Ucchin Chang, a Painter Who painted a Family

by Miru Kim

The word 'family' is so close to most people's lives. When people think their family, their heart become warm. Sometimes people feel a sense of incomprehensibility, but there are special feeling that only through family members can feel. It is a love that can not be felt by others, even though it is love, pain, or conflict. When people watch family movies, they are touched by the movies as if they're seeing their own stories.  Like the same as family movies, when people see family paintings, they are thinking and imaging the painting as their own family paintings. The family-themed painting reminds us of human affection that can not be felt in historical paintings, still-life paintings, and landscape paintings.

Ucchin Chang is regarded as a painter who painted a lot of family motifs in modern Korea. The theme of the family is a work created by contemporary Korean painters who worked with Ucchin. As a result of the Korean War, there was a social atmosphere in which the centrality of the family spread, but for some painters, the family itself was a force that led to life and art. It is also related to this social background that his theme is family. The family was the source of life and the source of creative inspiration for him. In view of the amount of work and the contents of the work, it is rare for painters to express family paintings close to life as much as him. While there are many pictures of his paintings remaining untitled, there are still some works named "A Family Portrait" (family tree), which shows his unmistakable affection for his family.

Ucchin Chang, A Family Portrait, 7.5x14.8cm, 1972

The theme of the family is also seen in the painting of Ucchin's <Village>  painted in 1957.
Most of the material that Ucchin liked to appear in this painting which corresponds to the early works. The sun, mountains, trees, birds, cows, and dogs were portrayed as a family. The man with a mustache who looks like an artist himself and the family living in a crowded house in the lower part of the house are living peacefully and peacefully with animals expressing intimately.

Ucchin Chang, Village, 40.5×27.5cm, 1957

In 1976, "The Family" painted the family members outside the house. This painting features a screen composition and a simple expressive technique. It is a work of simplicity that comes from an unconventional composition rather than a formative inquiry that pursues a strong color contrast or a simple screen composition. Above all, on a special occasion, a composition makes a nostalgia, just like taking a memorial photo away from home.

Ucchin Chang, The Family, 13.7x17cm, 1976

​In addition to the oil paintings that are considered as representative works of the family series, there are drawings that can find the love of Urchin's family. It is freehand drawing regardless of forms and materials. In 1972, when people see simple drawings of a family member drawn by a magic marker, people can feel the unfamiliar appearance of him. The drawing shows his view toward his family as a father rather than a painter.​ These drawings show simple, candid and warm wit for his family. 

Ucchin Chang, drawings, 1972

Although the drawing took a short time to draw, it expresses only the characteristics of family members with a simple and clear line. It is a drawing that shows the intuition and painting characteristics of him.  Freedom that is not tied to a particular material has transformed the magic marker into a material that expresses rich colors and vibrant paintings. The work attitude of Ucchin, who was alert to fixation in a certain frame when painting, overlaps with the attitude of life that has tried to have a more flexible and free mind.

Whenever I see Ucchin's family series, I think of my father who died seven years ago. Father always showed mercy and infinite love to his family, but he always had responsibility. I can not feel my father's love directly from him now, but I am comforted by the words and paintings that Ucchin did.
Ucchin Chang, a painter, said, "I love my family more than anyone else. The fact that love is understood through painting is different from the others. " But now I know that Jang 's family love is not different from our family love. His painting is a language of love that anyone can understand.


​

References:

                  - Chang Ucchin Museum of Art Yangju City (2014), Chang Ucchin, p.66, p.67, p.75
                  - http://www.yangju.go.kr/changucchin/
                  - https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=3576993&cid=58862&categoryId=58878


​