#1. Exhibition Introduction
Greetings, and welcome to MMCA Cheongju.
This exhibition has been curated with an eye to exploring the meaning of light as pursued throughout the life of the artist Bang Hai Ja, often called “the painter of light,” and to illuminate the many layers of her artistic world in which Eastern and Western aesthetics coexist.
For the artist, light was not merely a visual phenomenon. It was a source of healing that washed away the pain of her childhood and a sublime form of asceticism through which she carefully refined her inner self.
This exhibition is a retrospective encompassing Bang’s 60-year artistic journey, from her early abstract paintings in the 1960s when she first ventured to France to her major works from the later period after the 2000s. In particular, it includes a significant number of rare pieces held in France that are being introduced and exhibited within Korea for the first time.
The exhibition’s title, Bang Hai Ja: Sowing Light Across Heaven and Earth, is drawn from a line in the artist’s poem “In Search of Light.” As you follow the path of her lifelong devotion to light, you may find a warm and profound resonance of light welling up within your own heart.
We hope you experience the serene peace and joy that light offers as you move through the exhibition.
