threezeeplus.comthreezeeplus.com/project/site/contemporary_art_files/con… · web viewthe word...
Post on 06-Feb-2018
218 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Contemporary Korean Art
by Robert Watkins,
Visting Professor, Dept. of Interior Design, Pai Chai University
This presentation will provide the student with an introduction to several
contemporary Korean artists working at home and abroad whose work has
contributed to Korea’s exposure in the world of fine art. This lecture is not meant as
a survey of contemporary Korean art, as it is by no means exhaustive, but will serve
as a cross section of work from some of the more well-known artists of Korean
descent over the past 50 years.
Attempts to focus on the art of individuals from a specific country often
prompt questions regarding identity: what does the work say about being a Korean
artist or an artist of Korean descent? In today’s world of globalization it is
increasingly more difficult to determine what influence an artist’s country of origin
may have on their work as many artists study, work and live everywhere but their
country of birth. It is especially difficult to discuss the influence of origin because
identity is an issue artists often call into question through their work. In the simplest
terms it may be fair to say that questions about origin and identity are appropriate
only when the artwork’s formal qualities lend to a discussion of the artist’s
nationality.
Inspiration is another important and yet controversial issue. Due to the vast
number of images and the alarming rate at which they are proliferated around the
world today we may think we know what informed an artist’s visual vocabulary when
the work itself is oftentimes the source for another’s inspiration. Who influenced who
is an interesting yet often fruitless question, however, in the interest of presenting
these artists in a global context, artists whose work exhibits similar themes and
interests have been included with art terminology in a glossary following the text. In
the end a work of art speaks for itself and mount its own defense for being no matter
the origin or influence from which it springs. In the court of popular opinion the
work’s closing argument is the unique way in which it enriches our lives by
broadening our understanding of ourselves and the world we live in. The artists
presented here have proven themselves in the world of art by producing work which
consistently speaks to issues relevant no matter the context in which they are
viewed.
Jheon Soo-cheon (전수천)
Jheon Soo-cheon (b. 1947) is one example of a Korean artist who studied
and lives abroad but garnered his native country a great deal of attention. Jheon
studied at the Tama School of Fine Arts in Japan and Pratt in New York. In 1995 he
won the Special Prize at the Venice Biennale, a world renown exhibition held every
two years beginning in 1895 whose curators choose artists to represent their
countries. Jheon used mixed media including clay figures, neon tubes and plaster
in the 1990s. He has more recently created large scale public works and
installations.
Two mixed media installations have used the landscape as metaphors for the
painter’s canvas: The Moving Line on the Han River,” an installation of wood and
fabric on the surface of the large river running through Seoul and “The Moving
Drawing of Jheon Soocheon: The Line That Crosses America.” In the latter a train
was draped in white plastic and carried the artist and friends across the United
States, stopping in Washington, D.C., Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and
Albuquerque. According to Jheon the work was a “participatory installation
embracing visual arts, nature and technology.”
His latest work is a site-specific work entitled “Beyond Bar Codes” in which
the artist transformed a gallery space floor to resemble a large barcode and placed
different sculptural objects in the space. This work is also participatory in that it
entices the viewer to enter the space and become products themselves. The moving
drawing piece invites similarities to the work of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude
(both born 1935), most notably Running Fence in which the two created a 24-mile-
long white curtain in northern California. Jheon’s work succeeds in its embodiment
of large themes through simplistic and well-conceived metaphors.
Lee Seung-Taek (이승택)
Born in 1930 Lee Seung-Taek graduated from Seoul’s Hongik University in
1959. He has exhibited in several major international exhibitions such as the Paris
Biennale in 1969, the Sao Paolo Biennale in 1970, the Venice Biennale in 1990,
Germany’s Kassel Documenta in1992 and Korea’s own Kwangju Biennale in 2004.
Lee has referred to his works as “non-sculpture” and “anti-concept” due to their
emphasis upon phenomena, or events over plasticity, or physicality. His earlier
works involved streamers blown by the wind, burning trees and pigments allowed to
follow gravity’s course.
