ART INTERNATIONAL ZURICH 2005

Cross-currents: Sixteen Artists from South Korea
Curated by Jay Gallery

Korean art has traditionally been susceptible to two tendencies, influence from abroad and a return to its own roots. These two tendencies are observable, for example, in 16th century Korean practice, where artistic expression was preoccupied with Chinese styles, and again in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it departed from the imitation of Chinese models to establish many new styles of its own (the landscapes of Chinkyoung, for example).

In the early 20th century Korean art again came under the domination of foreign influence, this time western in origin. The western influence on Korean art has persisted for about a century. For many years artists worked under the sway of French impressionism, until the American school of Abstract Expressionism came to dominate Korean art as a form of antithesis in competition with the early French influence.

In distinction to this westernizing tendency, beginning in the early 1990s Korean art has taken a new turn. This change has been generated both from within the so-called "western painting group" and from within a rival group pursuing more traditional painting. As if they had conspired with one another, both groups have produced complementary bodies of work, each mixing Korean with western tendencies in a somewhat impure amalgam.

Thus many artists belonging to the "western painting group" have borrowed elements from Korean tradition, while more traditional painters have absorbed many western elements, especially concepts. Though both these complementary tendencies have been obvious to most observers, there has as yet been found no precise way to define the phenomena.

Nor have all critics regarded these tendencies alone as the predominant tendencies within contemporary Korean art. Other earlier trends that have also reasserted themselves have seemed to some more important. In particular, there have been efforts to restore the tradition of the old tomb murals of ancient Korea (~668 A.C.) and of vanished traditions of folk art. Both activities were typical of 20th century revisionism.

In this exhibition we have chosen to present the present state of Korean contemporary art under the name "Cross-currents." Our intention is not to define, much less to prescribe, the cutting edge of Korean art today, but rather to reflect its complex diversity.

Text (Copyright): Young Jay Lee, Korean critic and curator of the Cross-currents, 2005