I discovered a canvas by Sen Chung (born in 1963 in Jeounju, in South Korea) at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2010 : a white large sized piece crossed out by the diagonal of a red tree outlined in a flash of lightening, born from the mould of a subtle composition of shapes and colours.  A cry-like calligraphy and yet it was really a painting in substance and glaze which sprung up from a composition worthy of Paul Klee. From then on I discovered other canvasses, partaking of the making of his work and I always delighted in meeting a flowing production which offers us a bridge between the East and the West.

Sen Chung’s Korean roots are present but his characteristic lies in the gesture of the calligrapher who is impregnated with his subject which approaches the West by becoming a painting. A gesture which is expelled like a delivery which bounces up and comes back to overlay and resume the work. Sen Chung’s paintings come from afar and are discreet enough not to put him forward, they are nothing but subtlety. Apparently sketched, they dive unexpectedly into European expressionism. Sen Chung looks around, throws strokes away and then steps into his canvasses, he toys with the gesture and strokes the matter, he hangs time up and spins out stories which he offers us to share with him. As an explorer of the world, Sen Chung speaks of mythology, of tales and of everyday objects which he translates into a writing which is cast away on the canvas before being immersed in it, and finally submerged and abated.

The selection of works we offer for this exhibition leads us on new paths, where painting is self-contained and where we need to let ourselves be caught unawares by shapes, by the remembrance of “claustra” and colours whose memory, rhythm and magic only remain together with what is essential. A group of canvasses in which he introduces a few words or sentences to come along with his questioning and to make it obvious. “The Orient and the Occident”, “Vision of youth to the serenity of old age”, “Summer-Winter”.

A unique work not to miss which we are happy and proud to display.

 
Thierry Diers
 

He gave a lot of exhibitions, on his own or in groups, and his work is well-known all over the world

His creations are to be seen in numerous private collections or institutions, in Korea, Belgium, Germany, Australia…

Sen Chung lives and works in Düsseldorf.