Park Seo-Bo

écriture

etichetta con impressione a incavo, base plastifica lucida

18 ARTWORKS IMAGE GALLERY 18 10 Ecriture No. 000000

200 | 8mixed media with korean paper on canvas 165 x 260 cm

ARTWORKS IMAGE GALLERY 19

Ecriture No.160119 2016 | Mixed Media with Korean Hanji paper on canvas 55 x 40cm

ÉCRITURE

EDITED BY ROSA MARIA FALVO TEXTS BY LEE JIN JOO AND ROSA MARIA FALVO

Park Seo-Bo was born in 1931, in Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, South Korea, as part of a generation that was deeply affected by the Korean War (1950–1953). While in Paris in 1961, he initially experimented with Western abstraction. Returning to Korea, he began exploring a more introspective methodology based on Taoist and Buddhist philosophies, as well as traditional Korean calligraphy. Park is best known for his “Écriture” series of paintings. Beginning in the late 1960s, this lifelong work encapsulates his deeply spiritual approach, which is inextricably linked to notions of time, space, and materiality. Park began his practice using recurrent pencil lines incised into a monochromatic freshly painted surface. He later developed this language by applying hanji (traditional Korean handmade mulberry paper), to the surface of his canvases. Along with very precise introductions of color, this transformed his practice while continuing his quest for achieving “emptiness” through a meticulous process of reduction.

Beautifully showcased in this seminal book, Park’s masterworks embody the core philosophy of contemplative mark-making. Evoking the natural landscapes and scenery of his motherland, Park’s keen sensibility for colors, shapes, and textures traces the memories of his childhood through to his invaluable artistic and educational legacies for Korea.

Rosa Maria Falvo is an acclaimed writer, editor, and curator, specializing in Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern contemporary art, based in Melbourne and Milan. Lee Jin Joo is an award-winning writer and essayist in Korea, and former news reporter who has published several books on education, literature, media, science, and feminism.

360 pages, 9S x 11S” 300 color and b/w illustrations HC w/slipcase: 97-8-88-9183317-4 $135.00 Can: $180.00 UK: £96.50 April 5, 2022 Rights: World English RIZZOLI