Biography

조영남

趙英男,

Cho Young-nam (1945-)

Born in 1945 in Namcheon of Hwanghae-do, Hwasoo Cho Young-nam studied vocal music at Seoul National University and debuted as a singer in 1968 with a pop song titled Delilah. In 1971 around the time he had to serve in the army, Cho began to study painting on his own and had his first solo show in 1973 at Hankook Gallery located in Insa-dong, then held 50 more solo shows and participated in over 600 group exhibitions. Actively working as “a painting singer", Cho’s career of having been a pop singer despite majoring in the most traditional field of vocal music resembles his identity as a painter who advocates “Pop art with Korean sentiment”. However, behind his achievements, there must have been an endeavor to cultivate his own originality in admiration toward “the brilliance of Lee Sang”.