In Works from Reminiscence, Cha Hyeon-Uk combines the tradition of Korean ink painting with a contemporary conception of landscape. On hanji, the mountain landscape emerges through concentrations, washes, and traces of black ink. Rather than depicting a specific place, the landscape is reconstructed from memory and imagination. Traditional forms of Korean mountain-and-water painting remain recognizable, yet are dissolved and transformed into an increasingly abstract pictorial structure. Between deep black, subtle shades of grey, and the white of the paper, a landscape of remarkable spatial and meditative intensity emerges.

Thus, in Cha’s work, nature becomes less a topographical description than an inner image – a landscape of memory.