HA Jungwoo
PAUSE
HA Jungwoo
PAUSE
SOLO EXHIBITION
FEBRUARY 28⏤APRIL 18, 2015
PYO GALLERY LA
PYO Gallery LA is pleased to announce PAUSE, an exhibition of recent paintings by the celebrated actor, producer, and visual artist, HA JUNG-WOO.
The films of Ha Jung-Woo are internationally acclaimed for the complex characters he portrays in the movies, but few know he is equally skilled as an artist. This exhibition will debut a series of paintings composed in Hawaii while he was working on an upcoming film. Ha’s art works explore the emotional groundwork of the various personas he inhabits, serving as a method of study and of departure from the scripted situations that appear on screen. He paints from the inside out, blending Pop imagery with a passion for simplicity, pattern, and color. His subjects consist of portraits, crosses, and iconic motifs rendered in a style that evokes Primitivism and folk art.
Ha’s paintings are direct, flamboyant and inspired by the confrontational street art of the 1980s. Similar to graffiti artists of the period, painting is a means of survival for Ha. As he says, painting allows him to unravel and express his inner core. “A picture should be fun just like a movie, he says.“I hope people will find the fun and humor in my paintings.”
Ha’s artworks have been featured in exhibitions at notable galleries and art fairs in Seoul, Hong Kong and New York. His critically acclaimed films include The Unforgiven(2005), Never Forever(2007), The Chaser(2008), Take Off(2009), Boat(2009),The Yellow Sea(2010), and The Berlin File(2012). PYO Gallery LA is delighted to present Ha Jung-Woo’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles.
The artist will be present for the opening reception on Saturday, February 28, 7:00 – 9:00 pm. The exhibition will be on view from February 28 through April 18, 2015.
SELECTED WORKS
INSTALLATION VIEWS
HA Jungwoo 하정우
The artist, Jung-woo Ha who carries both pop art style and expressionism style, simplifies every character into fundamental structures and changes into simple forms to help the public’s cognition and comprehension. Through ‘Pierrot,’ Jung-woo Ha expresses wittily the emotion of modern people and his, and he freely pours out the stories on canvas which are not finished in his movies or which could not be told as a human, as an actor, and as a man. The audiences interact with the actor Jung-woo Ha’s frank viewpoint and his flurry of energy through his paintings.
What is true meaning of a painting to him as an actor? He says like this during the interview.
“Let’s say the talent which I inherit is rice. Then, I think that movie is like cooking rice and drawing paintings is like making fermented drinks with spare rice after cooking.” This genuine statement clearly shows that how he thinks about the painting. He is absorbed in his movies as an actor, and he paints after movie shooting or he paints on the chipboard of the stage setting during movie shooting.
Jung-woo Ha has already produced two movies in a short time in 2013. In spite of his insanely busy schedule as a movie director, he gives full play to his abilities as an artist at domestic and foreign art fairs and planning exhibits. While his movie is produced, what also completed are his paintings. Just to see his painting walking, the painting is no longer his hobby, but also it is means of existence to stabilize the actor Jung-woo Ha and the painting is a powerful existence to return to natural Jung-woo Ha. The paintings on this LA art show are the latest work of his which were painted in his atelier in Hawaii within a period of time without movie shooting.