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¡ã Artist Byun Shi-ji. Image courtesy Gidang Gallery |
Jeju lost its most iconic painter, Byun Shi-ji, on June 8. Byun, 87, painted numerous works which displayed his deep understanding of and love affair with his island homeland. Recurrent themes included the horse, a lone man, stone house with thatched roof, crows overhead, and of course the ubiquitous sea with confining island boundaries clearly delineated; or, a solitary boat out to sea, with the radiant sun beating down, all in earth tones of gold and brown. Other iconic Jeju themes such as haenyeo occasionally made it into his works as well. Byun, who passed his childhood in the Jeju community of Japan and returned to his homeland as a young man, was one of only two Korean painters to have his work displayed in the Smithsonian.
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¡ã Haenyeo, by Byun Shi-ji. Image courtesy Gidang Gallery |
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