O Yoon

Oh Yoon (in Hangul: 오윤, April 13, 1946 – July 5, 1986) was a South Korean painter whose pieces focused on peoples' art. It was during the 1980s when military officials seized power and repressed opposition, notably in the Gwangju massacre in 1980. Hence, his artworks largely expressed interests in the joys and sorrows of citizens during the 1970s and 1980s.[1]

Oh Yoon
Born(1946-04-13)April 13, 1946
DiedJuly 5, 1986(1986-07-05) (aged 40)
OccupationPainter, Printmaker
NationalitySouth Korea
Period1970–1986
Korean name
Hangul
오윤
Revised RomanizationO Yun
McCune–ReischauerO Yun
In this Korean name, the family name is Oh.

Biography

Born in 1946, he went to Department of Arts majoring in sculpture at Seoul National University. His father was a novelist, Oh Young-su.[2] It is said he was greatly influenced by his grandfather and uncle, the great master of Dongrae crane dance.[3] Dongrae crane dance is one of the most famed Korean traditional dances which describes the movement of cranes originated from Dongrae, current Busan.

He was the first member of the artists movement "Reality and Speech" (현실과 발언), a grouping of young writers and artists, the group of which intended to express the suppression of Korean society.[4] His pieces focused on social function of art, researching on the traditional Korean arts such as Minhwa, what-so-called shamanic paintings, Talchum and Gut, traditional form of exorcism.

His works are the shards of effortless research on people's lives with sarcasm and beauty of lines with sorrow or resentment which is commonly called Han(in Hangul:한). Through this way, he expressed Han based on lives of commoners in woodprints.[5] Though his major was firstly sculptor, his woodprints have been appreciated to deal with shapes of people.[6]

His works failed to gain enough attention before his death, which was later revalued as the icon of people's arts in the 1980s[7] since the decade referred to the transition to the democracy in South Korea.

He died of Cirrhosis at the age of 40 after his first exhibition in Seoul.[8]

In 2010, complete collection of O yoon was published by collaborative works and well-known poet Kim Chi-Ha also joined the project.[9]

Works'

Although he was a famed printmaker, his career actually started from a sculptor, while he didn't limit his ambition concentrating not only on printworks but also on modernized masks or illustrations.

Rhythmical movement of dancers were expressed under the concept of Buddhist painting, collage and mosaics to connect Korean arts further with Pop art and modernism. The works even extended to deal with Korean traditional ceremony of gut or exorcism.[10]

One of the key images Mr.O would like to describe is Korean traditional exorcism, gut. The most popular image of gut is sword dance, which led his works to convey the motion of the traditional exorcism ceremony.[11]

The titles of his works showed his style who paid attention to the lives of common people: e.g. ⟨Dawn of Labour⟩(노동의 새벽), ⟨The land⟩(대지), ⟨The song of sword⟩(칼노래) and ⟨The lemures⟩(원귀도). Though he failed to attain magnificent attention, his works have gained much larger attention since 2000s.[12]

20th anniversary of his death were celebrated in major museums such as National Museum of Contemporary Art and Ghana Art center.[13]

See also

References
  1. 민중의 애환 투박한 線으로 Hankook Ilbo 2002-11-03
  2. "오영수 문학관 '父子연계' 육성해야" Newsis 2013-01-14
  3. 춤추는 민중미술가 오윤의 재발견 Yonhap 2012-09-18
  4. 미술운동 '현실과 발언' 30주년..대규모 회고전(Large-scale commemorating exhibition on art movement to celebrate 30 years of Reality and Speech Yonhap 2010-07-23
  5. 목판화 인생 30년 판화가 이철수 Yonhap 2011-06-15
  6. ‘오윤 회고전’…판화오 조각으로 민중의 애환 아로새겨 2002-12-01
  7. 12월 20일 화제의 전시 Hankyoreh 2006-12-20
  8. 민중미술 거장 오윤 전집 출간 Yonhap 2010-07-20
  9. ‘리얼리즘 미술의 상징’ 오윤의 작품과 생애(The Lifetime of O Yoon, the symbol of Realism art) Donga Ilbo
  10. ‘오윤’ 찢어진 눈 불같은 기운 생생 Hankyoreh
  11. 한과 신명의 30여점‘칼맛’…오윤 목판화전 Kyunghyang Shinmun 2002-12-09
  12. 희망을 새긴 ‘오윤 판화’ 다시본다(Look again on hope-inscripting printwork of O yoon)Seoul Shinmun 2006-05-25
  13. 12월 20일 화제의 전시 2006-12-20
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