Park Seo-bo, a master of Korean dansaekhwa, believed that nature speaks in colors beyond words. He drew inspiration from the hues of his surroundings — from the orange of ripe persimmons and the green of spring leaves to the deep black of soot.
A pioneer of Korean contemporary art, Park rooted dansaekhwa, an art movement that emerged in Korea in the late 1960s, in the principles of repetition, emptiness and healing.
The late artist’s iconic "Ecriture" series — which evolved from early pencil works in the '60s to vivid color paintings inspired by nature on hanji, or Korean mulberry paper, in the 2000s — are digitally presented on LG OLED’s digital canvas at “Park Seo‑Bo x LG OLED TV: Colors Drawn from Nature.” The exhibition is part of Frieze Seoul 2025, which runs through Saturday at Coex in southern Seoul.
The self-lit pixels of LG OLED TVs render subtle shades and deep contrasts, allowing the master’s meditative palette to be faithfully conveyed on a digital screen.
Lining the gallery walls, the artist’s originals appear in dialogue with LG OLED screens, where his nature-inspired colors unfold across a digital canvas.
“We hope LG OLED, with its ability to render deep blacks and vibrant colors with exceptional accuracy, honors the legacy of Park Seo-bo’s colors borrowed from nature,” Kate Oh, head of Experiential Marketing at the LG Media Entertainment Solution Company, said in a statement.
At the center of the exhibition hall is a T-shaped installation featuring LG’s latest OLED evo G5 and M5 TVs, presenting a digitally reimagined artwork by Je Baak, art professor at Seoul National University. Baak used artificial intelligence to collect variations of autumn-leaf red as perceived by diverse individuals and reinterpreted them through Park’s Ecriture method.
LG OLED, the official headline partner of Frieze Seoul, has been collaborating with Korean art masters as part of the LG OLED art initiative under the motto, "We inspire art." In 2024, it presented works by the late Seo Se-ok, and in 2023, exhibited works by the late Kim Whan-ki. LG OLED has worked with more than 40 internationally acclaimed artists, including Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst and Kevin McCoy, according to LG.
Park Seung-ho, chairperson of the Parkseobo Foundation and son of the artist, told the press on Tuesday at the Park Seo-bo Foundation in Seoul that the collaboration with LG is meaningful for the artist as it is the foundation's first project since the artist's passing in October 2023.
“We have been observing the Korean tradition of jang, a three-year mourning period for one’s parents, which is why no solo or retrospective exhibition has been held since my father’s passing.
“This collaboration with LG emerged from a shared vision — their exploration of OLED technology’s artistic potential and our commitment to presenting my father’s art as a source of healing — creating a new dialogue between art and technology,” Park said.
The fourth edition of Frieze Seoul kicked off Wednesday with a VIP preview and runs through Saturday at Coex, southern Seoul. Together with Seoul-based art fair Kiaf Seoul, the two fairs bring together some 300 galleries across the world to the capital every year.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
