Two concurrent exhibitions at Art Sonje Center and Kukje Gallery in Seoul chart the full breadth of the 89-year-old modernist Ha Chong-hyun's half-century creative odyssey. Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

"To this day, I continue the fierce tug-of-war between burlap canvas and paint."

These were the words of octogenarian modernist Ha Chong-hyun, spoken with a smile to journalists in Seoul as he stood proudly before his textured paintings back in 2022. Now on a wheelchair, his voice punctuated by frequent wet coughs, much seems to have changed — except for his indomitable spirit or his art.

Though his fingers have long grown stiff and cracked, the 89-year-old still maintains his labor-intensive technique, "bae-ap-beop" — a process in which thick oil paint is applied to the back of a hemp canvas and forced through its coarse weave, creating a distinctive beaded texture on the front. This technique defines his now-world-renowned "Conjunction" series, which has found its way to the collections of New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Ha Chong-hyun's labor-intensive technique, "bae-ap-beop," is a process in which thick oil paint is applied to the back of a hemp canvas and forced through its coarse weave, creating a distinctive beaded texture on the front. Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

This spring, two concurrent exhibitions in Seoul chart the full breadth of Ha's half-century creative odyssey — from his early encounters with the Art Informel movement and experimental art in response to Korea's postwar devastation to his groundbreaking creation of "Conjunction" and, ultimately, his evolution into "Post-Conjunction."

Ha Chong-hyun's rare "Self portrait" (1959) / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

From 1959 to 1975

"Ha Chong-Hyun 5975" at Art Sonje Center begins with a rare self-portrait from 1959, the year Ha graduated from Hongik University.

Fresh out of school, his initial gravitation toward Art Informel — a European movement defined by raw, gestural abstraction in reaction to the horrors of World War II — felt almost inevitable as he stepped into the ashes of war-torn Korea.

Through material experimentation — such as scorching thick layers of paint and entangled balls of thread with a torch — he evoked the nation's collective scars and the deep social unrest that followed.

By the late 1960s, however, the painter's thematic focus began to shift, mirroring Korea's high-speed industrialization.

His works became increasingly saturated and geometric.

Ha Chong-hyun's "White Paper on Urban Planning 67" (1967) / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

In "White Paper on Urban Planning," crisply defined swathes of color form an abstract map of the country's newly emerging cityscapes.

The construction of the Gyeongbu Expressway, which forever altered Korea's sense of space and time by linking Seoul and Busan, found expressions in his canvases as creases and folds embodying the compression of distance.

At the same time, Ha embarked on his "Naissance" series, inspired by the vivid patterns and colors of the traditional "dancheong" decorative designs — a not-so-subtle nod to fading heritage in the face of modernization.

Installation view of Ha Chong-hyun's geometric abstractions from the late 1960s at his solo exhibition "Ha Chong-Hyun 5975" at Art Sonje Center / Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

Then came the 1970s, when the artist, alongside his genre-defying contemporaries, plunged into the realm of experimental art by founding the Korean Avant Garde Association (AG).

Amid heightened state censorship and military dictatorship, he sought artistic answers in everyday materials that reflected Korea's sociopolitical climate, like barbed wire and stacks of censored newspapers.

In a 1970 installation, now recreated at the museum for the first time in 55 years, multiple mirrors and X-ray images of skulls and pelvises form a miniature maze — a surreal representation of the country's fractured political reality.

Amid heightened state censorship and military dictatorship during the early 1970s, Ha Chong-hyun sought artistic answers in everyday materials that reflected Korea's sociopolitical climate, such as barbed wire and stacks of censored newspapers. Courtesy of Art Sonje Center

All these phases of material experimentation ultimately culminated in the birth of his signature "Conjunction" series in 1974. He repurposed coarse burlap grain sacks as canvas substitutes and crafted his own wooden tools to execute bae-ap-beop, pressing paint from the back of the fabric so it would seep through to the front.

Overall, the exhibition presents a rare, all-encompassing dive into Ha's conceptual evolution, tracing the long road to his belated global recognition in the 2010s — right as "dansaekhwa" (Korean monochrome painting) seized the international spotlight.

"Ha Chong-Hyun 5975" runs through April 20 at Art Sonje Center.

Installation view of Ha Chong-hyun's latest iterations of "Conjunction" series at Kukje Gallery / Courtesy of Kukje Gallery

Latest creative ventures

The next chapter of Ha's ever-expanding craft unfolds just five minutes away at Kukje Gallery.

Some 30 works, created between 2009 and the present, showcase the latest iterations of his "Conjunction" and "Post-Conjunction" series to reveal fresh dimensions of his iconic technique.

While his earlier "Conjunction" pieces featured muted, earthy tones reminiscent of traditional Korean objects — "giwa" (roof tile) or "baekja" (white porcelain) — his paintings since the 2010s burst with a more spirited palette.

These newer works glow with deep crimson reds and ocean blues, their surfaces layered with smudged brushstrokes and deliberate scratches that heighten their texture.

Ha Chong-hyun's "Post-Conjunction 21-510" (2021) / Courtesy of the artist and Kukje Gallery

His "Post-Conjunction" series takes this dynamism a step further.

Here, Ha arranges thinly cut wooden strips in vertical or horizontal lines across the canvas, applying oil paint between them. As the paint seeps through the gaps, it forms organic streaks of color, which he can either leave untouched or carve into with expressive, rhythmic gestures.

"Ha Chong-Hyun" at Kukje Gallery runs until May 11.