ART INTERNATIONAL ZURICH 2007

Art from South Korea

Ein grosser Bereich wird auch dieses Jahr wieder der zeitgenössischen koreanischen Kunst gewidmet. Zum siebten Mal in Folge ist eine der ältesten Galerien Seouls, die JUNG GALLERY im Kongresshaus anzutreffen.

Jung Gallery richtet in Seoul grosse internationale Ausstellungen aus, unter anderem die Korea-India exchange exhibitions, oder die China-Taiwan-Korea exchange exhibitions.

Zum dritten Mal dabei ist auch die GALLERY HARI aus Seoul mit einer neuen Auswahl junger koreanischer Malerei und Fotografie.

Global exploration of the Korean new generation artists

By Young Jay Lee, Curator of HARI Gallery

Taking advantage of the trend of a big leap of Chinese avant-garde in the world art market, Korean art is also getting exposed to the world every so often. For a long time, Korea had been called a 'hermit kingdom', and isolated from the world. But not any longer. The new generation is now getting open up a road.

Even a few decades ago, Korean contemporary art was not known to the world, though they had a great figure like 'Nam Jun Paik', who was exceptional as he grew overseas. But nowadays it is getting a mere commonplace to hear some other Korean contemporary artists' activities outside of Korea. Korean contemporary arts are still low evaluated. In general, it doesn't cost much to make them available. That means that they are both risk-free and prospective.

But this is just a new trend from the new generation artists. Even a decade ago, Korean art market was, at least inside of Korea, notorious for its outrageous prices. One must have disposed of his or her house to get just a small piece of painting. The earning rate of painting exceeded that of real estate. But it had not been long before there came a mountain of modification. Korea had never foreseen to confront an economic crisis, which must have been maintained on the IMF loan, in 1996. Art market collapsed just one day. Most artists who had enjoyed celebrities disappeared just a single day.

Since then, a new generation has substituted for the previous one in Korean contemporary art world. This new generation is not only identified just by the age, but by the way of attitude too. The new generation saw it important to establish a global vision rather than a national one as in the predecessors. Whether in philosophy and practice or in transaction, they think it is important to maintain globally consistent.

To such a movement, Hari's Gallery comes. Hari's Gallery treats the new generation artists. They are still not widely known globally, but eager to communicate with the audience everywhere in the world. In the ambience of strong IT intensive technology of Korea, now is the time that the global exploration of the Korean contemporary artists kicks off a new era to open a new perspective between Europe and Asia.

Artists from JUNG GALLERY (Seoul) at ART INTERNATIONAL ZURICH:

• Minjoo Lee
• PoongRyul Han
• SeongSu Han
• Chunok Kim
• SookJin Lee
• Sookyung Ha
• YoungJoo Kwon
• GeunYoung Song
• Rim Hyo
• Faik Al Aboudi

Artists from GALLERY HARI (Jeju) at ART INTERNATIONAL ZURICH:

Some Korean contemporary artists from Hari's Gallery are the following:

Kim Hong-Tae, participated in San Diego Art Fair 2006 and 'Die Identität' (Galerie Vielfalt, Königstein in 2006), has stuck to the "Primitiveness + Child's Mind" series. As if scribbling, this series shows a space, which appears in simple yellow grayish colors but mixed with several treatments.

Kim Jong Hee, who came in contact with European culture while living long in Milan herself, has made works that absorb new energy and spirit from European culture and reinterpret them with her own unique insights and sentiments. In her works, figures are never placed of their own, but in the context of the premises reminding us of a European style.

Yi Miyeun has also lived both in France and in Germany for more than two decades. At first glance, her works look simple, only with a few colors and forms. But there exists much implicitness in the simplicity that cast a revelation of diversity and multiplicity on the other direction. Along with her own experience, there flow both European and Asian sentiments as if becoming one in those poetic expressions.

Kim Hee-Kyung, a sculptor, has taken motifs from nature. Tree, leaf or petal etc., appear as the artist's main objects. Asians has traditionally regarded animals and plants on the same level as men. The artist's motifs are a reflection of such a view to the world. Her sculptural works are full of power and energy, but also include some lyrical elements more often than not.

Kim Mi Sook's work looks like an abstract expressionism style. Abstract expressionism style was once pursued by a school of artists even in Korea. But the artist's colors assume a certain different feature from European informel. The artist came from Gwangju, a province that Gwangju Biennale took place. Gwangju people have traditionally used their own color scheme, the so-called 'Obang' colors. And the artist approaches her pictorial space with this traditional color scheme.

Copyright: Hari Gallery, Seoul, Korea / Jung Gallery, Jeju, Korea 2007