The World of Hyu-yeol Ryu's Art Works

- Unlimited Expansion of the Plastic and Alchemy -

1. The Journey to the Painter

Ryu Hyu-yeol was born in 1949 as the third of eight children in Soseong-myeon, Jeongeup-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea. He grew in a mountain village, and learned the color sense through mountain landscape. After attending elementary school in the home until the third year, he moved to Jeonju with parents from the starting fourth grade and graduated from Pungnam elementary school. Although he never learned drawing picture before, his talent was recognized early thanks to awards in drawing picture.

Teacher, Im Hyeong-sun who led the art at the time (later working MBC) encouraged him to go the way of the painter and besides elementary school life record said his future was the painter,

From an early age, he did a lot of outdoor sketches alone. Also, he learned drawing picture formally in the drawing room, and drew picture in a manner of his own.

He had entered the North Middle School in Jeon-ju and began painting in earnest with the art department activities. Especially when he was a second year in middle school, he was asked to draw a picture on poetry from poet, Sin seok-jeong.(in charge of language class of Jeonju High School at the time ) and he involved in publishing, too. (‘Overture of mountain’ published in 1967)

Even when he was in high school, he always received the award in practical art skill competition and graduated from Yeong-seng high school. And in the following year 1969, he held private exhibition twice in cafe located in Jeon-ju city . He got a college degree in art in Jeonju University, and it was not until sixty years old that he got a master degree in Hongik University.

Especially from mid 1970s he had leaved teacher position and became a full-time writer. And He freighted inside his work frustration and confidence feeled in the U.S. Bank. 1975 was a special year to him. Ha ban-young in fifties, Park Min-pyeong in thirties, and Yu Hyu-yeol in twenties held triple exhibition.

Ryu hyu-yeol was an artist who kept up his work and overcame limitation of local art. In 1975, he made a sensation by exhibiting coffin to put a corpse as object at [Mulkko] exhibition which was the best avant-garde group in Jeonbuk. It showed dark situation of the Yushin regime.

After that, he crossed to New-york and began in earnest to study modren art. Then a hardship came to him. Althoguh he planned to work for a long time, he returned from abroad in two years because he worried about his eldest daughter. There were two daughter between him and his wife, Choi myeong-sun, and their eldest daughter died from acute renal feilure at the age of 12. He poured himself into the work because of grief from loss of his daughter. Later, his wife(english class of Wansan girl’s commercial high school) retired from her job and supported her husband very well using her severance pay in his private exhibition. In 2002, he held the private exhibition involving amount of works of art needed 8 trucks of 5 tons in Seoul Arts center and so it costs their arm and leg. But, the exhibition was a chance to imprint name of ‘Ryu Hu-yeol’ strongly among main painters breaking Jeonbuk bounds.

The private exhibition was the first time for him to launch into Seoul.(1986.11.22. - 1986.11.30, Arcosmo Art Center). However, there were exceptions. One was he won special selection by Jungangilbo and another was he worked abroad. Except for these cases, he worked mainly in Jeonju and won 6 special selections.

Moakjae which was the cradle of his work took root at the foot of Moak mountain. He invited artists, musicians, poets, newspaper reporters, journalists, entrepreneurs, many art club members, friends and so on. He named it ‘open house’. He practiced the concept that ‘The art is created when art and culture of each section was mixed’ by ‘open house’.

He cultivated in all groups of arts, Korean classical music labled the ‘tradition’ and fused all genres involving painting, modeling, installation and so on.

It’s difficult to differentiate world of his work. Because he showed unique inclination different from modern art which has consistent and expanding concept and we could not consider world of his work as one factor.

2. The Experience in Paris and New York

Time in Paris and New York to Yu Hyu-yeol was given a great sense as a turning point. Especially after he returned Paris, his works were held in Paris, his work took a dramatic turn. Without using the methodology that accurately reproduced the shape, selecting the visual language was unconventional. He said that daily discarded things also could be an art work when we placed artistic significances, having affection for them.

For example, it is irregular shape coloring with a saw to cut the plywood and figurative objects that sometimes concrete images of objects appeared sporadically. So the resulting shapes gave the impression of irregular and wonderful mystery.

