Ashley Rawlings

HA CHONG-HYUN IN JAPAN

This is the first monograph to focus on Ha Chong-hyun’s relationship with Japan. Widely recognized as a pioneering figure in postwar Korean art and a central force in the Dansaekhwa movement, Ha’s pivotal role in postwar Korean art has been extensively documented. He pioneered monochromatic expression in painting with his iconic Conjunction series, begun in 1974, in which oil paint is pushed through coarse hemp canvas from the reverse side before being manipulated with brushes, palette knives, and various other tools.

Edited by Ashley Rawlings, this volume examines the lesser-known background of Ha’s childhood as a Korean expatriate in Japan, his encounter with the Tokyo art world in the early 1970s through Lee Ufan, and his later reception into Japanese institutions and collections. It brings together new scholarship by Kenji Kajiya tracing Ha’s artistic dialogue with Mono-ha; the first Japanese and English translations of Ha’s 1972 essay on the Japanese art scene; newly translated catalogue texts by influential critics Toshiaki Minemura and Yūsuke Nakahara; and the first detailed chronology of Ha’s activities in Japan. Richly illustrated with rare archival materials, installation views, and never-before-seen photographs, this bilingual monograph sheds new light on the transnational currents that shaped contemporary art in East Asia.

Hardcover; 168 pages, illustrated in black & white and color
Texts in Japanese and English
Published by BLUM Books, Los Angeles, 2025
ISBN: 978-0-9987360-9-9
25.8 x 19.2 x 2 cm

FEATURED WORKS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

EXTRACTS

Click here to download PDF.

• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Selected works exhibited in Japan
• Introduction to Primary Sources section
• Author biographies