Korean Monochrome.
