Title of art	중 1/A Monk 1			Sector	Korean painting (한국화)
Art specifications	91?71cm			Material technique	Ink on cotton fabric
Collection year	2001			Production year	1982
Gallery	Seoul Museum of Art			Artist	Ahn, SungKeum
Description of art	One of Ahn’s early works, “Monk 1” (1982) expresses the desperate wish for an ideal world through the portrayal of a monk, demonstrating Ahn’s intense expressiveness in an equally intense manner. The monk, depicted using rough, thick application of brushstrokes and ink, sits cross-legged while holding a Buddhist rosary, his composure demonstrating his robust inner strength. According to Ahn, the monk does not represent a particular religion, but rather epitomizes the archetype of a truth-seeker in anguish. As the painter once remarked, “I see things with my spiritual eyes, not with my physical eyes. Therefore, my art is neither a question about art itself nor a subject of amusement. It comes with agony and hard labor and represents my testimony and confession of the human world, as perceived through my spiritual eyes.” (Ahn Sung-keum) The icon of the high Buddhist priest is intended to express the strong mental fortitude of a truthseeker who suffers in agony alone in these dark times, as well as Ahn’s sincerest wish for people living in this world to see it through an “awakened consciousness.”
Address	61, Deoksugung-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul			Source	Seoul Metropolitan Government