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Kukwon Woo channels the sacred spirit of Japanese waterfalls in a new multi-layered print.
Waterfall (Rōben) is one of several 2025 waterfall paintings by the Korean artist, fusing inspiration from Hokusai’s historic series, A Tour of Waterfalls in the Provinces (1833-1834), with quotes from the Bible. In this particular work, Woo inscribes a passage from Psalm 42: "Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me." The juxtaposition of the Japanese master’s Ukiyo-e style with Christian scripture creates what the artist describes as an "ironic narrative", where familiar Eastern imagery becomes a vessel for cross-cultural spirituality.
This richly textured, 13-layer archival pigment print honours the delicate beauty of traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking as well as Woo's contemporary conceptual vision.
To get closer to pure expression, Woo unlearned the habit of writing neatly. His messy script frames many of his canvases with phrases like “a baby is God’s opinion that life should go on” (Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love your tomorrow, 2021). At face-value, it expresses Woo’s excitement as a then father-to-be. However, the words betray their writer’s awareness of life cycles and religion, and therefore mortality and morality. While works like Rainbow is Illusion (2022) are overtly cynical, the lurking existential dread is always softened by the pastel colours and rag-doll texture of Woo’s painting. Like all good fabulists, he excels at the gentle push and pull between knowledge and innocence.