It was a collection of randomly cut forms to make it really feel [intentional mess]. They were objects which standed out informal individuality.

In his works, you can see that they contained resistance awareness of the pretenses of South Korea with an emphasis on ready-made frames and keeping face.

3. The Pursuit of Traditional Formativeness

Life, Plat/ car paint on aluminum, oil painting/180✕300/2010

Ryu Hyu-yeol has been trying to combine tradition and modernity. Unity which appears in his work is represented in such person or natural products boldly omitted and modified when viewed in its content.

Starting from the 1980s, the thesis of the work, [Life-Play], shows that our traditional ‘play spirit’ lies on the root of his thought. [Life and Play] tells the world of reality. Therefore, they need to be connected to reality and recognizable, and there are things only capable of expressing any hope that comes from real life. So, his [Life-Play] heads for beautiful world which can communicate and peaceful world which pure people who live in together. Figurative feature of [Life-Play] is spreading-out. It spreads out infinitely from shape and look of the characters rooted in figure.

4. Concretness and Element of Informel

Unique matiere and all over painting elements with screen of informel were derived from the results of maturation, according to his pictorial ripening. There are the proper arrangement of lines, colors, faces and variety of matiere. As sprinkling, spilling, covering paints, he reproduces some scenes representationally or non-representationally. As a result, paint particles with spots and touches together create thick depth of materials.

His production method has led us to the world freely imagined by configurative autonomy. This method works as a keyword showing his unique world of works.

Another keyword to decipher the pictures is a superposition of colors.

Rhythm of curves laid out with a dynamic touch on the texture of the paint firmly settled produce a lot of tension. You can feel the agility and speed from boldness of brush and knife and segmented touches with coexisting with colors, textures, and lines.

Danced Pudotdoengo/oil painting/130✕89/2003 

The water solubility of thin acryl and thin fat solubility of thick oil paint achieve a contrast respectively, and his work shows the purified spirit world as a whole despite two properties from two contrary textures.

5. Danced Pudotdeon

There are art series, [Danced Pudotdoengo( ’Call, Pudotdoengo’ in traditional korean poem of civilian Sin Hum in the mid-2000s in Joseon) which meant singing a song and easing themselves], which raised in earnest ‘aluminum plate’ as a material of representational area. These series are especially impressive. [Danced Pudotdoengo] series can be defined as a series of producing a framework for smooth transition in his painting career.

He relatively inclined to abstract atmosphere and did not completely leave objective images. Also, [Danced Pudotdoengo] may be implied by a journey to visit the prototype of Korean traditional dance he said. Therefore, study in focus of korean traditional dance says it is like our self-portrait passed down from agricultural society involving spirits and sharing emotions.

The Encounter of Straight Line and Curve/automotive paint on aluminum/123✕180/2012

The [Danced Pudotdoengo] is not only poem written by body, but also culmination of beauty which laid the improvisation of dance in the ground and sublimated resentment.

6. The Study for New Materials-aluminum

Despite his aluminum series are made very innovative methods in technical aspects, above all, they are interesting in that he used the light for changeable material. With cutting or craving aluminum plates, he made an image or maximized its own property of material.

Rhythm/automotive paint/260✕195/2005 

This creates a space that sculpture and painting are overlapped at the same time, and this means coexistence and difference of them.

A process that finds characteristics of other many medias without sticking one material and selects materials is an advantage that only the his painting to find the difference from the other artists may have.

Danced Pudotdoengo/aluminum, traditional korean paper, automotive paint/2012 

7. Yul, Kongl, Encounter of Straight Line and Curve, Rhythm, and Light - Abstractness

Although [Yul] series intended to reveal the aesthetic playfulness, in fact all of these mean morphologically self-awareness, eternal time in aspect of innate rhythm, whether intended or not.

[Kong] has followed the tradition of intellectual history of the East. It is not defined as one sentence ‘This is what,’ but concepts and thoughts that have vitality providing many explanations and understandings.

Therefore, he finds the essential questions of the pain of life in the process of clearing colors, trace of actions one by one and emptying mind.

8. Overall Trends Embracing the Solid and Plane etc. - Korean Traditional Paper, Solid, Installation

He exceed the limits of modernism by embracing painting, sculpture, plane, solid and even molding, installation. His works coexist with the pluralistic property on modernism, tradition, innovation, content, formulistic reduction and expansion. If his paintings have more orderly regularity and mildness, three-dimensional art works have atypical and chaotic power.

