Exhibition Information

			As part of the establishment of the Cheongju Art History, the Cheongju Museum of Art has held an exhibition that overlooks the small artists who were active in Cheongju, Chungbuk Province. This exhibition is a retrospective of Lee Wan-ho who has stayed in Cheongju for 30 years and built his own independent art world and show how his life records are sublimated into art through his period works. 

Lee Wan-ho(1948~2007) was born in Sungju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province in 1948. he spent his school days in Daegu and graduated from the Western Painting Department and Dongdaehak Graduate School of Find Arts at Hongik University. In 1976, he began his life with Cheongju by teaching practical skills and theory of Western painting at Chungbuk National University, and in 1978, he was appointed to Department of Art Education of Chungbuk National University as a full-time employee, and he devoted himself to nurturing younger students. In 1986, he led the organization for a long time playing a leading role in forming the "Inconscience Painting Association" composed of graduates and students majoring in Western painting at Chungbuk National university. He also served as the first chairman of the "Chungbuk Print Painters Associations" founded in 1994 and contributed greatly to promoting and developing the artistry of engraving in Chungbuk art.

The subtitle 'Matching Life and Art' is the language used as the title of the artist's notes in the late 1980s, which explains the artist's art views well.

"For me, work is part of life, a faithful record of life, and a work that enriches my life. My life and my work can't be different and it's one circumference that intertwines and turns. The content of life determines work, and work make life meaningful. Therefore, they do not care whether what is expressed is beautiful or not."

In this exhibition, unreleased works, large amounts of archives, and "Sachang-dong Studio" which had a symbolic meaning for local painters, are displayed separately from time to time and the characteristics of works that change according to his life. Through his exhibition, Lee Wan-ho's life will be three dimensional view of his life and it will be an opportunity to revisit his position and meaning in Cheongju modern art history.

<Sachang-dong Studio>
Lee Wan-ho's studio in Sachang-dong has symbolic significance in the Cheongju gallery. Built with a prefabricated single-story structure of 92.16m2 and a ceiling of three meters to enable large-scale work activities, the space was the first of its kind in an area built with a clear purpose of being a workroom, a place of envy for young artists who did not have enough work space at the time. The studio, which retains the traces of 40 years, is now used as a place to store works.

1. Time to seek: 1965- mid 1980s

This period includes works from oil paintings from the school days in Daegu to those Hongik University, and works submitted to various exhibitions until the mid 1980s after graduation. In the late 1960s, when Lee Wan-ho attended Hongik University, the Korean gallery was divided into national exhibitions and modernism, and it was a time when he continued his creative activities influenced by senior generations. The Monochrome painting series, which was the mainstream trend of the Korean art world in the 1970s, overlaps the repetitive lines with a ruler, revealing awareness of the plane through the repetition of painting. The later work "Meditation on a gold-fish bowl" depicts a goldfish in a fishbowl and you can feel the movement of the goldfish with traces of repeated lines.

2. Visual language for everyday subjects: mid 1980s - early 1990s

Lee Wan-ho begins to embody everyday subjects into his own visual language. Especially in the mid 1980s, he gradually focused on the surrounding "natural objects" and his unique style began to appear in earnest during his period. In the early 1990s, the company introduced an object work that goes beyond canvas work and attaches objects to the screen as they are. The objects that magazine advertisements and photographs found around him are objects which enrich the writer's life.

3. Gestures of indifference, and composure: mid 1990s -2007

Lee Wan-ho, who has stopped group exhibition activities in Seoul, including "Ecole de Seoul", "Seoul Contemporary Art Festival" and "Orijin Painting Association" will be immersed in his work activities in Cheongju. Known as the representative work of Lee Wan-ho, the "Flower" series was produced during this period, and it makes us feel indifferent to the nature. His painting style, which is reminiscent of the literati paintings of the East, resembles the upright character of a scholar, and captures the changes in the seasons and the relaxation that nature gives when emptying its mind.

<Lee Wan-ho's prints and drawings>

Lee Wan-ho had a different interest in and affection for engraving, as he hosted the first individual exhibition as the "Individual Exhibition of lithographs". The exhibition will feature lithographs, prints produced in Sachang-dong's workshop, and works submitted to the "Chungbuk Print Painters Association", which were presented at the Taein Gallery's individual exhibition in 1980. In addition, some of the hundreds of drawings that show his various interests, including design, architecture, and nature, will be unveiled. "Drawing for Work" is his own teaching style that has always been emphasized to his students, giving a glimpse of his serious attitude toward work as an educator and writer. 

[Source] Cheongju Museum of Art Homepage