Rooted in calligraphy, each of Hyun-Sook Song’s brushstrokes contains its own structure, shaped by the fluidity of the tempera itself rather than composed across multiple strokes.
Painting, for Hyun-Sook Song, is an analogue refuge. Transplanted from an early life in mid-century rural South Korea to the workforce in a rapidly modernising West Germany, Song turned to art-making to image fragmentary memories of a past life and, through them, a fading cultural paradigm. The exhibition at Sprüth Magers, London – marking the artist’s first exhibition in the UK – presents new paintings by Song, in conversation with earlier works.
The solitary brushstroke became Song’s preoccupation during the Covid era, reflecting not only the culture of isolation brought about by the pandemic but also the boundary posts that once dotted the Korean landscape, marking the territories of villages and Buddhist monasteries. Carved facial features anthropomorphised these posts, revealing their identities as jangseung: deific figures believed to ward off evil spirits. As an infant, while her mother worked in a paddy field, Song was left in the care of her older brother.