Gyeongsang Province, b. unknown

Changyeol Gu translates the sensorial language of plants—acquired through growing up near lush fields and overgrown meadows—into a painterly language of his own. Observing how natural forms continually shift their appearance through colour and shape, the artist identifies mechanisms of seduction devised for reproduction and systems of protection evolved for survival. These elements are perceived not merely as formal characteristics of nature, but as autonomous languages in themselves. By radically enlarging or intensifying the structures through which plants communicate and endure—such as the arrangement of pistils and stamens, the colours and scents that attract pollinators, and the thorns and hairs evolved for defence—the artist summons onto the canvas the distinctive wonder of what he terms “speaking plants.”