Lee’s conceptual program draws comparisons to different art movements and
themes, namely Earth Art and performance art, however he is adamant that his
work not be viewed in relation to these. Lee explains that his first sculptural work
evolved when as a young artist he made a stylistic break that caused him to question
his reasons for making art. Lee cites the simplicity and elegance of a Korean
traditional weaving machine called a “Godret stone” as a motivation for his works by
the same name. This object which holds specific memories for the artist represents
something more universal. Although Lee denies any direct influence from Western
influence in his work it is unlikely his work would be possible if not for
conceptualism, a movement born in the West. Comparable artists include Robert
Smithson (1938-1973), whose 1969 work “Asphalt Rundown” bears a similarity to
Lee’s “Green Campaign” works, as well as Andy Goldsworthy (b. 1956).
Prolific as it is varied Lee’s work seems to defy categorization yet the
diversity is evidence of the artist’s willingness to pursue as many paths as required
to find a sense of creativity within oneself. The performative aspect of Lee’s work
reveals this spirit of exploration and places the artist at the center of his work, from
which center his work expands dizzyingly outward in a colorful display.
Nam June Paik (백남준)
It is difficult to calculate the degree to which Nam June Paik’s (1932-2006)
long career of work has influenced not only Korean contemporary art but
contemporary art in general. Although his is probably the first name which comes to
mind in the West when one thinks of contemporary Korean artists Paik has lived
primarily in the United States since the 60’s. Born in Korea, Paik’s family fled the
country during the Korean War, eventually settling in Japan, where the artist
graduated from Tokyo University. He also studied in Germany where he met the
revolutionary composer John Cage (1912-1992) and the influential conceptual artist
Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) and became a member of the Fluxus group.
Paik first exhibited televisions manipulated by magnets in 1963 and after the
invention of the world’s first portable video recording device in 1965 he became the
first artist to create video art. In his 1969 work entitled “TV Bra for Living Sculpture”
a cellist, playing a Paik composition, wore two small television screens over her
breasts. Work in the years following include sculptures made from multiple television
sets, usually older sets replaced with new picture tubes. Other large works include
multi-channel installations in which televisions arranged in a wall or tower flash
images generated by computers, an array replicated with less than inspired results in
countless store displays.
Being on the forefront of technology combined with an understanding of the
world’s growing obsession with television have made Paik’s work all the more
poignant. Perhaps the best example of how he has used technology to comment on
technology’s consumption of culture is the 1986 work Something Pacific in which a
small statue of Buddha sits contemplatively watching an image of itself being
televised simultaneously through a camera thus creating an infinite loop from which
the passive figure cannot escape.
Kim Soo-ja (김수자)
Kim Soo-ja is an artist whose Korean heritage uniquely informs her work.
She was born in Daegu in 1957, graduated from Hong-ik University and currently
resides in New York. The artist’s early sewn work draws inspiration from her
experiences sewing bedcovers with her mother as well as traditional Korean quilt
work however, these comparisons are less obvious in her more recent work. Cloth
has since become a metaphor for life throughout Kim’s work.
As well as deploying cloth in various ways that hint at abstract
expressionist painting Kim creates installations which place the cloth in different
spaces. This act of de-contextualizing, placing it in an area the viewer would not
normally associated with the object, forces the viewer to confront the object
provoking thought upon our relationship with it. Another traditional Korean use of
cloth, the “bottari,” a simple piece of cloth used to wrap items one intends to carry,
has become a constant theme in her work. The nature of the “bottari” has lent itself
to numerous video projects in which colorful pieces of cloth taken from old clothes
and bed covers are wrapped in bundles secured with black cords and transported on
the back of a truck traversing a distance. In these works movement symbolizes life’s
journey as well as the transition between states of being.
Cloth permeates so many aspects of human life that it has become an
integral part of being human. The “bottari” itself signifies numerous things. The artist
treats the bottari as a vessel which represents life’s amalgam of experiences. Cloth,
both a personal and universally significant object, stands in for the viewer’s
relationship with the world. Like the “bottari” we are folded into relationships with
ourselves, others and the space we inhabit in sometimes awkward yet nonetheless
brilliant and colorful ways.
