Ung-Ung, 41 x 29.7cm, Ink on Paper, 2020
Yoo Seung Ho has created his own distinctive painting technique called ‘Text (Letter) Painting’, while still embodying the property of traditional painting; ‘SeoWhaDongWon’ which means text and image inseparably coexist. He was able to capture the past and present by carrying on the philosophy of senior Korean modernist painters such as Nam Kwan, Lee Ungno, and Park Seobo. Their works are based on and around calligraphy, but the new style they developed is categorized as ‘Character-Abstractions’.
Ung-Ung_Detail, 41 x 29.7cm, Ink on Paper, 2020
The main characteristic of Yoo’s work is that the image is constructed with innumerable minute letters. Through the labor-intensive and time-consuming process, Yoo is trying to bring out inner self to the surface. The key aspect of his work is the build-up of the image, achieved by repeatedly writing; this is the main methodology utilized by Yoo to achieve unity of the ego and the outside world within his works.
From Memory_Detail, 51 x 35.5cm, Ink & Pencil on Paper, 2019
It is crucial to understand the correlation between languages, meanings, sound and forms in Yoo’s work. His work is linguistically playful; for instance, he creates a connection between Hangeul and the same phonetic texts of foreign languages, or plays with multiple meanings of a word. Texts become images, and then they transform into hieroglyphs, or numbers again. As we follow the flow of transformation process, it feels as if he is drawing the concept of variation on the paper.
Ga Na Da Ra_Detail, 122 x 160cm, Ink & Acrylic on Paper, 2020
Yoo’s work is reminiscent of Robert Walser (1878-1956), a Swiss modernist writer who was ahead of his time. Walser destroyed traditional meanings formulated between a word and its subject, and wrote ‘Micrograms’ (Mikrogramme’), called thus because of his miniscule handwriting. In these texts, his playful and abstract style connects with Yoo’s experimental approaches towards language, trascending time. Unparalleled value is given to the beautiful works of Yoo Seung Ho for his unique technique and ability to visualize meanings and forms of the Korean alphabet Hangeul from his own interpretations.