State-run mint debuts art exhibition highlighting printing technology

Replicated images of masterpiece art paintings created the by Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. (KOMSCO) / Courtesy of KOMSCO

The Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. (KOMSCO) is stepping up efforts to leverage decades of expertise in printing technology by transforming into a business entity that also delves into the realm of art and other forms of creative cultural content.

The country’s sole manufacturer of banknotes and coins, KOMSCO, announced Tuesday that it kicked off a special exhibition on replicated images of masterpiece paintings from Korea and abroad.

A replicated image of "Portrait of a Beauty," a painting by Shin Yun-bok, an 18th-century painter from the Joseon Dynasty, is displayed at the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp.'s (KOMSCO) special exhibition that highlights its printing technology. Korea Times file

The exhibition runs through Sept. 1 at KOMSCO’s Currency Museum in Daejeon, featuring images that are produced using the company’s intaglio printing know-how.

It is KOMSCO’s first art exhibition aimed at introducing the intaglio printing method.

From Korea, the images include ones by 18th-century painters from the Joseon Dynasty, such as "Portrait of a Beauty" by Shin Yun-bok and "Inwang jesaekdo," a landscape painting by Jeong Seon.

Among the images of Western paintings are "Cafe Terrace at Night" by Vincent van Gogh in 1888 and "Woman with a Parasol — Madame Monet and Her Son" by Claude Monet in 1875.

The exhibition arrives as the state-run KOMSCO, in a bid to adapt to a cashless society, is making a concerted effort to move away from its traditional business model.

In return, it is undergoing sweeping reforms to specialize in creative cultural content, as well as information and communications technology (ICT) and exports.

“We came up with this special exhibition to raise public awareness on KOMSCO’s counterfeit deterrent technologies in currency production, and notably intaglio printing method, through images of beautiful art pieces,” KOMSCO CEO Sung Chang-hoon said.

He expressed hope in “gaining the public's attention and interest in how KOMSCO’s printing technology can be leveraged in the art world.”

During the exhibition, visitors will also have a chance to experience the intaglio printing method on their own.

In addition, KOMSCO will give out free calendars that are made using intaglio printing.

Also called plate printing, intaglio printing uses ink to produce images that are incised into the surface of a plate, usually made of steel. The excess ink is removed from the non-image area of the plate, thereby leaving ink only in the engraved recessed areas.

Intaglio printing is a specialized form of printing technology, and thus, it is used for documents that require authenticity, such as currency notes, gold bars, commemorative medals, postage stamps and passports as well as forms of IDs manufactured by KOSMCO.

Founded in 1951 and headquartered in Daejeon, KOMSCO operates under the Ministry of Economy and Finance and maintains a close partnership with the Bank of Korea.