Blue Umber 1979

Yun Hyong-keun made this large painting, Blue Umber, using oil on canvas. He was a South Korean artist who participated in the Dansaekhwa movement, an abstract style of painting that promoted the physical properties of the painting’s surface. In the socio-political context of South Korea, paintings like this reacted against the legacy of modernism and colonialism. The visual language, characterized by the monochrome, alludes to cultural values such as nature, emptiness, and spirituality. Yun was imprisoned for protesting against the Park Chung-hee regime in the 1970s, and his minimalist art carries this political association as an act of resistance. The work itself creates meaning through its texture and lack of representational imagery, encouraging the viewer to meditate on the materials. Understanding the social and institutional contexts of art can be difficult but it is essential work. Using resources such as exhibition catalogues, artists' biographies, and historical research can help us better understand the meaning of art as contingent on social and political context.