Though the seven artists in Pacific Abstractions cannot be defined by a single artistic movement or school, they share a thoughtful exploration of materials, process, and form. Attention to the properties and possibilities of media such as paint, graphite, charcoal ink, canvas, paper, wood, and glass are on breathtaking display. In almost every artwork, the inscription of time—the durational aspect of making—is subtly perceptible. Unlike the industrial logic of some abstract practices, an organic and tactile sensibility infuses every work in the exhibition.

Notably, the artworks in Pacific Abstractions were all made outside the geographic locations that have long centered critical discourses about postwar abstract art. Until recently, major figures of postwar Korean and Japanese art were almost completely absent from English language scholarship, with textbooks of contemporary art heavily weighted towards developments in New York and Europe. Perhaps for this reason, there is a freshness to these works that feels both challenging and decisive—a creativeness with materials, leading to unique formal vocabularies. Using the most basic tenets of abstraction (color, gesture, shape, line), the works speak to each other about the uncharted possibilities of abstraction—conversations one can imagine crossing back and forth across the Pacific.

Kazuo Kadonaga was born in 1946 in Ishikawa, Japan. His work is informed by his family’s forestry background; early in his career, Kadonaga began experimenting with wood in his father’s sawmill. To make Wood No. 5 CI, 1984, the artist used a veneer slicer to cut a cedar log into paper-thin layers, allowing the slices to dry before gluing them back together. For his large-scale Glass No. 4 J, 1999, he directed a carefully controlled stream of molten glass into a custom-built, temperature controlled kiln to create a monumental yet organic form that required cooling for four months before being moved. Kadonaga’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Japan. His work is in museum collections including the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, and the Honolulu Museum of Art. After spending time in Los Angeles earlier in his career, he now lives and works in Ishikawa, Japan.

Lee Bae was born in 1956 in Cheongdo, Korea. In all his work, Lee pays homage to the remarkable transformation of wood into charcoal—a process he likens to the cyclical nature of life and death. After utilizing charcoal as his exclusive material for decades, in recent years Lee has adopted charcoal ink to make his masterful Brushstroke series, using large calligraphy brushes to track the movements of his body. Though spontaneous in appearance, the works are the result of numerous sketches to find the perfect tempo and movements, and require intense focus given the irrevocability of each ink stroke. Lee received both his BFA and MFA from Hongik University in Seoul. In addition to being represented in museum collections worldwide, he is a recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres. His solo exhibition La Maison de La Lune Brûlée is currently on view at the Wilmotte Foundation in Venice, Italy, in conjunction with the 60th Venice Biennale. He lives and works between Paris and Seoul.

Yunhee Min was born in 1962 in Seoul, Korea. Her work exists at the intersection of color, material, space, and support. Early in her career, Min interrogated the conceptual possibilities of abstraction; her “mistints” series, for example, utilized rejected custom-mixed house paints from the returns section of stores such as Home Depot, bringing a chance structure and readymade logic to her color selections. For Pacific Abstractions, Min is exhibiting her Small paintings for the first time. These study-like canvases—her painted equivalent to sketches—carry the lightness and freedom of an artist exploring the behavior of paint and the interaction of color using a range of tools and modes of application. Min has undertaken large-scale installations including the Hammer Projects lobby at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and she is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for Fine Art. She received her BFA from Art Center of College and Design in Pasadena, and her MA from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. A faculty member in the Department of Art at the University of California Riverside, Min lives and works in Los Angeles.

Park Seo-Bo was born in 1931 in Yé-Cheon, Gyeongsangbuk-Do, Korea. A seminal figure of Korean art, Park is known as one of the founders of Dansaekhwa—loosely translated as “monochrome painting”—an art movement that emerged in Korea during the mid 1970s. Park is celebrated for his sensitive and ethereal use of materials such as pencil, oil, and hanji paper—a paper handmade from mulberry bark that carries cultural significance in Korea due to its extensive use in contexts ranging from ancient Korean manuscripts to wall and door coverings. To make Écriture No. 160902, 2016, and Écriture No. 990401, 1999, Park applied pulp from hanji paper mixed with pigment to the surface of his canvases, building delicate yet durable ridges that reflect color and light in subtle and unexpected ways. One of the most acclaimed artists of his generation, Park’s work is represented in museum collections worldwide. He died in Seoul in 2023.