Ha Chong-Hyun: Absolute Freedom
“They are delicious. You’ll see.”
Soyoung Lee, the museum’s director and CEO, said this as we entered the first exhibition room. Honestly, I thought it was a bit of a hook. Then I stood in front of the last painting in the show, and I understood what she meant.
It was a typical San Francisco day: windy, with grand old buildings around City Hall and a crowd of fans lining up for a K-pop concert, yet the street still felt rough. We slipped into the Asian Art Museum, where a retrospective of the Korean artist Ha Chong-Hyun is on view.
Ha Chong-Hyun is 91 now, yet the energy of his recent work feels fresh and contemporary as that of young artists, while carrying the depth of long mastery. Some of it even reminded me of a Chanel tweed jacket: a classic that keeps renewing itself.
Conjunction 25-19, 2025, by Ha Chong-Hyun. Oil on hemp cloth. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by An Chunho
Installation view of Ha Chong-Hyun_ Retrospective, fall 2026. © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Photograph by Kevin Candland
Every viewer will feel something different, but what I felt was a positive calm. There are rich textures, repetitive motions, and, of course, colors. A lot is going on, yet everything works together toward one direction: aliveness.
Look closer, and the drips and the flow seem to be still moving, as if the artist’s hand is still at work. It’s like a motion picture. That, I think, is what Soyoung Lee meant by “delicious.”
Installation views of Ha Chong-Hyun_ Retrospective, fall 2026. © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Photograph by Kevin Candland
Now, do you want to know the story behind the scenes?
When Ha started out in the 1960s, his interest was in what makes Korean painting Korean, not Western. He was a founding member of the Korean Avant-Garde Association (AG), at an important moment for modern art worldwide. In Korea, after Japanese colonization and the Korean War, political upheaval and suppression followed. The chaos and poverty didn’t break his spirit. They shaped his artistic identity.
Installation view of Ha Chong-Hyun_ Retrospective, fall 2026. © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Photograph by Kevin Candland
Ha has been drawn to ordinary materials. Early on, instead of canvas, he used burlap sacks that had carried relief goods sent from the US after the war. In the 1970s he developed his signature method, back-pressure painting (배압법). Instead of painting on the front of the canvas, he starts from the back, pushing oil paint through the weave, then finishes on the front. It was a reversal of painting, both literal and metaphorical. And it was only the beginning. He carved ridges, used chisels, even took a torch to the surface.
Detail of Conjunction 22-121, 2022, by Ha Chong-Hyun. Oil on hemp cloth. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Chunho An
Conjunction 22-121, 2022, by Ha Chong-Hyun. Oil on hemp cloth. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Chunho An
“When I set my mind to trying something new, I just start to experiment. It’s similar to baking or pottery. The key is choosing from what already exists, while also giving myself absolute freedom of choice.” - Ha Chong-Hyun
That physicality is shared with Dansaekhwa (단색화), the Korean monochrome painting movement of the 1970s, where he is now often placed. Those artists developed a genre without knowing it. Rather than creating an image, they used the canvas as a space to practice discipline and explore materials. Time and labor became their natural language.
Conjunction 26-14, 2026, by Ha Chong-Hyun. Oil on hemp cloth. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by An Chunho
On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature was announced. I watched a short interview with this year’s laureate, Anne Carson. She said, “Attention to details leads you somewhere truer than generalizing.” She was talking about getting to know the ordinary people in her boxing class, and how she gradually noticed that each one was unique and warm.
Installation view of Ha Chong-Hyun_ Retrospective, fall 2026. © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Photograph by Kevin Candland
I think of Ha. Burlap, hemp cloth, paint, ashes… these ordinary materials have found their own space in his works. His gesture, labor, and devotion bring them to one direction: newness.
In the end, how old he is, how long he has been at it, or which materials he used don't matter. What matters is his unbreakable spirit for the new, and therein lies a hope and freedom.
That may be why we find refuge in his work, as he has found his.
Ha Chong-Hyun: Retrospective, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, through Jan 25, 2027.
-
By JŌDE Team · Front image: Detail of Conjunction 25-19, 2025, by Ha Chong-Hyun. Oil on hemp cloth. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by An Chunho.