• Hwang Kyu-Baik_seen and unseen at MMCA, Korea

    Date posted: May 5, 2015 Author: jolanta
    Hwang Kyu-Baik, , 1984

    Hwang Kyu-Baik, Window , 1984

    Hwang Kyu-Baik: seen and unseen is the first print exhibition of the MMCA Korea’s Korean Contemporary Artists Series inaugurated to approach the history of contemporary Korean art from a multilateral perspective. Hwang Kyu-Baik(1932- ) was born in Busan in 1932 and moved to France in 1968. After his settlement in 1970 in New York, the heartland of contemporary art, he started to commit himself to the mastering of mezzotint techniques, one of intaglio printmaking processes. By internalizing and modernizing the traditional medium of mezzotint Hwang succeeded in shaping his own unique style. His fine mezzotints of refined composure and lyricism have been awarded prizes at various international print exhibitions since the mid 1970s: the International Biennal of Graphic Art, Ljubljana(1979, 1981), the British International Print Biennale, Bradford(1974), and the Florence Print Biennale(1974). This has led to the acquisition of his works by major museums throughout the world for their collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Albertina. He was also commissioned to make the poster for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo that made him the world-acclaimed artist. As the artist’s first solo show held in Korean Art Museum, a retrospective of his six decades career, one can appreciate the quintessence of the oeuvre of Hwang who had long ago accomplished his unrivaled status as a printmaker abroad.
    The exhibition is largely divided into three parts – the first part is his early print works made in Paris after his arrival at France in 1968 and the reenactment of his printmaking studio; the second part showcases his mezzotints produced in New York from the 1970s to the 1990s; the last part consists of his paintings created since his return to Korea in 2000 until recent years.

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