Korea South

Artist: Seo

* 1977 in Gwangju, Korea

1992 - 1996 Kwang-Ju secondary school of arts, Kwang-Ju

1996 - 2000 Examination at the Cho-sun university, Kwang-Ju

2001 - 2003 Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Masterstudent by Prof. Georg Baselitz

2004 Gwangju Biennale (Korea)

2005 Prag Biennale, National Gallery Prag (Czech Republic)

Beijing Biennale (China)

Several exhibitions a.o.:

in Berlin, Porto, Milan, New York, Seoul, Madrid und Paris

Interpretation

The manner in which the Buddy Bear is designed displays the traditional theory of five basic colours, which goes back to the fifth century - European Calendar -, the time when the name Korea (actually Ko-gu-ryo) came into being.

At that time, Korea's territory covered large parts of today's China.

The theory deals with the colours yellow, red, blue, black and white. They each have corresponding concepts, values and meanings in life.

Yellow (also gold) represents the middle, the earth, the center of life. The other basic colours are applied onto thís surface in the shape of clouds.

The colour red symbolizes the south, the sun, fire, light.

Blue is the symbol for the east and also stands for the spring, the tree and time.

Black and white are for the two seasons fall and winter. The colour of winter (black) is associated with the north and with water.

White is associated with the west and corresponds to the metal iron.

The bear is wearing striped shoes, decorated with pictures of animals, appearing as they do in contemporary Korean painting. With this, I hope to reach the little ones (childen) while also making a reference to the rich animal world found in mountainous Korea.

Seo

Sponsor: Samsung SDI Germany GmbH