《In and With: Contemporary Korean Art》

전시일자: 2010.10.22-12.12

장소: Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, Pennsylvania

참여작가: 김희숙, 김주리, 오수환, 서용선, 유봉상

Contemporary Korean art differs markedly not only from Western forms but other Asian ones as well. This exhibition asks what is distinctive about contemporary Korean art, but it does so by featuring the works of artists both In and artists With. Some of these artists live and work In the Republic of Korea, while others, like me, live or have lived elsewhere. The latter work With their relationship to Korean culture and nature, but from a distance. Yet even those artists who make their homes in South Korea relate their work to other traditions, Western and Eastern. Contemporary Korean art then is In and With, which means that it reflects on its proximity to and distance from its sources. While one exhibition and only a few artists can't possibly articulate these differences fully, I hope that my own work and the work of artists l've selected will allow unique and uniquely Korean voices to emerge between the In and the With.

Oh Su Fan and Suh Yong Sun are artists In Korean culture who find their uniqueness by observing Western culture. Oh Su Fan, whose father was a well-known calligrapher, grounds his work in calligraphy and its gestures as found in Shamanistic spiritualism and Zen Buddhism. He draws from his vast knowledge of Korean traditional and modern Western art to forge his own distinctive emotional and philosophical style, deeply rooted in Korean culture but also open to both Western influences and interpretations. Suh Yong Sun's work addresses history, socialism, colonialism, government occupation, and the tension between North and South Korea. Both the content and form of his work are distinguished by his return to figuration in the 1980s, its use a rarity among Korean artists at that time, most of whom were still under the influence of abstract expressionism. The work of Suh Yong Sun portrays the raging waves of conflict that characterize so much of Korean history and the struggles of the people who were swayed by them.

Juri Kim, Yoo Bong Sang, and I are artists With the culture who are influenced by long residencies in other countries. Having lived and traveled in many different countries, Juri Kim approaches visual languages as communication, enriched by her experiences outside Korea. Her obsessive mark making creates an original visual text with origins in cultural practices and legibility. Yoo Bong Sang grew up in Korea but lived in France for twenty years; as a result, there is a certain kind of French elegance in his work. My work has no precedent in formal Korean art traditions but does have origins in Korean folk culture and vernacular healing practices and images, radiating peaceful, meditative, and healing powers.

We represent a wide variety of styles and employ diverse techniques and materials. Works by Oh and Suh use traditional oil paint techniques. Yoo photographs Korean landscapes and converts these to large-scale digital prints from which he makes his paintings: the prints are punctured with nails from a nail gun to create the visual image. Juri Kim uses her own tools to make marks as texts. I use diverse printmaking techniques to create multiple layers of mark making and calligraphic gestures. These constitute a language that incorporates symbols, often with spiritual origins, along with abstract and figurative motifs.

The works in this exhibition are undoubtedly as contemporary as they are Korean. But history steeps their contemporaneity, just as other places and traditions contribute to what we now know as Korea. In and With: Contemporary Korean Art seeks to raise questions about the present and the political, cultural, and natural sources of Korean art, both foreign and domestic.

I would like to thank the Humanities Center staff, especially Matthew Callinan, Campus Exhibitions Coordinator; David Richardson, Gallery Intern; and John Muse, Exhibitions Faculty Liaison, for their help with this exhibition.

Hee Sook Kim

Assistant Professor

Department of Fine Arts

※ 출처: Hee Sook Kim, 《In and With: Contemporary Korean Art》 Leaflet, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, 2010