Kwon Young-Woo

An internationally respected artist considered part of the Dansaekhwa Korean art movement, Kwon's work is characterised by the use of paper both as the material and subject. Having studied Oriental Painting in Seoul in the 1950s, Kwon went on to explore abstraction using Chinese ink before deciding in 1962 to use hanji (traditional Korean paper handmade from mulberry trees) as his primary medium. By rejecting paintbrush and ink, he used his fingers and hands to cut, tear, glue, remove, puncture, and push the paper, pushing the boundaries of abstract art and indeed the potentiality of paper.