Park Chul-Hwan is a famous still-life painter, with a Master of Painting from Hongik University Graduate School of Fine Arts in Seoul, Korea. The Korean artist has held 42 Solo Exhibitions in Seoul, Tokyo, China, Switzerland, Venezuela and New York.
Park’s 1st Solo Art Exhibition in Singapore was held from July 4-15 this year, which attracted the attention of many art lovers and seasoned collectors. By popular request, Da Tang Fine Arts is holding another art exhibition for Park this month, in conjunction with Korea’s National Day.
Park’s still-life paintings are of such vivid realism that one nearly expects his flower blooms to exude a fragrance like their real-life counterparts. One recalls the legendary Korean painter Solgeo, whose painting of a pine tree on a temple wall was so real that it lured birds to nest. Like Solgeo, Park is a true artist of realism.
The majority of Park’s artworks are classic and traditional in their expression, particularly in composition and selection of motifs, such as his use of red roses or white magnolias in ceramic vases. His extremely realistic painting style resembles that of still-life master Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin.
Park spent most of his childhood living by the sea. As a result, his affinity with the majestic sea and its beautiful sunsets is clearly manifested in his Waves series. His colour control is superb, and the sun’s rays appear to be shining from his artwork even without the aid of spotlights to enhance the painting.
At 50 years, Park is still considered fairly young in the artistic realm, yet he has already achieved international recognition for his work. Park’s artwork indeed has very high artistic and investment value. In July, a young collector (first-time buyer of Park’s artwork) bought five of his pieces.
The prices of Park’s artwork range from S$2,000 to S$29,000. Most are in the range of S$6,000 to S$9,000.
Howard Yu is the director of Da Tang Fine Arts Enterprise Pte. Ltd. (www.datangfinearts.com)
