Cho Duck-Hyun

executed in 2003, framed

Kukje Gallery, Seoul
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is generally in good condition. Please note that it was not examined under ultraviolet light.
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Examining History
Cho Duck Hyun

When looking into Cho Duck Hyun’s works, one cannot dismiss the past. It is precisely Cho’s persistence in pursuing the fine traces of history in his practice that ultimately propels the artist to prominence in Korean contemporary art. Though having only earned his MFA in painting from Seoul National University when he was 30, with his iconic photo-realist drawings and elaborate installations, Cho has since participated internationally in numerous prestigious art festivals including the Sao Paulo Biennial, Istanbul Biennial and Gwangju Biennial, as well as exhibitions at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and New Museum in New York. His drawings of old photographs at once intertwine history, nostalgia and memory, into an implication of narrative extending beyond the realm of the canvas itself.

On more than one level, this historical narrative can be seen as a parallel to Zhang Xiaogang’s artistic practice, in particular the Bloodline series. Both artists have shown a strong interest in appropriating the memory of the past in their works, especially relying on old photographic evidences of the family unit. While Zhang Xiaogang applies an abstract approach in terms of creating increasingly homogeneous facial features for the characters, and employing a number of symbols in the composition, Cho retains a photo-realist form in his meticulous drawing works, as exemplified in Genealogy Gorinchem (Lot 902). What we see in the work is a monochromatic mirrored image of a Korean woman in traditional costume, serenely sitting next to a flower vase and facing towards the center of the piece. Tiny yellow threads are stitched in circular forms across the canvas. However, the mirrored framework present is arguably the most distinctive feature in Cho’s body of works, frequently found in his drawings, performances, and installations since the 1990’s. Critics have further attributed this particular style as Cho’s unique vehicle in blurring the line between the present and past, with the fading boundary infusing what were supposedly the original and a mere reflection. In a way, the present work is also related to Cho's 2003 exhibition “ONTMOETING” (Encounter) at the Gorcums Museum in Gorinchem, the Netherlands, further referencing to an intertwined history between the Netherlands and Korea made possible by a ship's bookkeeper from Gorinchem named Hendrick Hamel, who accidentally discovered the Korean peninsula in 1653.

The woman figure seen in Genealogy Gorinchem is also a consistent motif throughout his major series, such as A Memory of the 20th Century and Re-Collection, and is mainly inspired by the birth of his daughter in 1991. Writer Ann Landi has paid particular attention to the sentiment associated with these figurative drawings, by writing that they “present their anonymous subjects as dignified and regal, even if the anonymous portrait is of a leather-faced old woman, whose ravaged but serene visage seems to have witnessed more than her share of sorrows.”1 Though the figure in the present work is fairly young, the sense of solemnity mentioned can be traced through the delicate composition of the drawing. With his works reflecting both the Western classical aesthetics and traditional Korean motifs, most critics have agreed that few artists of his generation could match Cho Duck Hyun in bridging an extensive drawing skill with an investigative approach in examining history, genealogy, and archaeology.

1 Ann Landi, “Cho Duck Hyun”, from choduckhyun.com, 2008