Nikki S. Lee
Nikki S. Lee (b. 1970) is a Korean born artist who graduated from Chunang
University in Korea, attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and
received a M.A. in photography from New York University. Lee began her
photographic investigation of identity while a student in New York. “Projects” which
spanned the years 1997-2001 is a collection of photographs in which Lee dresses
and poses as people from different walks of life. Among the identities she assumed
were exotic dancers, punks, senior citizens, Latinos, swing dancers, skateboarders,
lesbians, young urban professionals, Korean schoolgirls and hip-hop “fly girls.”
Following this series Lee posed in other another series which required that
she wear designer clothes in extravagant settings, almost as though she were
parodying the media attention and success garnered by the “Projects” photos. In a
series called “Parts” Lee poses with men, again crossing ethnic and social
boundaries. Here, however, the theme of identity is purposefully complicated by the
relationships depicted in the photos. The word “parts” plays on the word “role” as
well as the fact that in each of the pictures the artist’s male companion is obscured
suggesting that the female figure’s persona is in part defined by the relationship.
Most recently Lee filmed a sort of behind-the-scenes documentary about
herself entitled “A.K.A Nikki S. Lee.” The film is self-reflexive, meaning it holds up a
mirror which reflects the artist in her genuine environment while at the same time
reflecting how difficult it is to depict such an environment. In the film the camera
follows Lee running errands, setting up photo shoots, socializing at exhibition
openings and meeting with collectors. It is not so much a comment upon Lee’s life
as an artist as it is upon the art of artifice: how to make something appear real while
at the same time admitting that the question of what is real is never answered to
everyone’s satisfaction. Lee’s work is often compared to that of photographer
Cindy Sherman (b. 1954).
Cho Duck Hyun (조덕현)
Cho Duck Hyun was born in Korea in 1957 and received undergraduate and
graduate degrees from Seoul University. Cho’s work uses photo-realistic
representation and sculptural elements in order to re-examine Korea’s often
turbulent past and comment upon the idea of memory. Graphite recreations of old
photographs, sometimes from the artist’s family’s own past, depict scenes of
Koreans in traditional dress or the simple costume of daily life. The scenes span
Korea’s more recent history, during which the country suffered occupation at the
hands of the Japanese and invasion during the Korean War. The portraits are often
juxtaposed with steel, glass and wood plates which provide the somewhat
ephemeral portraits with a weight comparable to the metaphoric weight of their
emotional content.
Another aspect of Cho’s oeuvre is his use of female portraiture in
commenting upon the role of women in Korean culture. One particular series depicts
the lives of two women, Nora Noh and Joeong-shun Lee Harmsworth who lived
separate lives at different periods of time, the former as fashion designer and the
latter as the wife of a wealthy aristocrat. Cho’s work does not compare nor contrast
so much as provide the means for reflection upon their legacies as Korean women.
In another project entitled “Yiseoguk,” which takes its name from a legendary
kingdom in Korea’s past Cho buried several figures of dogs at a site which was later
excavated and documented by an archaeological crew. The work is meant to be the
culmination of effort in reclaiming what was once lost in effect building a bridge to the
past.
An acute sense of loss mixed with the painful memories of Korea’s
emergence as a nation tinge the work of Cho Duck Hyun in much the same way the
patina of a faded photograph qualifies its agedness in our minds dyeing our
collective memory with its color.
Do-hoh Suh
Do-Ho Suh was born in Seoul, Korea in 1962 and graduated from Seoul
National University with degrees in Oriental Painting. He also studied at the Rhode
Island School of Design and Yale University. In addition to a retrospective of his
work at the Seattle Art Museum and the Seattle Asian Art Museums, Suh
represented Korea in the 2001 Venice Biennale. Suh is best known for his
installations made from multiple small figures often supporting something such as
Doormat: Welcome(Amber),1998, and Public Figures, 2001. The use of multiples is
also apparent in Some/One, 2001, in which dog tags spread across the floor gather
to form the empty shell of an armor suit. This particular work comments upon the
fact that an army’s collective strength is derived from the many individual soldiers
who comprise it.
