BOOK ARTS-COURSE HUB
  • COURSE PAGES
  • LINKS/RESOURCES
  • STUDENT GALLERY
  • En | Space

Ucchin Chang, a Painter Who painted a Family

4/8/2019

 
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.

Picture
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.
Picture
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.
Picture
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. 
Picture
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


​
Qingyun Zou
4/10/2019 11:50:13 pm

I can also feel the warmth of family in the drawings. These drawings have much playful, cheer, pleased emotion. Although he used many green color in his drawing, but still showing people the tone of warmth.The faces are not specific, so it's easy for people replace the characters into themselves with their families. Full of childhood pleasure!

Karen Nazario
4/11/2019 10:13:04 pm

Looking at these lovely paintings makes me feel fuzzy, but fuzzy in a good way. I am not sure how to explain it into words but when these paintings evoke a sense of innocence through its simple structure and mute colors. These paintings are lively and share a lovely story of family that touches me deeply.

REN
4/11/2019 10:29:22 pm

These paintings bring so much joy through such a simple, yet fun painting. The amount of care and playfulness that is point into this makes this painting really emphasize the fact that he loves his family. It evokes emotion of nostalgia that is painstakingly hard to miss.


Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    Altered Books
    Artists
    Artists' Books
    Asian Artists
    Asian Books
    Asian Paper
    Asian Typefaces
    Ceramics
    Collections
    Comics & Graphic Novels
    Designers
    Digital Art
    DIY
    Environmental Impacts
    Feminism
    Fore-Edge Painting
    Herbal
    History Of Paper
    History Of The Book
    History Of Type
    Illuminated Manuscripts
    Interviews
    Letterpress
    Letterpress Shops
    Marbling
    Museums
    On-demand Book Publishing
    Paper Fibers
    Papermaking
    Phoenix
    Photographic Artist Book
    Photography
    Photopolymer
    Pop-ups
    Portland
    Printmaking Techniques
    Rare Books
    Sculptural Paper
    Software
    Technology
    Type Foundry
    Typography
    Walter Hamady
    Watermarks
    Zines

ASU | Herberger Institute School of Art | Printmaking | Book Arts
Heather Green: [email protected]
​
Office: 45B |  Office hours: T 11:00–12:00 or by appointment

  • COURSE PAGES
  • LINKS/RESOURCES
  • STUDENT GALLERY
  • En | Space