Exhibition view of "Korean Traditional Painting in Alter-age" at the Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul (October 28, 2022 ─ January 8, 2023). Courtesy of the Ilmin Museum of Art.Ilmin Museum of Art presents a group exhibition, “Korean Traditional Painting in Alter-age”, examining Korean painting as a contemporary art genre, through January 8, 2023.
The exhibition features the works of twenty-two artists who have played important roles in Korean art history, as well as those of thirteen contemporary artists whose works use traditional techniques and themes and were created after the 2000s.
Korean painting existed before the modern era, but it was suggested as a genre in the 1950s and began to take hold in the early 1980s. The importance of traditional Korean art was especially emphasized after the Korean Peninsula was finally liberated from Japanese colonization.
At the time of modernization, aspirations such as eschewing the remains of colonial culture and regaining national identity were projected into the discourse of traditional Korean painting. Its concept was founded on the general characteristics of modernity and the uniqueness of Korea’s locality. Today, however, many aspects of the genre have disappeared as the modernity trend has begun to wane.
The Ilmin Museum of Art investigates the continued existence of Korean traditional painting in the contemporary art world and addresses the disconnect between tradition and contemporary art.
The thirteen contemporary artists participating in this exhibition are Noh Hansol (b.1991), Laurent Grasso (b.1972), Moon Joohye (b.1995), Park Grim (b.1987), Park Sohyun (b.1993), Park Wunggyu (b.1987), Park Jieun (b.1990), Bae Jaemin (b.1992), Son Donghyun (b.1980), Lee Eunsil (b.1983), Jung Haena (b.1985), Choi Haeri (b.1978), and Hwang Kyumin (b.1994).
