Celebrated Korean artist Ha Chong-Hyun presents his latest major exhibition, Light Into Color, at Château La Coste in Provence. The series of paintings, all made within the last three years, contemplates light, space, and time.
Tadao Ando’s Gate, a tall, minimalist concrete structure, marks the entrance to Château La Coste, the sprawling estate located on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence. Vineyards, award-winning restaurants, an auberge, and a private villa spread out across 200 hectares in one of the oldest wine-making regions in France. Art, however, defines the Château La Coste experience. Scattered across the grounds, amid lavender shrubs, rows of cypresses, olive groves, and pine trees, site-specific pieces and striking pavilions by some of the world’s most renowned artists and architects elevate a visit to this domaine, transforming it into a multi-sensory experience.
The clear glass doors of the Renzo Piano Pavilion slide open to a bright, spacious gallery. The low, cool temperature, essential for storing wines underneath, offers a very welcome respite from the wilting heat that had engulfed Southern Europe in that last week of June. Through summer to September 1, 2025, the pavilion will host the major exhibition, Light Into Color, by the celebrated Korean artist Ha Chong-Hyun.
Now 90, Ha Chong-Hyun is recognized as one of the key figures of Dansaekhwa, the Korean Monochrome Painting Movement. Danseakhwa, a term coined in 2000, collectively refers to a generation of artists working in South Korea during the late 1960s and 1970s, a period of political upheaval in the nation’s history. This loose association of artists includes Lee Ufan and Park Seo-Bo, among others. Their quiet, contemplative abstractions emphasized meditative process and the use of humble, readily available materials. These deceptively simple works drew heavily from Eastern philosophies; their calm, muted palettes a subtle protest against the chaos and unrest that then gripped their homeland.
While Dansaekhwa shares aesthetic sensibilities with certain Western movements of the time, notably Minimalism and Arte Povera, it remained under the radar of the global art world. In the mid-2010s, major exhibitions in Seoul and Los Angeles, as well as the 2015 Venice Biennale, finally brought it overdue recognition.
In this exhibit in Provence, Ha Chong-Hyun presents twelve Conjunctions, his signature works on burlap. Conjunctions refers to a series that the artist began experimenting with fifty years ago, employing a process called bae-ap-bub, or back pressure method. It entails repeatedly pushing and pressing paint from behind the rough hemp, allowing for it to bleed through and create textured surfaces.
Ha has previously described Conjunctions as the essence of his work, the coming together of paint, burlap, and the repetitive, meditative performance of bae-ap-bub.
“It’s so special to see Mr. Ha’s paintings, which embody color and light so beautifully, presented in an exhibition space designed by Renzo Piano, an architect who has such a remarkable command of light and space,” remarks New York gallerist Tina Kim. Her eponymous gallery, in collaboration with the Korean powerhouse Kukje Gallery, organized the exhibition.
“Paddy McKillen, the Irish art collector who owns Chateau La Coste, has a deep interest in Asia and travels there frequently. In 2022, he opened a sister hotel to Villa La Coste in Kyoto, designed by Tadao Ando. He is a dear friend, and this is not our first collaboration; in 2016 and 2021, respectively, Paddy invited Lee Ufan and Park Seo-Bo to stage exhibitions at Château La Coste.
We had been discussing an exhibition for Ha Chong-Hyun since his last exhibition in Venice in 2022. I wanted to do a show in the magnificent Renzo Piano Pavilion, so we waited for the right timing. We invited Mr. Ha to stage a new exhibition during a special time, when Aix-en-Provence is celebrating the enduring legacy of Cézanne with a series of exhibitions and events that will draw more visitors to the historic city,” Kim says.
Like Cézanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso, historical artists drawn to the South of France, Ha has allowed the light, colors, and blue of the Mediterranean to permeate his work. The array of paintings, all made within the last three years, includes infusions of deep blues and an unexpected splash of vermilion.
“The light and air of southern France are more than mere natural elements—they are a quiet force that has long awakened the senses of artists, shaping their vision and craft,” the exhibit notes quote Ha. “Walking through this landscape, I have seen how light carves into color, how forms dissolve and reemerge with the wind. As a professor, I returned here with my students each year, not just to observe, but to experience how art and place intertwine, how time leaves its quiet imprints.”
Ha Chong-Hyun’s exhibition opened just as the war in the Middle East escalated, forcing Qatar, one of Asia’s key gateways to Europe, to close its airspace, wreaking havoc for travelers. World events seem to provide a sobering echo of the political unrest that first shaped Dansaekhwa and Ha’s early practice. Half a century later, in this light-filled space overlooking a still pool of water, one finds tranquility in his works. The exhibition offers calm from global turmoil, just as it provides shelter from the debilitating heatwave outside.
“My practice of ‘conjunction’ is not simply about assembling materials but about tracing the echoes of time, allowing surfaces to breathe with history,” the exhibition notes quote Ha. “At Château La Coste, I hope my works will not only exist within the space but become part of its rhythm, engaging with its air, light, and memory. What we see is fleeting, but meaning unfolds in layers, revealing itself over time. This exhibition is a crossing point, where my lifelong inquiry meets the quiet persistence of this land.”
