Ida, Shoichi

Park Seo-bo (Korean: 박서보; 15 November 1931 – 14 October 2023) was a South Korean painter known for his "Écriture" series (1967 onwards), involvement in the Korean Art Informel movement, and particular formal concerns around painting that have led critics and art historians to identify him as a leading Dansaekhwa artist. Park was part of the first generation of artists to begin building their careers in the wake of the Korean War after growing up under Japanese colonial rule, having their study interrupted by the outbreak of the Korean War, and surviving the conflict. Much of Park's early work emerged in response to his own experiences at the time. After graduating from Hongik University, Park was very much on the social and art world periphery as both a draft dodger hiding under a new name (changed from Park Jae-hong), and ardent critic of the National Art Exhibition (Kukjeon for short). Park joined the Contemporary Artists Association (Hyeondae Misul Hyeohoe) in 1957, and became one of the main figures in the Korean Art Informel movement along with others in the association. Park sought to conceptually and materially challenge assumptions around painting at the time through his abstract...