The installation works represent three-dimensional effect by matiere effect using korean traditional paper, acryl, ink, aluminum and consist of many stories and many exciting stories, and philosophical contents.

9. Epilogue

He is reconstructing another nature with his own self-contained language, and traditional symbolism is ever-changing and enriched by continued research and experiment. Korean typical model I feel when meeting artist Ryu Hyu-yeol originats from the recognition that its own consciousness rooted in tradition revolves through a new geometric language in his works.

2013. 12

Kim Seon-tae(art critic, professor in Yewon Art University)

edition and translation: Jeonju Cultural Foundation

Hyu-Yeol Ryu (柳休烈)

• Birth in Jeong-eup in 1949

• Graduation in Education of Art of Jeonju University

• Graduation Graduate School of Art of Hongik University (majoring in Painting)

Solo Exhibitions

2012

• Hyu-Yeol Ryu Solo Exhibition (KBS Jeonju Headquarters)

2011

• Hyu-Yeol Ryu Solo Exhibition (Gallary Gongyou, Jeonju)

• 2011 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

• Hyu-Yeol Ryu Solo Exhibition (Insa Art Center, Seoul)

• Korean Art Show 2011 (New York)

2010

• 2010 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

2009

• 2009 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

• Korea Galleries Art Fair-Busan (Exhibition Hall 3, BEXCO in Busan)

2008

• 2008 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

• KIAF 2008 Korea International Art Fair (COEX-Indian Hall)

2007

• 2007 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

• Hyu-Yeol Ryu Solo Exhibition (Seoul Tong-in Art Gallery)

2006

• 2006 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

2005

• 2005 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

2004

• Kwang-ju Shinsegae Gallery (Kwang-ju)

• 2004 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

2003

• Almond Tree Gallery (Seoul), Jeonbuk Art Hall (Jeonju)

• Korean Mission to the U.N Gallery (New Yo가)

2002

• 2002 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

• Amano Gallery (Osaka)

• Gallery H.O.T (Osaka)

• National Museum of Contemporary Art, Osaka (Osaka)

2001

•2001 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

2000

The Cultural Space, Mo-ak Art Exhibition in Earl Gallery (Jeonju)

1998

• 1998 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

1997

• NICAF Tokyo International Art Fair (Tokyo International Exhibition)

• 1997 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

1996

• Korea Galleries Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

• Space of Sam-yang Culture (Jeonju)

• Amano Gallery (Osaka)

• 1996 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

1995

• 1995 MANIF Seoul International Art Fair (Seoul Arts Center)

• MAC 2000 (PARIS)

1994

• Jung Gallery and Space of Culture, Mo-ac Art Exhibition (Jeonju)

• Amano Gallery (Osaka)

1993

• Gong Pyeong Art Center (Seoul)

• Earl Gallery, Daesung Gallery (Jeonju)

1992

• Amano Gallery (Osaka)

1991

• Kumho Gallery (Seoul)

• Amano Gallery (Osaka)

1990

• Gallery 2000 (Seoul)

• Amano Gallery (Osaka)

1988

• Earl Gallery (Jeonju)

1987

• Amano Gallery (Osaka)

1986

• Arcosmo Gallery (Seoul)

1985

• Greenich House (New York)

1984

• Core Department Store Gallery (Jeonju)

1983

• Jeonbuk Art Center (Jeonju)

1982

• Keumha Museum

• Grambiher (Paris)

Etc.

• Over 300 entries in the team competition

Awards

• Awarding a special prize in BELGO International Picture Show (RUBENS Prize)

• Awarding the prize for the best author in Institute of Art Critics

• Awarding a grand prize in MANIF Seoul International Art Fair in 1997

• Awarding the Mok-jung Culture Prize

• Awarding a grand prize in Jeonbuk Daily News

Institution Holding His Works

• National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea

• Art Bank of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea

• Seoul Museum of Art

• Bu-san Museum of Art

• Gwangju Museum of Art

• Jeon-buk Museum of Art

• Ho-am Museum of Art

• Kum-ho museum of Art