Creative Explorations Vol #20: Studio visit with Park Seo Bo

A sketchbook/art journal prompt to support your art and creative practice.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

I’ve spent the best part of this week lying in bed {or on the couch}, as I battle a nasty throat infection and high fever. Through the fever haze, I’ve been binge watching studio visits and interviews with artists.

I love seeing where artists and create, and it’s fascinating to hear about their life and philosophy and experience of art. And I absolutely love putting together creative explorations based off of some of the inspiration I glean from soaking in their words.

We are going to begin this month’s creative exploration with a studio visit, and use that as a starting point for some explorations in our own art practice.

You’ll find some resources and sketchbook prompts and ideas to explore below. Enjoy!

Watch: Studio visit with Park Seo Bo

When Korean classical scholars were practicing calligraphy with their brush, ink, and ink sticks in their libraries, they weren’t trying to become artists. They were emptying themselves by way of infinitely repeating an action. By that point, I realized that one needed to empty oneself. But how do you do that?

PARK SEO BO

When we write in a notebook with ink and try to turn the page too quickly, it smudges. The ink hasn’t dried yet. So I use blotting paper to soak in all the ink. My painting has become somewhat like blotting paper. Nothing should emanate from the painting: the role of art in the future should evolve to absorb the viewer’s anguish and worries.

PARK SEO BO

While watching this video and listening to Park Seo Bo talk about his art and influences, I felt like I was listening to a Buddhist monk and philosopher talk about his painting practice. There’s a lot of richness in this short little video — things we can pull into our sketchbook explorations and perhaps into our journals, too.

Let’s see what threads we can pull from Park Seo Bo in our journals and sketchbooks this month.

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Ideas + suggestions

Explore the existential: I think most of us are plagued by existential questions now and then: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Why not take these questions to the sketchbook? How would you answer these questions through the medium of paint?

Contemplative art: Park Seo Bo’s Écriture series is characterized by repetitive pencil lines incised into paint, embodying a core philosophy of contemplative mark-making. How can you infuse a contemplative element into your own art? You can experiment with Park’s methodology, or consider your own favorite tools or supplies and see how/if they lend themselves to a more contemplative approach.

Empty yourself: Through his art practice, Park Seo Bo aimed to achieve “emptiness” through a meticulous process of reduction. While we may not want our art practice to help us achieve “emptiness”, there are times when we can benefit from a practice that will help us to empty out our mind and invite in a calmer, more grounded energy. How can you achieve that state of emptiness? Play with a few different ideas and options this month: you could try free writing, free drawing, making flowy lines, or…

Dive deeper: Explore some of the paintings from Park Seo Bo’s Ecriture paintings and learn more about the artist and his life here and here.

I look forward to seeing your take on this prompt! You can email your finished pieces to me on shinjinim@substack.com or share them on Notes if you use the Substack app. If you share on Instagram, tag me @moderngypsy.in

Like this prompt? Share it with your friends and invite them into our virtual studio. If you’re on the Substack app, you can tap on the like button or restack to Notes to let me know you enjoyed this post.