Suh’s sculptures play with space by confounding the viewer’s sense of scale
and by inhabiting the viewer’s space in unconventional ways. His more recent works
add the element of memory to his investigations of space. In Perfect Home,2003
Suh recreated actual structures and spaces using translucent fabric. When placed in
the gallery these structures force the viewer to confront a space within a space and
creates the feeling of looking into a computer generated simulation of space such as
one might find in a virtual reality program. The transparent fabric elicits an
ephemeral quality and succeeds in confusing preconceptions of space as rigid and
fixed. The ephemeral nature of the pieces also provokes a connection to memory,
something which is intimately tied to the way our bodies occupy the world. In Seoul
Home/L.A. Home/New York Home/Baltimore Home/London Home/Seattle Home/L.A
Home. 1999 Suh recreated two apartments in which he lived. The sculptural work of
Do-Ho Suh, whether made of small figures or diaphanous fabric, speaks to our
experience and preconceptions about space and then turns those ideas on their
heads.
Atta Kim
Atta Kim was born in 1956 on Korea’s southernmost island, Geoje and left
after elementary school to study in Busan. Although he graduated with a degree in
mechanical engineering from Changwon University he had pursued photography as
a hobby since middle school. Among many other achievements Kim represented
Korea in the São Paulo Biennial in 2003. Kim now lives and works in New York.
Kim’s first series of photographs entitled Psychopaths, 1985-86 depicted psychiatric
patients. Another work from the artist’s early career, Human Cultural Assets, 1989-
90, is a series of portraits of people considered national treasures by the Korean
government.
Kim’s process involves spending a considerable amount of time with each
subject, such as in the two aforementioned series. Later, this element of time
reveals itself in long and multiple exposures. A notable series which uses long
exposures is In-der-Welt-sein, 1990-91, photographs of natural objects found near a
Buddhist monastery taken between 3 and 5 AM—hours of Buddhist enlightenment.
Kim’s recent work falls under two broad titles, The Museum Project and ON-AIR.
The Museum Project explores categorization and collection by depicting subjects
from various walks of life in plexiglass containers. Kim refers to the subjects as
pieces of his “private museum.”
The idea that a photograph depicts something frozen in time led him to
question the permanence of his subjects. In his ON-AIR project Sex Series, a
couple is photographed while engaged in intercourse over one hour. Self-Portrait is
a series of single composite photographs made from large numbers of individual
portraits. Kim’s photography allows the viewer to witness the passage of time and its
affects upon people and objects and urges the viewer to exercise the same
contemplativeness which the artist himself brings to his work in the hopes they might
share in his reverence for the human race.
Lee Bul
Lee Bul was born in South Korea in 1964 and received a BFA in sculpture
from Hongik University. She has since exhibited extensively in museums and
galleries internationally including the Venice Biennale (1999) and Istanbul Biennale
(2001). She is considered by many to be the leading Korean artist of her generation.
Lee Bul began experimenting with unconventional materials such as silicone and
plastics as a student in an attempt to escape the traditional media used in university
sculpture programs. She first gained recognition for donning costumes which
incorporated limbs and visceral forms which added a performative aspect to her
work. Lee Bul’s early sculptural work is comparable to that of Louise Bourgeois (b.
1911), whose work similarly references the body and addresses feminist issues in
art.
Lee Bul’s work explores the body and its representation in our technologically
saturated world. Her cyborg sculptures depict limbs and torsos created with silicone
and white porcelain. The sculptures resemble characters seen in Japanese anime
and manga while at the same time referencing images of femininity from classical
art. The collision of this imagery creates something new and unexpected just as the
cyborg is an amalgam of the artificial and natural. More recent work illustrates the
artist’s interest in juxtaposing different media. By combining diverse materials such
as glass, crystals, and aluminum in a series that pays homage to the architect Bruno
Taut (1880-1938) the artist creates a fusion that echoes the way modernism
synthesized styles and ideologies.
Another manifestation of the artist’s desire to create new aesthetic
experiences through synthesis is her current series of karaoke related projects. In
them she presents videos of people dancing in different spaces and allows the
viewer to choose music to accompany the images which they may also sing along
with. Lee Bul’s art recombines different cultural imagery and different materials to
comment on the transformational aspect of modern life.
