Language
Play of the Brush
Song Su-nam - Brush Play
This is "Brush Play" by Korean ink pioneer Song Su-nam (1938-2013). Feel the rhythm of dancing brushes and breath of ink.
Song, born in Jeonju, began exploring ink's possibilities from the 1960s. The title says everything—this focuses not on what was painted but how it was painted. Brushwork itself became art.
Look closely—see dark and light ink contrast, bleeding effects, flowing movements? This contains the artist's emotions facing nature and his breath in that moment.
Song led the 1980s "Ink Painting Movement," reviving traditional ink with modern sensibility. For him, ink wasn't preserving the old but living language expressing the present.
He said: "Ink is black, but contains a thousand colors inside." Amazing how black ink alone expresses such rich emotion and space.
Song's specialty: modernizing tradition without destroying it. While others focused on abstraction, he found new expression within ink's original grammar.
Most important here is empty space. Vacant areas play roles as crucial as drawn lines, making ink lines more dynamic and creating balance.
Song emphasized sensation over theory—eye and hand feeling, spontaneous surface movements. That's why his works overflow with living energy.
His movement aimed bringing ink into daily life—not museum pieces but modern art breathing with us today.
The brush play Song left still delivers deep resonance. Feel that special sensation—quiet yet not static, traditional yet modern.
Song, born in Jeonju, began exploring ink's possibilities from the 1960s. The title says everything—this focuses not on what was painted but how it was painted. Brushwork itself became art.
Look closely—see dark and light ink contrast, bleeding effects, flowing movements? This contains the artist's emotions facing nature and his breath in that moment.
Song led the 1980s "Ink Painting Movement," reviving traditional ink with modern sensibility. For him, ink wasn't preserving the old but living language expressing the present.
He said: "Ink is black, but contains a thousand colors inside." Amazing how black ink alone expresses such rich emotion and space.
Song's specialty: modernizing tradition without destroying it. While others focused on abstraction, he found new expression within ink's original grammar.
Most important here is empty space. Vacant areas play roles as crucial as drawn lines, making ink lines more dynamic and creating balance.
Song emphasized sensation over theory—eye and hand feeling, spontaneous surface movements. That's why his works overflow with living energy.
His movement aimed bringing ink into daily life—not museum pieces but modern art breathing with us today.
The brush play Song left still delivers deep resonance. Feel that special sensation—quiet yet not static, traditional yet modern.