Image : Weng Contemporary, Zug
Cette actualité est affichée en anglais en attendant que sa traduction soit prête.
Weng Contemporary has devoted the sixth instalment of its newsletter series ‘The Celestial Collection’ to Park Seo-Bo and his long-running ‘Écriture’ series, focusing on the artist’s use of repetition, disciplined process and natural forms. The feature, titled ‘The Celestial Collection — Episode 6: Virgo’, was published on 26 August 2026 and presents two porcelain works associated with the final project of Park’s career.
Park Seo-Bo (1931–2023) was a major figure in Korean contemporary art and a central force in Dansaekhwa, the postwar Korean movement that emerged in the early 1970s. The movement was associated with restrained palettes, attention to material qualities and systematic, gestural approaches to making. According to the gallery’s account, Park’s turn toward Korean cultural traditions and Eastern philosophy followed experimentation with Art Informel in the early 1960s.
The ‘Écriture’ series began in 1967. Its works are built around delicate lines drawn repeatedly across a surface, with the act of making taking precedence over the communication of a specific image or message. Park described the purpose of this repetition as a process of emptying the self. “I want to reduce the idea and emotion in my work to express only that,” he said in a statement reproduced on Weng Contemporary’s artwork page. “I want to reduce and reduce — to create pure emptiness.”
Over more than five decades, the series changed in material and appearance while retaining its emphasis on repetition and refinement. Park incorporated hanji, traditional Korean paper, and developed long ridged lines that he described as “mountains”. He also introduced forms and colours drawn from nature. The newsletter states that, from around 2000, nature increasingly led Park toward colour, which he hoped would offer viewers relief from the pressures of everyday life.
The feature centres on ‘Écriture No.1-23’ and ‘Écriture No.2-23’, porcelain sculptures issued in editions of 99. Weng Contemporary’s newsletter describes the works as published in 2024, while the gallery’s artwork page says they were unveiled in 2023, shortly before Park’s death, and identifies them as the last project created by the artist. The porcelain translates the ridged relief characteristic of ‘Écriture’ into a durable three-dimensional form.
The two works draw their colour references from the natural world. ‘Écriture No.1-23’, described by Park as “Air Color”, uses a cool grey-blue associated with the horizon of Jeju Island, combining the visual references of sky and ocean. ‘Écriture No.2-23’ is an earthy yellow-green inspired by ripe olives and linked in the newsletter to the barley fields of Park’s childhood. Weng Contemporary, based in Zug, Switzerland, presents the works through its commercial gallery platform and invites readers to contact the gallery or arrange a viewing appointment.
