Yuna Kim’s leap rendered in ink strokes... Seok Chang-woo’s ‘A Question Mark at the Fingertips’ opens on the 29th [fn Art Snap]

Yuna Kim’s leap unfolds in ink strokes across a 4.8-meter-wide sheet of paper. In Seok Chang-woo’s ‘Yuna Kim Triple Lutz’ (2014), the athlete’s movement and the artist’s own full-body gestures as he painted it are captured together.The Korea Disability Arts and Culture Center will present ‘Seok Chang-woo: A Question Mark at the Fingertips’ from the 29th through December 5 at Modu Art Space, in an annex to Seoul Square in Jung-gu, Seoul. The first exhibition in a series spotlighting disabled artists, it traces the development of his work, from figure drawing and text-based abstraction to this year’s series of dot works.■ Power and speed drawn with his whole bodyAfter losing both arms in an industrial accident, Seok Chang-woo began drawing by sketching sparrows for his five-year-old son. Having studied calligraphy and figure croquis, he went on to develop ‘ink croquis,’ combining traditional ink painting with Western croquis, which quickly captures the human figure.
He performed ink-drawing pieces at the closing ceremonies of the 2014 Sochi and 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics. He also went through trial and error before finding a way to secure a brush to a hook-shaped prosthesis. Speaking at a media briefing at Modu Art Space on the 27th, Seok said, “The way a soft brush expresses things really suited me.”
The exhibition’s title comes from the rounded hook at the tip of his prosthesis. It captures his process of asking what he could do with his body and finding ways to express it.
The sports series begins with repeated viewings of competition footage. He looks for moments when an athlete’s posture and strength are concentrated, then responds to the movement by sweeping his brush or turning his body.
‘The Artist’s Sketchbook’ (1998–2010) shows the foundations of these brushstrokes. Through repeated practice, drawings that once depicted the details of the human body evolved into forms that omitted some details or elongated proportions. Traces of wiping the brush and misdrawn lines are also presented as part of the creative process.
In ‘Group Figures’ (2010), bold brushstrokes and spreading ink make the figures overlap and intertwine. Rather than details of each individual, the canvas is filled with relationships in which people lean on and influence one another.■ The rhythm of abstraction found in flowers and crowdsHis interest in the movement of the human body led him to color and dots. The turning point was a trip to Europe in 2019. The crowds he viewed from above at a horse festival in Italy and the colors he encountered at a flower festival became starting points for his abstract work. The artist said he could sense movement even when only people’s heads were visible.
In this year’s work ‘Abstraction,’ dots and flows convey energy in place of clearly defined human figures. The composition, where large and small dots gather and disperse, is another variation on group figures. Though the forms change, his interest in movement continues.
Working at home, he would spread out the paper and draw, then roll up the finished section and unroll the next, repeating the process. The exhibition also features a work measuring up to 7 meters across.
Speaking about a dream he had after the accident, Seok said, “In my dreams, I had both hands, but when I started expressing it through my work, that dream went away.”
Archives, including diaries written on a computer and film photographs, offer a glimpse of everyday life behind the artworks. ‘Anchor,’ a 16-minute documentary whose production was supported by Modu Art Space, explores his life and work through interviews with people around him, photographs and materials related to his art.
As part of the exhibition’s programs, ink-croquis workshops will be held on November 14 and 26, and a conversation with the artist on the 21st. An educational program will also invite infants and toddlers to express dots and negative space on paper. The exhibition is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and admission is free.
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