By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Chung Kook, a professor at the department of English in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, will exhibit several of his self painted Korean traditional paintings on the occasion of his retirement early next year.
His first exhibition, which contains around 25 pieces of work, will run from Oct. 3 to 9 at Kyung-in Museum of Fine Art in Seoul.
It is a time-honored practice in the academic world here that junior professors offer their tributes to an outgoing senior professor.
But the 65-year-old scholar broke the norm and decided to exhibit his paintings to express his gratitude to all the people who have supported him.
``I think that the practice imposes a burden on my colleagues and young professors. That's why I asked them not to do so,'' he said.
Even though I have taught something very Western like English, I have a keen interest in something very Korean, Chung said.
``I have painted Korean traditional paintings depicting mountains for about seven years. But it is still not easy for me to draw every single line in a picture,'' he said.
He has painted several pictures of mountains in South and North Korea and even in Europe.
He chose Mount Seorak in the South and Mount Geumgang in the North as best places for painting a picture.
``I think my current profession, which I have served for 40 years, is my calling,'' he said. ``Because I was always happy teaching students and studying and researching something new.''
He earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in English at Kyungpook National University and a doctorate degree in linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin in the U.S.
For more information on the exhibition, visit the Web site of Kyung-in Museum of Fine Art www.kyunginart.co.kr or call 02-733-4448.