Critic's Note: Jung Bok Su is probably unsurpassed in his sincere and unremitting preoccupation with the human body. To him, the body is a medium with which to translate the world, as it is also a subject matter. Since the late 1970s, the artist has produced several series on the human body, which are each product of a set of artistic styles. For example, the work titled, Body Landscape, was a reinterpretation of his work produced around 1985, which is quite an unusual working method in the visual arts, unlike in cinema or the music industry.
The human bodies and faces in Jung Boc Su’s work reveal themselves without pretense, as an archetype almost. This archetype is constantly multiplied and gathers force and authority as the origin of a species—it harbors traces of man as a physiological and social unit, and the traces of all the scars from the struggle to survive within a collective system. The interesting aspect is that we can glimpse a soothing tranquility and contemplative ambiance within the horrid and intense glossy racket of bodies.
Collection: Private collection
Artist's Education: Hongik university. Seoul, Korea. B.F.A., Painting