Suh Yongsun

Life

Suh Yongsun studied Fine Arts at Seoul National University from 1975 to 1982 and worked as a professor at the College of Fine Arts at this University from 1986 to 2008. After withdrawing from his long-time professorship, he was elected Korea's Artist of the Year for 2009 and honored with a solo show at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, South Korea.

He was invited to residency programs in Vermont in the United States of America in 1995 and to the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, both in 2006 and in 2010. He also worked at the University of Paris in 2003. In 2001 he was a visiting professor in Hamburg, Germany.

Work

In his art, Suh brings together traditional Korean styles with Western and especially European influences such as German Expressionism and Francis Bacon.

In the early 1980s he began with painting a series of pine trees. A few years later he changed to the topic of social and historic subjects. Since then he "explores various subjects including portrait, scenery, history, war, myth and etc, but he is most well known for his work expressing humanity in a metropolitan environment, as well as his historical series that depicts historical accidents."

Visiting New York City and Berlin strongly influenced his paintings, which often show urban scenes with roughly executed human figures that often appear masked.

Exhibitions

Suh Yongsun's artworks have been presented in many museums.

Projects

Awards (selection)

Publications