PARK Wunggyu

PARK Wunggyu (b. 1987) has consistently presented works that explore the painterly possibilities of Oriental art by creating a symbolic order of positive and negative through subjects that evoke ambivalent emotions.  He specialized in Oriental painting, captures images on canvas that evoke ambivalent characteristics, based on his artistic responses to classical Buddhist paintings from Korea and Japan. Particularly, he refers to the 'Hwayukbeop' (畵六法, Six Principles of Painting) of Oriental painting, constituted by imitation, composition, form, texture, transformation, and application. Drawing on these principles, he incorporates into his artwork ambiguous emotions and sensations provoked by 'negativity', such as negative things, situations, and emotions. The series "Dummy” that began in 2015 initially depicted forms of monsters and gods without a specific subject. However, starting from 2019, it began to adopt realistic forms by borrowing from various insects like moths and cicadas, as well as from grotesque creatures. In the new 2023 work, a set of ten pieces titled Dummy No. 91~100 (2023) was introduced, showcasing the unique formative aspects seen from different parts of a cow's internal organs, magnifying and describing them in detail. Additionally, inspired by the Zen painting 'Sibu do' (十牛圖, Ten Ox-Herding Pictures) that characterizes human nature in 10 stages, the artist presented a work named The Ten Oxherding Pictures (2023), concentrating the process of eating, digesting, and excreting a cow in 10 frames. Another piece, Scar No.17 (2023), interpreted the ten types of a cow's internal organs using Chinese characters, was also displayed alongside the aforementioned works.

PARK Wunggyu was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1987. He received his BFA in Korean painting at Chugye University for the Arts in 2010, and MFA in Korean painting at Chugye University for the Arts in 2015. PARK Wunggyu began his active career as a resident artist at the Cheongju Art Studio from 2016. He has held solo exhibitions at various institutions such as ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2023), Art Space Boan1(Seoul, Korea, 2022), Onground2 (Seoul, Korea, 2018), and Space Kneet (Seoul, Korea, 2017), Cheongju Art Studio (Cheongju, Korea, 2016), as well as group exhibitions held at SongEun (Seoul, Korea, 2023), Museum of Contemporary Art Busan (Busan, Korea, 2023), Ilmin Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2023), Seoul Museum of  Art (Seoul, Korea, 2022), Danwon Art Museum (Ansan, Korea, 2021), Art Sonje Center (Seoul, Korea, 2021), Aram Art Museum (Goyang, Korea, 2019), and more. His works are part of the collections at institutions including the Seoul Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan and ARARIO MUSEUM in Korea.