Background
Se-Ok Suh was born in 1929, in Daegu, Taegu-jikhalsi, Republic of Korea.
College of Arts of the Seoul National University
Se-Ok Suh was born in 1929, in Daegu, Taegu-jikhalsi, Republic of Korea.
Suh graduated from the College of Arts of the Seoul National University.
Following his graduation, Suh Se-ok became an artist pursuing modernistic and independent formative world by a wonderful illustration of the strengths of the colorless pale Indian ink and the empty and marginal spaces of oriental ink-and-wash paint in the lyrical abstract realm of the oriental paintings. His representative works include "Seolhwayijang" and "People handling the sun."
Se-Ok Suh received wide range of art awards in Korea and participated in numerous overseas exhibitions including such the 7th São Paulo Biennale in 1963, the exhibition of Korean Arts in Malaysia in 1966, The 1st Modern Painting Biennale in Italy in 1969, Exhibition of Korean Arts in France in 1967 and the 1st Cannes Painting Festival in 1969. He also participated in the regular general assembly of The International Association of Art held in Tokyo, Japan in 1966 as the representative of Korea and traveled widely throughout the art circle of North America and Europe.
Suh’s abstract, almost austere works of traditional Chinese ink on mulberry paper are incisive sketches of human society, which were represented in the exhibition through an ongoing series entitled “People” that he has been creating since the 1990s. Though conceived out of days-worth of reflection, the works are executed in a single substantial stroke, for which the artist handles, with great effort, a massive brush half as long as his height down across a large sheet of mulberry paper. The resultants are a repetition of simple figures, which are Suh’s symbol for human beings and rendered with fascinating variation in terms of thickness, tone and size.
Suh reduces his paintings to archetypes as he deprives his figures of any superficial details, such as colors or techniques that characterize other abstract movements — namely that of Abstract Expressionism.
Suh is the founder of the art group called Mungnimhoe.
Se-Ok Suh's son, Do-ho Suh, is also a representative modern artist of South Korea and is currently active in the world stage with permanent residence in New York City.
