Korean Art from 1953-present
Brief survey based on the anthology "Korean Art from 1953: Collision, Innovation, Interaction" by Yeon Shim Chung, Sunjung Kim, Kimberly Chung, Keith B. Wagner
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Last month the Korean Cultural Center in Canada organized two short online lectures offered by Prof. Kimberly Chung from McGill University on Korean Art from 1953 until the present day.
Both lectures were extremely interesting and have provided an insight into the development of Korean Modern Art in the last 70 years. Prof. Chung co-edited and worked on an anthology book titled “Korean Art from 1953: Collision, Innovation, Interaction”, published in 2020, which has served as the main guide for these lecture series.
The first lecture analyses and explains artistic changes and patterns from 1953 until 1987 and focuses on modernism and modernity movements.
The second lecture analyzes artistic movements from 1988 to the present. The year 1988 represented a very important turning point for the democratization of South Korea after many decades of military regimes. With that, came many changes in Korean society that became characterized through various artistic movements with an international focus that underlined globalization.
The book has also sought to incorporate various movements that have shaped Korean Art after the Japanese occupation and the division into North and South Korea.
Although the series covers art movements from 1953 onwards, the first painting chosen to represent these changes is from 1936, titled “The Spring Scene” by Kim Junghyun. This was chosen as being representative of the endurance of Korean culture and how it was carried forward, even during the times when Korea was still a colony of Imperial Japan.
It was also mentioned that throughout the colonial period, the Joseon Period exhibition was held every year from 1922 to 1944. I personally found this to be a demonstration of the incredible resilience of the Korean people to preserve their rich cultural heritage despite the complex socio-political aspects present during those years.
“Seated woman” by Park Sookeun (1963) and “People” by Lee Ungno (1985) showcase the struggle of the Korean people under strict military regimes and the need to find an identity.
The student demonstration in 1960 that led to the resignation of the first-ever President of the Korean Republic, started a generational change to break away from the past and led to many political upheavals and civil unrest. There were many street demonstrations and art exhibits that were organized by Korean artists in an attempt to express their frustrations.
One particular exhibit, titled “Happening with the Vinyl Umbrella and Candle” by the Zero Group and Shinjeon members, was the first of its kind in Korea. The movements in the show were orderly to begin with, but the exhibition also required audience member participation and ended in a very entropic manner - a success back then.
Further, we see the impacts of the changes in the urban environment in South Korea in the 1970s. This was emphasized through monochromatic art called Dansaekhwa (which translates as “to paint in monochrome”) and the color white was particularly used.
The art is modern in nature and uses many flat elements in paintings. It is meant to exhibit informality and randomness in the art form. Artists also used other materials for their art such as pencils, rollers and hanji paper (traditional Korean paper). At the start of the 1980s, there were many conflicts in South Korea against the political regimes at that time. The Minjung movement was particularly complex and involved many socio-political layers, which were showcased in many art forms and mediums.
In addition, during those years, there was an emergence of ads, posters and artforms that portrayed the reality of the rapidly developing economy in South Korea. “Marketing V - Picture of Hell” by Oh Yoon in 1980 is particularly poignant in showcasing how much life had changed in this new world. The first lecture ends with a powerful photograph taken in 1953 where a man is leaning against a wall with a sign that says “looking for work” (written in Chinese characters). This is powerful as it shows the speed with which life was beginning to change due to modernity and the industrial development happening at that time, and the impact it had on people’s lives, especially the ensuing poverty. By the same token, we see a contrasting photograph that depicts daily life in Seoul where two people are playing Go, an ad meant to promote Seoul as a global tourist destination.
Moving on to the second part of the lecture series, now focused on artistic movements from 1988 until the present day. The lecture starts with North Korean Artwork. “A Farm’s Evening Road” by Heo Young in 1965 and “A Love Left in the Hut” by Kim Sang-jik in 1977, showcase how North Korean artists viewed life after the separation of North and South Korea. Farm life and the traditional Korean wear (hanbok) are depicted in these paintings.
After decades of political agitation, at the end of the 1980s and moving into the 1990s there were many important turning points in South Korea, especially big economic growth.
The 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics showcased South Korea to the world and, therefore, Korea’s global image was brought into focus. Many restrictions that were placed on civilians were lifted as of 1988, and new freedoms emerged. Many artists started returning to Korea from overseas and one such artist was Nam June Paik. “Video time, video space” presented at the 1992 Seoul Exhibition is directly indicative of these changes, such as the rise of television and advertising methods. Many elements of the Western culture have inspired these new artists and have found their way into modern day Korean daily life.
The culture of consumerism was starting to emerge in artistic forms. The Gwangju Biennale, Busan Biennale and Media City Seoul in 1995 saw artists create mega art exhibits in a way that crossed cultural aspects and embraced transnationalism.
Starting in the 1980s, Korean Feminist Arts started to emerge. “Even if I had 10 hands” by Eun Suknam in 1985, looks at the changing roles of women in the new Korean society. The use of nude female body is used to showcase the compromised female sexuality in postwar Korea. In the 1990s and 2000s, many Western influences impacted how feminist artists use repressive imagery of the female body of Korean women in a patriarchal society.
As a side note, I have personally found these images very poignant because they show the struggles that women had and still have to go through due to the immense expectations placed on them and the roles they undertake in society. From taking care of children and the home, to working to secure additional income, while maintaining a certain figure to be appealing to their husbands. I think that the painting “Even if I had 10 hands” was as accurate in 1985 as it is in the present day.
The lecture then moved on to discuss media arts from the 1980s until the present day. Media was seen as a medium of communication and the television itself, as an object, was depicted as a connection that allows for communication to take place. Various exhibits took place in Seoul with the television as the central focal point used by artists to impart their message.
The lecture ends with chapters on the relocation and dislocation of Korean people. Art in the form of images and photographs depicts immigration, nomadism, and travelling, which impacted the lives of Koreans in the late 1980s until now. Many Korean-American artists who immigrated to the USA, created artwork that incorporated elements such as racial issues and hybridity for Korean immigrants. Aspects of multiculturalism, modernization and nationalism were used in various art forms that challenge the idea behind the Korean identity in an ever-emerging landscape.
Thank you for reading.
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