{"id":55579,"date":"2025-08-13T09:54:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/?post_type=insights&p=55579"},"modified":"2025-08-13T09:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:54:46","slug":"to-stand-on-this-land","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/insights\/55579","title":{"rendered":"TO STAND ON THIS LAND"},"content":{"rendered":"

Choongseok Han<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To Stand on This Land, 193.9 x 130.3 cm, acrylic on Korean cotton, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

\u300aTo Stand on This Land\u300b Exhibition Introduction<\/p>\n

“A journey of a child who grew up too fast, becoming an adult in the truest sense”\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1997, Korea was hit by an unprecedented economic crisis the IMF financial crisis. Yet, strangely, many of us recall that time as an era of \u201cromance amidst hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To Stand on This Land, 162.2 x 97 cm, acrylic on Korean cotton, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

Se Ri Pak winning the LPGA in her bare feet, the patriotic PSA backed by Yang Hee-eun\u2019s \u201cEvergreen\u201d, and the nationwide gold collecting movement These images remain in our collective memory as symbols of a nation that overcame together. But beneath that sentimentality were the children who had to grow up too quickly. And it is through their eyes that Han Choong-seok begins his story.<\/p>\n

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The King Cat, 116.8 x 91 cm, acrylic on Korean cotton, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

For over two decades, Han has painted consistently. He often says that only two of those years were spent searching for his own identity. The rest were spent thinking deeply about relationships. His work captures the delicate fabric of human connection with honesty The emotional distance, quiet survival, the act of reading the room. The figures in his paintings are watchful, yet unshaken. They stand still and quietly resilient.<\/p>\n

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The Girl, 27.3 x 27.3 cm( 5S), acrylic on Korean cotton, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

Their gaze leans not toward fear, but toward warmth. Their emotions remain steady restrained, but present. This exhibition is both a philosophical self portrait and a quiet chronicle of what we\u2019ve all lived through The time we were forced to grow up too soon. It is a gentle path toward restoration A reminder that even when shaken by relationships, we find our way back to standing firm.<\/p>\n

– Junsoo Park<\/p>\n

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Relationship Practice, 145.5 x 112.1 cm, acrylic on Korean cotton, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

Artist Statement (2025 August)
\nTo stand on this land
\n\u201cRelationships\u201d
\nAt times, we ask ourselves how deep must we go to truly know ourselves?
\nWhen we seek to measure the depth of the sea, the sea responds with waves.
\nLife tells us not just to look at the waves but to enter them.
\nSetting aside the distant joy of merely gazing at the ocean, we step into its waves.<\/p>\n

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I’m strong\u00a0 72.7 x 60.6 cm, acrylic on Korean cotton, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

Seeing those ahead of us pushed and shaken by the water,
\nI once said to them:
\n\u201cHold your center. Stand strong.\u201d
\nBut soon, I too was soaked.
\nAnd even a gentle wave made me stagger.
\nIt was then I realized:
\nThey looked that way to me only because I, too, was wavering.<\/p>\n

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Installation View (1)<\/em><\/p>\n

Once I regained my balance and stood again,
\nI saw they had been standing strong all along.
\nWaves will always come.
\nAnd we will, always, stand again.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Written while preparing for the solo exhibition, August 2025
\nHan Choong-seok<\/p>\n

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Installation View (2)<\/em><\/p>\n

Gallery Woo
\n1F, 110, 74 Daebyeon-ro, Gijang-eup, Gijang-gun, 46079, Busan, Republic of Korea
\n+82 742 6596<\/p>\n

WEBSITE<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0INSTAGRAM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[50,51],"class_list":["post-55579","insights","type-insights","status-publish","hentry","category-insight","category-stories"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insights\/55579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/insights"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/insights"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}