Sky High to the Blue

Although Kwon Ki-Soo's works are often categorized as Pop Art for their exuberant colours, simplified flower patterns and a cartoonish character, his art creation is deeply rooted in East Asian literati tradition. As his 2009 Would you wait for Green? (Lot 659) and 2011 Sky High to the Blue (Lot 658) exemplify, Kwon's works are well known for the patterns extracted from the Four Gracious Plants, long-lasting themes in traditional Asian painting, and his trademark charming smiling character, Dongguri, reminiscent of Taoist hermit. In Would you wait for Green?, the Dongguri is joyfully standing alone on the Earth, where plum flowers and bamboo trees, which symbolize unyieldingly noble beliefs and principles in the traditional painting, are outgrown to universe. Kwon's concept that the ideal can be found in everyday life is embodied in his signature ideograms of plums, bamboo and the Dongguri together. In Sky High to the Blue, many Dongguris are flying sky, celebrating their freedom with the Plum flowers. He borrows multiple motifs from a long history of traditional Asian painting and reinvents them into his own ideograms in order to express modern sensitivity and to convey his message of the hope for the future.

Kwon Ki-Soo received his BFA and MFA from Hong-Ik University, Seoul in 1996 and 1998. Kwon had more than 20 solo shows globally and has been actively participating in numerous international exhibitions at the notable institutes such as La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Museum of Art and Design, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Mori Museum of Art, Tokyo, among numerous others.