Glossary
formal – This term refers to an artwork’s physical characteristics. Dimensions (size),
composition (design), color, materials and the method of construction are all formal
qualities.
Venice Biennale – The Venice Biennale is a major art exhibition held every two
years in Venice, Italy. The first Biennale was in 1895 and since then the exhibition
has attracted international acclaim as one of the world’s foremost venues for
displaying contemporary art.
mixed media – Any artwork which combines two or more media (materials) is
considered “mixed media.” An artwork which incorporates photography with painting
is one example.
installation/installation art – Artworks which employ sculptural elements in a
space, whether the private space of a gallery or a public space like a park, thus
changing the dynamics of the viewer’s experience are considered installations.
Installation art allows the artist to work without restrictions regarding scale, site or the
diversity of materials used.
site-specific – Site-specific artwork utilizes the unique characteristics of the space in
which it is being displayed and the way in which the artwork interacts with the site.
(see Christo and Jeanne-Claude)
Christo and Jeanne-Claude – Christo and Jeanne-Claude (both born 1935) are a
married couple who create large scale site-specific installations. Well-known
works include Running Fence (1973), Wrapped Reichstag (1995), The Umbrellas
(1990) and most recently The Gates (2005).
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag (1995)
Earth Art – Earth Art (sometimes referred to as earthworks or land art) refers to art
work which incorporates the natural landscape. As a movement it began in the
United States in the 60s and 70s and includes artists like Robert Smithson, James
Turell and Andy Goldsworthy.
performance art – Art in which an individual or group’s actions are the focus is
considered performance art. Time, space, a performer or performers and an
audience are requisite elements of performance art. Performance art is often
documented with photography and video. Performance artists include Vito Acconci,
Chris Burden, Carolee Schneemann and Joseph Beuys, among many others.
Skip Arnold, Gargoyle, 1992
conceptualism/conceptual art – Conceptual art includes any art which privileges a
concept above the means or materials with which it is presented. One example is a
piece by Robert Morris entitled “Box with the Sound of its Own Making,” 1961, a
simple wooden box containing a recording of the sounds of its construction.
Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991
Robert Smithson – Smithson was an influential American artist whose earthwaorks
helped defined Land Art in the 60s and 70s. His most recognized work is Spiral
Jetty, 1970 in which he constructed a spiral-shaped jetty of rocks, earth and salt in
the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
Spiral Jetty, 1970
Andy Goldsworthy – Andy Goldsworthy (b. 1956) is an artist who site-specific
land art sculptures use natural objects to create temporary works which the artist
documents in photographs.
Spiral Stones
Fluxus – This term (Latin for "to flow") describes a collection of artists, composers
and designers who created objects, texts, music and performances inspired by the
intersection of different styles and materials. The movement began in 1960 and key
figures include George Maciunas, John Cage and Dick Higgins.
George Maciunas, Spell Your Name with these Objects (1976)
video art – video art began when the first artist exhibited recorded images. Nam
June Paik is normally associated with having pioneered video art when he played
images recorded on a Sony Portapak video recorder in 1965. Since then many
artists have used video including Bill Viola, Tony Oursler and Matthew Barney.
abstract expressionism – This art movement began in America in the 1940s
although it was highly influenced by German expressionism which began in the
1920s. Abstract expressionist paintings are noted for their bold use of gesture and
color. They term applies to artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and
Mark Rothko.
Mark Rothko, Magenta, Black, Green on Orange,, 1952
Cindy Sherman – Cindy Sherman (b. 1954) is a artist who is well known for her
photographs in which she changes her appearance using costumes and make-up.
Cindy Sherman, Untitled #153, 1985
photo-realism – This refers to the process of creating a painting with such precision
as to resemble the realism of its photographic source.
oeuvre – The sum total of an artist, writer or composer’s works.
Louise Bourgeois – Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911) is an artist born in Paris whose
early work consisted of erotic sculptures which referenced the body. More recently
her large sculptures of spiders have won her acclaim. She has been influential to
many female artists working today.
Louise Bourgeois in a sculpture/performance
top related