Posoon Park Sung

A life of painting (1947 - 2014)

Posoon Park Sung was born in Seoul, S. Korea in 1947 and received her BFA at Hong-Ik University, Seoul, in 1971. She earned her MFA in painting from Penn State University in 1983, studying under and later befriending Richard Mayhew.

Despite her diagnosis with breast cancer in 1991, Posoon continued to teach and paint for another 23 years. While she was actively working, she displayed her art in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the U.S., New York City, Tokyo, and Seoul.

Also an educator, Posoon spent 30+ years of her life as a fine arts professor, including at the University of Tampa and Incheon Catholic University.

Posoon's passion for life and 'art as therapy' kept her painting until the end of her journey. She had her final solo show, “Beyond,” at June Kelly Gallery, NYC in November of 2013 before passing away from breast cancer the following summer in Seoul.

Art “in another time and space”

“Posoon’s paintings have a very unique, distinct, sensitive quality, which is both elusive and mesmerizing. The symbolic mystique of her paintings is in the combination of eastern and western art. She successfully absorbed the western art form and integrated it with her Korean culture, which evolved into its own unusual, mystical art form.

The unparalleled attribute in Posoon’s paintings is in its inspiring, sensitive, and poetic moods. The paintings often appear to be in another time and space, a sacred space.”

– Richard Mayhew (American artist, b. 1924 - 2024)