Everything in the World: Withering, Blooming, and Living On

Cheongju Museum of Art special exhibition: Everything in the World – Withering, Blooming, and Living On (Everything in the World: Life, Time, Nature). The world we stand on is made of things we can see and things we cannot. Our world moves not only through matter we can sense but also through the workings of invisible things: from the microscopic world, such as air or tiny quanta that are real yet invisible to ordinary sight, to inner worlds such as faith and love. This world is full of principles and meanings that exist though we cannot see them. The 2026 Cheongju Museum of Art special exhibition Everything in the World – Withering, Blooming, and Living On presents the work of Kang Ho-saeng, Lee Yong-taek and Lee Hong-won, who have built solid bodies of work over more than 30 years while extending their activities beyond the Cheongju region to overseas. Through this exhibition, we hope to look at what fills this world even though it is not seen: the cycle of life and nature, time, and the reason and meaning of human life. Kang Ho-saeng awakens us to the principles of the world through things invisible to our eyes. His work begins with a question about 'blank space (yeobaek)'. Here, blank space does not mean simply empty space but a space where invisible 'life' exists. 'The greatness of invisible things', the theme of Kang's work, is about the truth that what we cannot see moves the world we see. This awareness is clearly revealed through the ink brushstrokes on his surfaces and the blank space surrounding them. That blank space is not simply empty; it is the 'invisible things' that fill it so that 'visible things' can exist and relate to one another. Kang's work asks the fundamental question 'What is life?' and holds 'invisible things' through 'blank space'. The visible and the invisible, presence and absence: everything harmonizes on the surface and ultimately leads to an awakening about the source of life. Our world, full of life, is a place where nature and people live together in harmony. In Lee Hong-won's signature work Geumsugangsan (Land of Splendid Rivers and Mountains), nature, people and animals play together as one. Nature in Lee's work is not scenery but the ground on which human life continues, and the people and animals in it are equal living beings included in the broad concept of nature. In particular, the series Magpie and Tiger – Steeped in the Scent of Flowers shown here depicts not a fearsome tiger but a tiger in harmony with flowers, speaking of the coexistence of the most fragile being (the flower) and a strong being (the tiger). In this way, nature (the world we live in) is a place where different beings form relationships and find balance. From the series Song of the Forest, capturing the 4 seasons of nature, to the series Hide and Seek, capturing nature's colors and the innocence of children, his surfaces express the order of the world, full of nature's balance and order, human joys and sorrows, coexistence and humor. Though we are different, we are all the same beings, standing and living here. The time we live in is a fleeting moment, and this world is no more than a point in time and space. Lee Yong-taek, who has explored the spirit of East Asian painting through ink and line, today expands the possibilities of painting by combining the camera with pencil drawing.