Overview
- The artist died on January 28 after a prolonged illness, as reported by multiple outlets.
- A key figure in Dansaekhwa, he developed labor-intensive monochrome surfaces using kaolin, folding, cracking, and peeling to form broken grids.
- His trajectory moved from postwar Art Informel to international exposure in the 1960s, including the Biennale de Paris in 1965 and the São Paulo Biennial in 1967.
- He lived in Kobe from 1969 to 1977, created his first monochrome grid paintings around 1973, then moved to France in 1977 and returned to Korea in 1992 to work in Yeoju.
- Retrospectives in Saint-Étienne in 2011 and at MMCA Seoul in 2021 underscored his influence, with Gallery Hyundai describing his oeuvre as a lifelong meditation on time and labor.