Youn Myeung-Ro was internationally recognized as an abstract painter for his unique style by the early 1960s. His practice led him to create a series of abstract oil paintings on copper plates and wood boards that were filled with primitive tension with the tableaus mostly in dark greys, bright bluish-greens of oxidizing copper, and reds of iron-oxide. These fundamental and profound hues resulted in Youn’s unique “vague totemic or tattoo patterns” which demonstrate how the artist is deeply inspired by the supernaturality of ancient culture.

In the 1970s, with a series of works featuring “tortoise shell crack” shapes, Youn Myeung-Ro’s works began to reflect on the ontological realism in his painting. As seen in ...