with Western modernism and this influence can be seen in his oil paintings that formalistically emulate Cubism and Art Informel. After graduating from Seoul National University, he made his debut at the 2nd Korean Art Exhibition in 1953. His piece, Sunset, was an oil painting that featured thickly applied paint and bold colors. His early work conveys the tragedy of war following Japanese Occupation/World War II and also his place in the world. In 1955 a painting, Workshop, painted in an academic style featured a scene from his artist studio to highlight his social status as a professional painter. Workshop won a special prize in the 4th National Art Exhibition. His 1958 work, Interrogation, shows the scars of war through the cracked surface of the paint and dark, reddish hues. Among other Tansaekhwa painters, Chung was also well-informed about American Abstract Expressionism, Art Informel, and Color Field Painting. His oil paintings more closely resemble the style of Art Informel due to their textured, rough application of paint and the gestural marks that evoke the lines of a sketch drawing. In the late 1960’s Chung created his Circle Series and Sympathy Series, which featured shapes and represented the idea of spiritual balance. He was still using oil paints at this time and a vibrant color palette which included blue, yellow, and red. These colors were referencing traditional Korean folk colors and the circular shapes represented the shape of Buddha’s halo. Nationalistic symbols and colors show the artist grappling with expressing Korean identity within art. In the 1970s he created his Return Series paintings which expanded his exploration of infinity, emptiness, and Korean materials. This series was characterized by black ink splotches or bleeds that brought atttention to the edges of hanji paper. He studied the techniques and materials of ink painting and applied it to his approach to abstraction. For example, he would use ink to make abstract marks on hanji (Korean mulberry paper). The placement of these marking would be atypical such as in Return (1979) where ink is only sparsely dotted along the outer rim of the paper. Chung and his other contemporaries, such as Lee Ufan, created a minimalist and meditative aethetic in their pieces which were inspired by the demure white porcelain forms made during the Joseon Era (1932-1910) and inspired by Confucian ideals. This connection is most pronounced in Chung’s titles such as “White Porcelain.” The