Installation view of 《Memory Beneath The Ego, Fantasy Above the Ego》 © Seoul National University Museum of Art

From September 21 to November 26, 2023, the Seoul National University Museum of Art (Director: Sangyong Sim) presented the exhibition 《Memory Beneath The Ego, Fantasy Above the Ego》, focusing on surreal and imaginative art by young contemporary artists.

The exhibition featured around 180 paintings by 19 artists born between 1983 and 1996. The worlds depicted by these artists are ambiguous, anxious, and dreamlike—unreal, precarious, and strange. Words such as “ambiguous,” “unstable,” “anxious,” “uncertain,” and “surreal” recur in critical descriptions of their works, collectively forming a “bizarre world of fantasy.”

Despite the relative rarity of surrealistic tendencies in Korean art history, this growing presence among younger artists signals a significant shift in the zeitgeist.


Installation view of 《Memory Beneath The Ego, Fantasy Above the Ego》 © Seoul National University Museum of Art

In this exhibition, unrelated images meet within a single frame, unknown figures perform inexplicable actions, and spaces where reality and dream blur create a peculiar tension. The worlds envisioned by the artists are not escapist fantasies detached from reality, but reflections of the unstable and fragmented condition of contemporary life as they experience it.

The figures depicted are fragile and fragmented—almost ready to shatter. Kwon Hoi-chan reveals the self in cubist-like fragmented forms; Choi Ji-won portrays the brilliance and emptiness of youth through fragile, hollow porcelain doll figures; and Jinhee Kim renders her characters with smooth, plaster-like surfaces, evoking a liminal state between life and death.

The MZ-generation artists are influenced by animation, film, and digital media. Mirae Kim’s nonlinear, illogical narrative paintings draw inspiration from the violent and absurd imagery of B-movies. Jinwoo Nam attempts to subvert the dichotomy between good and evil often found in heroic fiction by reversing the outcomes within his paintings.

Hansol Noh depicts short phrases and vignettes like frames from comics, while Seoyeon Park integrates both abstract and concrete forms inspired by fantasy and mystery novels, reflecting anxiety and absurdity in the present era. Sujin Lee enlarges scenes from horror films to visualize the infiltration of everyday fear. Dawha Jeon reinterprets “cursed images”—low-resolution, off-focus photographs—as paintings, and Yerim Yoo reconstructs stereotypical images found through Google searches into newly composed works.


Installation view of 《Memory Beneath The Ego, Fantasy Above the Ego》 © Seoul National University Museum of Art

Other participating artists presented both utopian and dystopian visions. Nad Chae’s vibrant, high-saturation paintings depict worlds overflowing with joy, eternal love, and “likes.” Hyeri Kim’s utopian imagery reminds viewers that such paradises are illusions, prompting reflection on the realities we inhabit. Hyunjung Lim merges everyday landscapes with fantastical imagery, transforming the mundane into a fairytale realm.

Momine Choi captures eerie, uncanny moments from her surroundings, while Noa Ryu’s dystopian worlds resemble the cold unease of a digital game environment. Hyunseon Jeon’s narrative paintings, stripped of perspective and context, evoke disorientation and tension. Minjo Kim’s surreal imagery addresses the fleeting mirage-like meaning of life, and Gyeoul Kim conveys emotional impressions through delicate layers of diluted paint and fragile lines. Minseok Son’s paintings of figures from behind transform realistic scenes into dreamlike visions.

An accompanying lecture program was also organized to deepen the understanding of the exhibition. On October 20, 2023, Professor Young-min Kim (Department of Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University) and art critic Soyeon Ahn delivered a talk at the museum auditorium, discussing how the confusion and instability of contemporary society manifest in art.

Through 《Memory Beneath The Ego, Fantasy Above the Ego》, the Seoul National University Museum of Art sought to examine how young artists perceive and represent the changing conditions of the times. Their works, revealing a life devoid of unquestionable truths or fixed values, fracture what we take for granted—inviting us to doubt, reexamine, and rediscover our everyday reality.

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