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The Korean artist discusses his artistic process and his move from black to blue ink as part of his ongoing Brush series, with the upcoming solo exhibition, “Control in Spontaneity”, at Ode to Art
The brush, which is the very tool for calligraphy or painting, is the subject of Korean artist Lee Jung Woong’s artworks of oil paint on hanji, or Korean rice paper. He takes inspiration from the theme of his previous series of still-life paintings featuring traditional motifs of Korean culture such as pottery, flowers, and stationery, including the Four Treasures of the Study [mun bang sa u (문방사우) in Korean culture, and wén fáng sì bǎo (文房四友) in Chinese culture], an expression used to denote the brush, ink, paper and inkstone used in East Asian calligraphic traditions.
“I thought that the brush, ink, paper and inkstone, each in itself could be art, and they could be broken down into the process of the artwork itself,” says Lee, who became so fascinated with brushes that it led him to research on their different flexibilities, thickness and textures. He eventually amassed a collection so huge that he lost count.