RYAN ART

Artist Statement

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Oh Yongkill was born in 1946 in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, and graduated from Seoul Arts High School and the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University. He received the Encouragement Award at the New Artists Award in 1967 and 1968, won Special Prizes twice at the National Art Exhibition, and was selected seven times.

Oh Yongkill’s artistic world is a modern reinterpretation of traditional painting, particularly focusing on the true-view landscape painting (jingyeong sansuhwa) pioneered by Gyeomjae Jeong Seon during the Joseon Dynasty. His goal is to recreate this essence with a contemporary sensibility. Using the traditional tools of paper, brush, and ink, he moves away from rigid conventions and instead selects familiar aspects of nature that people can easily relate to in their daily lives. He creates works that exude an elegant and lyrical atmosphere through fresh yet not overly gaudy colors. In essence, his work aims to embody a form of traditional painting that cannot be found in modern society but still resonates with Korean sentiment.

Oh Yongkill’s works can be categorized into two main tendencies: older works that emphasize color and more recent ones that focus on ink painting. The color-based works primarily feature figures and flowers and birds, whereas the ink-based works are predominantly landscapes. While these two categories may appear different at first glance, they are connected by their shared foundation in realism, as both draw inspiration from everyday life.

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