From Reading Characters to Visual Conversation... Geum Bo-seong Presents the Formative Beauty of Hangul Abroad

The paintings of artist Geum Bo-seong, who views Hangul letters as both characters and formative elements, are stepping onto the international stage. This work moves beyond conveying the meaning of letters to unraveling the lines, planes, and colors of the consonants and vowels as painterly elements.

Through the Hangul painting series "Sowing," artist Geum Bo-seong continues his work of expanding the formative beauty of Hangul into the language of visual arts. In the works, the circles and lines of the consonants and vowels overlap with geometric shapes such as squares and triangles to create color and rhythm.

When facing the works, the audience's gaze is drawn to the form and composition before the familiar meaning of the letters. While maintaining their original function of being read, the consonants and vowels are varied as formative elements on the canvas.

The title "Sowing" contains the direction of the work, viewing the morphological possibilities contained in the consonants and vowels as a single seed and expanding them into painting. In the process of deconstructing and reconstructing the structure of Hangul, elements of letter abstraction, geometric abstraction, and color field painting appear together.

This work transcends the boundaries of letters and language in that even audiences who do not understand Hangul can approach the work through the relationship between lines, forms, and colors. Artist Geum Bo-seong is exploring the possibilities of a Korean formative language through a method of expanding Hangul from an object to be read into an object to be visually experienced.

Abroad, the works will be introduced through an honorary invitation to the 79th ANAF Salon held in Saint-Mandé, France. This invitation is organized to commemorate the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, and is expected to serve as an opportunity to present the "Sowing" series to the local audience.

Artist Geum Bo-seong's work focuses on translating the structural characteristics of Hangul into the language of painting. It is characterized by moving away from a method where one must know the letters to understand the work, allowing for appreciation through only the lines, colors, and composition of the canvas.

Taking Hangul Day as an occasion, artist Geum Bo-seong plans to re-examine the formative possibilities of Hangul in the realm of painting and continue new modes of expression where letters and art meet.