Hakgojae Gallery presents works of Western masters under the title, Picture Plane. Of course, the Japanese painter, Nara Yoshitomo included in this exhibition like seasoning spices cannot be identified as a Western artist, but the works of distinguished European and American masters such as Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, etc. are gathered in this exhibition. What is outstanding, is that a work by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a master from the early 20th century, which is difficult to witness in Korean commercial galleries, is presented here. As so, the composition of the exhibition is diverse. It would be a very enjoyable and blissful art saunter if one browses this colorful scenery with a leisurely mind.

Fact or truth is usually beyond what is immediately visible. This is the genuine reality. It is an exceptionally blissful experience to examine this reality one by one in the works of the masters of our times, in the exhibition, Picture Plane.

Excerpt from “The Blissful Saunter into Modern and Contemporary Art“

Joo-Heon Yi  |  Art Critic

At the very beginning, a drawing must have been made on the ground. Strokes drawn with a finger would have formed into shapes, and vaguely linger around meanings for a while, and then obliterate shortly after. A drawing is a mirror that reflects the world in the manner of the drawer. As humans started to walk upright, they started to draw on cave walls in accordance with their transition of posture and viewpoint. With the purpose of the picture as representing nature, the image of the world materializes associated with the erect posture. The image is placed on a vertical picture plane in which the head is located on towards the top and the feet towards the bottom, following the law of gravity.1 This vertical picture plane with accurate directions persisted from the Renaissance to Modernism. The convergence of the work plane occurred when the subject of painting shifted from nature to human civilization. The conceptual perspective towards the picture plane changed in accordance with the shift of the purpose and role of art. Picture Plane is an attempt to look back on the passage of Modern and Contemporary Art, through the position of the work plane, namely, the shift of the artist’s perspective. The works presented in this exhibition were accumulated through Susanne and Lawrence Van Hagen Collection.

Excerpt from “Picture Plane: Vertical, Flatbed, and the Moving Crescent”

Miran Park  |  Curator at Hakgojae Gallery