Evolution of Korean painting

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with notable artists recommended by the Korean Artist Project, an online platform promoting Korean art. — ED.

By Kwon Mee-yoo

When people think of Korean painting, it generally relates to traditional ink-and-wash paintings of grand landscapes. However, Korean painter Yoo Geun-taek explores more intimate subjects while retaining the essentials of Oriental painting techniques.

The 49-year-old was at the center of Korean painting's struggle on its path to modernization and to find a successor to the traditional ink-and-wash painting in the 1980s and '90s. Yoo took the path of experimentation and explored new themes, subject matter, materials and expression.

Yoo seeks to broaden the boundary of Oriental painting. Traditionally, this was centered on ideality. However, Yoo thought the ideological, spiritual attribute restricted its possibilities. “I always seek novelty and freshness. It is not accomplished by just painting over and over, but asking questions about the spirit of the age,” Yoo told The Korea Times.

After much consideration, Yoo delved into scenery from everyday life. He painted familiar views from his house or atelier. Even a long corridor of his apartment building inspired him.

"There is power within the ordinary scenery we see every day. I observe it carefully to discover it,” Yoo said. “Korean traditional real landscape paintings depict actual scenery, but it aspires to something beyond what we see. My paintings are the same fundamentally ― they are much rooted in reality, but expand the idea.”

Yoo thinks traditional black-and-white ink painting is inadequate in portraying contemporary life, and uses a variety of materials from acrylic paint and tempera to conte crayon and oyster shell white. “I live in the 21st century and my works have to take a different path to illustrate the world we live in,” the artist said.

Redefining Oriental painting

Yoo presents a new series titled "Landscape," which has taken him to a new phase, in the ongoing "Everlasting Tomorrow" exhibition at the OCI Museum in downtown Seoul. This exhibit features 60 of his recent works from the last two years, which proves Yoo's ceaseless passion for creativity.

His earlier experiments brought everyday life into Korean painting, and now he is expanding the undertaking to landscapes, but not in a conventional way.

The 10 pieces of his series "Landscape" ― each 2.7 meters wide and 1 meter high ― depicts Chungju Lake, an artificial lake that borders Chungju, Jecheon and Danyang, North Chungcheong Province. Yoo did not paint what he saw from the lake, but added layers of thought to the paintings.

"When I first visited Chungju Lake a few years ago with my students, I felt something peculiar about it. I headed back to search for that sense ― the artificiality of the lake, a bony structure revealed as the water subsides and trees growing on top of it," Yoo said. "I went to find paradise at Chungju Lake, but ended up subverting traditional landscapes."

In the "Landscape" series, viewers can find icons of Western culture such as pop artist Andy Warhol's "Madonna," Mickey Mouse, the McDonald's logo and daily necessities floating on the water. These objects represent the influence of Western culture in Korea.

This is Yoo's attempt bring traditional landscapes to the present _ the artist added layers of social and cultural issues ignited from the clash of West and East onto the weird scenery, making it contemporary.

"This is the landscape of current Korea, where reality and illusion, truth and falsehood and normality and abnormality collide. It also reflects the sense of crisis we experience," Yoo explained.

Many of Yoo’s works are in a series as his thoughts expand gradually. Another new series titled "The Wall" took inspiration from a wall in Sagan-dong, central Seoul, which surrounds the site of former staff lodging of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. The high wall evokes curiosity as most passers-by do not realize what is inside it.

“It all started when I felt an odd sensation from the wall,” the artist said.

Yoo brought his imagination to the stone wall through children standing in front of it wall. The wall expands itself into social levels as a metaphor of the lack of communication within families, between generations and social status. The ambiguousness of the wall could expand to the division of the two Koreas.

His experiment on the evolution of Oriental painting is highly acclaimed at home and abroad. Yoo held solo exhibits at the Herchinson Gallery in New York, Artiside Gallery in Beijing, 21+YO Gallery in Tokyo and many more. He has another exhibition in China coming up next year.

“I have an interest in how my works are perceived in other Asian countries. In China, my paintings are not considered specifically Korean, but the Chinese are more into the pictorial quality.

Unlike many artists who plan their next project ahead, Yoo does not have anything particular in mind now.

“I am going to be in Berlin, Germany for two months through a residency program next year. Berlin has the traces of life before and after German Unification, which overlaps with Korean history. It might influence my future works, but no one knows,” Yoo said.

He just wants to create art that awakens the same run-of-the-mill life day after day. “There are many accidents and events, but all of them end up buried in daily life. Art resuscitates such exhausted, boring and poor lives.”

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