One of the most significant Korean artists of the twentieth century, Yun Hyong-keun (1928-2007) was born in Miwon-ri, Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea and received his BFA from the School of Fine Arts at Hongik University, Seoul in 1957. During the 1960s, he became associated with the influential Tansaekhwa (monochromatic painting) movement of Korean artists who experimented with the physical properties of painting and prioritized technique and process. The scarcity of materials following the Korean War (1950-1953) and the country’s relative isolation from the international art world led the artists to construct their own sets of rules and structures in relation to abstraction. Using a restricted palette of ultramarine and umber, Yun created his distinctive compositions by adding layer upon layer of paint onto raw canvas or linen, often applying the next coat before the last one had dried. He then diluted the pigments with turpentine solvent, allowing them to seep into the fibers of the support, staining it in a similar way to traditional ink on absorbent paper. Working directly on his studio floor, he produced simple arrangements of intensely dark, vertical bands surrounded by untouched areas. The division was softened by the blurred edges caused by the uneven rates of absorption of oil and solvent, and the compositions often developed over several days, even months, with the artist adding further layers or letting the pigments bleed out gradually. Yun visited New York in 1974, where he encountered the work of American postwar artists including Mark Rothko, which led him to further explore ways to divide pictorial space. His paintings from the mid-1970s and the 1980s revolve around a play between presence and absence, with unmarked areas characterized as intervals rather than dematerialized voids. The inherent physicality of his works, in turn, impressed artists such as Donald Judd, who invited Yun to exhibit at his spaces on Spring Street in New York and in Marfa, Texas (Chinati Foundation) during the 1990s in what would be the artist’s first solo presentations in the United States. The artist’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at prominent institutions worldwide, including the Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (1994); Stiftung für konkrete Kunst, Reutlingen, Germany (1997); Musée d’Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg (2002); and Art Sonje Museum, Gyeongju, Korea (2002). Other notable solo exhibitions have been held at Inkong Gallery, Daegu, Korea (1986); Gallery Ueda, Tokyo (1990); Gallery Hyundai, Seoul (1996); Blum & Poe, New York; and PKM Gallery, Seoul (both 2015). In 2018, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul hosted a major solo exhibition of the artist’s work that is traveling to the Palazzo Fortuny in Venice (on view from May 11 through November 24, 2019). Yun’s work has been included in the São Paulo Biennial (1969 and 1975); the 46th Venice Biennale (1995); and the Gwangju Biennale (2000). The artist has also been the recipient of awards including the 5th Korean Fine Art Grand-Prix Exhibition (1978). Work by the artist is represented in permanent collections internationally, including the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas; Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. Since 2016, David Zwirner has represented the work of Yun Hyong-keun in New York. In 2017, the artist’s work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the gallery.