CLASSIFIED — Subject: Byun Shi-Ji
Surveillance summary
Typed — one carbon copy
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Entry 1
1926. Born in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, Korea.
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Entry 2
1931. Emigrated with family to Osaka, Japan.
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Entry 3
1948. Grand Prize, Kofukai Exhibition, Japan. Youngest recipient on record.
Thereafter formed extensive relations across Japanese cultural circles and the Korean community in Japan. -
Entry 4
Multiple gatherings confirmed, Ginza. Purpose of gatherings — ▮▮▮▮▮▮
The blank the file left empty 1 / 3
It was a celebration. The man who bought his paintings; the people who shared hot soup with him. In the blank the file left empty, there was talk of painting, and a warm meal.
Source — official chronology · lifetime recollections -
Entry 5
1957. Abandoned all standing and position in Japan; abrupt return to Korea. Motive — ▮▮▮▮▮▮
The blank the file left empty 2 / 3
He left every position behind and came home. He never explained at length. He wanted to paint in the light and language of his homeland. That was all.
Source — official chronology (returned 1957) · family testimony -
Entry 6
1975. Closed his Seoul life; relocated to Jeju Island. Motive — ▮▮▮▮▮▮
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Entry 7
Note. Subject has painted nothing since relocating. — Surveillance to continue.
Byun Shi-Ji, Jeju period — a field in the color of dried grass; a small boat on the horizon line; a pony drawn in white; stone walls and a thatched hut; a bowed figure leaning on a cane
The state could never fill three blanks.
The answer was not in a document. It was in the paintings.
"Life was exile; art was blessing."
About this pageThis file is a staged device adapted from the opening of the film The Color of Dried Grass. It is not a real document. Its entries are grounded in the official chronology and recorded oral testimony; the agency is unidentified by design. ©Byun Joung Hoon · ARTSHIJI