Past Exhibitions
Drawings on the Ground,
Wall,
Snow,
and Skin
Thoughts on the original instinct of Daejeon art
Hyeonmin Yoo
Director of SojaeCreating Community
The city of Daejeon as it exists today closely resembles many other modern cities. It is also characterized by an underlying looseness (or absence) of local identity, which stems from the irrationality of the Japanese colonial view. In the past, there was little sense of hierarchy among Daejeon artists and virtually no future-oriented vision. With the intention of preserving one another’s unique preferences, interests, and directions, Daejeon artists considered the will and decisions of individual artists more important than the cohesiveness of the group as a whole.
There was no tacit mutual consent, clearly-defined attempts to address the problem as a group, or clear communication. Despite the tenuousness of their relations, however, Daejeon artists did (for the most part) adhere to a basic set of common rules. In the 1990s, art in Daejeon showed a consistent tendency toward transcending the era two-dimensional fine art and signaled the beginning of experimentation with contemporary art. Afterward, however, Daejeon artists of the 1980s and 1990s (known as the “middlemen” of contemporary art in Korea) lacked both the trappings and content of group solidarity. This exhibition aims to do something that has not yet been attempted: showcase the varied and flexible directivities of Daejeon-born artists, who are mostly scattered and living nomadically in terms of their art.
“I enjoyed painting, but no one tried to help me paint. In fact, there were many who tried to obstruct my work.
They told me what they wanted me to do, but I secretly (and with a light heart) continued painting. On the ground, on the wall, on the snow, on my darkened skin... with my finger, stick, or pebble... In this way, I was able to forget my loneliness.”
-excerpt from the foreword of the catalogue for Lee Ungno’s solo exhibition at Galerie Facchetti (1971, Paris)
As we can see in his writings, Lee Ungno’s perceived artistic world was characterized by the intensity of his creative energy and ability to survive even under the most hostile conditions. We can also see that Lee had a strong nomadic tendency in relation to the universality of art, which can be understood as his desire to preserve—based on his life experiences—the mindset he had when he first started creating art. The activism-based aesthetic of Lee’s artistic philosophy is conceptually related to the objective of this exhibition.
The world of art is intense and has a closed-off lifeforce that resembles an underground garden, and all works of art are invaluable entities that stand witness to the era in which we live. The act of contemplating the relationships between people, between regions and people, and between regions themselves as well as the location in which one currently lives is what makes our lives sustainable.
The significance of this exhibition, which features the works of five young Daejeon-based artists, lies in its attempt to create a new “map” for Daejeon art based on the “original instinct” aesthetic that was emphasized by Goam Lee Ungno as well as the nomadic paradigm that characterizes the art of this city—a paradigm that has been built up by artists such as the ones featured here today, who are skilled at survival and can find their own way to the destinations in life that suit them best. I hope that the work of these artists, who established and experimented with the “landed gentry” aesthetic, will be reevaluated by modern audiences and come to form the basis for a new artistic trend that transcends the primordial ideals and boundaries of mainstream art.
The collective movements of contemporary art are not so far removed from indigenous roots. The reason for this is that only artists who maintain their creative vision, regardless of social context, are able to inspire the production of true art.
