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A Study on Yoo Youngkuk's Later Abstract Paintings : Focus on the Formation of the State Political System and Aesthetics of Modernity
The Journal of Aesthetics and Science of Art
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This thesis is about a study on a painter Yoo Youngkuk(劉永國, 1916-2002)'s abstract paintings. The purpose of this writing is to define his late art world related to the formation of the state political system in Republic of Korea since his first solo exhibition in the middle of 1960s. Yoo Youngkuk was born and raised at Uljin in Gangwon-do in 1961 when the state's sovereignty was taken by Japan. He dropped out of the school due to oppressive atmosphere under the severe militarism. After studying oil paintings at Tokyo Bunka Gakuen in Japan, he made his debut as a painter at the art field in Japan. He developed his artistic activities in Korea during the Pacific War, the liberation and government formation of Republic of Korea, the division of Korea into north and south, Korean War, April 19 democratic revolution, May 16 coup, and ect. Started with constructive and absolute abstract paintings, he developed his abstract works through participation of art groups which against to ≪Guk Jeon(National Art Exhibition)≫ or conservative art systems. Experiencing the Korean War, he changed his painting styles over and over again toward to compositive and Informel style which showed the materiality on the pictures. However, his abstract paintings transformed into works of geometric compositions and color-field paintings with primitive and brilliant colors in his first solo exhibition in 1964. Yoo Youngkuk's abstract paintings closely reflects the absence of the nation-state or the formation process of the state of political system. Especially his later abstract works embodied Korea's aesthetic modernity, which had been transformed into a nation-state after the devastation of war. Therefore, his abstract painting is acceptable as a representative of the aesthetic modernity of the formation of the nation state of Korea.
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