Young Korean Artists 2019: Liquid Glass Sea

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea presents Young Korean Artists 2019: Liquid Glass Sea, the 19th edition of the museum’s exhibition program Young Korean Artists. First held under the title The Korean Young Artists Biennale in 1981, Young Korean Artists sheds light on experimental and innovative works by promising young artists in Korea, and offers a prospect of the trends and potential in Korean contemporary art. Young Korean Artists 2019: Liquid Glass Sea features works by 9 up-and-coming artists: Keem Jiyoung, Song Min Jung, AHN Sungseok, Yoon Doohyun, Lee Eunsae, Chang Seo Young, Chung Heemin, Choi Haneyl and Hwang Sueyon. The artists were selected based on the research by and recommendations from the curators at the museum, considered over several meetings and selections.

Liquid Glass Sea from the subtitle of the exhibition are common keywords found in the works by the 9 artists who explore their particular subject and medium in their own distinct personality. As reflected in the gaps between the words, Liquid Glass Sea symbolizes the free and flexible attitude of young promising artists in Korea, whose works cannot be summarized in a complete sentence nor be defined through specific concepts. The words also signify the characteristics of the artists, who reflect the landscape inside and outside reality in an even more clear and transparent way like the hard but delicate liquid crystal glass, as well as the artists’ potential to continue to flow in the future like the expansive, endlessly rolling sea.

Keem Jiyoung examines problems in the social structure that victimize individuals and result in disasters to urge that such tragedies should never be repeated. Song Min Jung observes and brings into her work the ways in which popular culture such as social media is consumed to shed light on the present times. AHN Sungseok deploys various media including photographs, videos, and installations to question the world as habitually accepted by people. Yoon Doohyun blithely tests the boundaries in between the virtual, imaginary, and real worlds, using desktop wallpaper images to produce landscapes. Lee Eunsae reinterprets the scenes of social injustice, absurdities, and taboos she witnesses around her to vividly lay them out on her canvas. Chang Seo Young screens lucid, sensorial explorations of the inner and outer human body, while Chung Heemin scrutinizes the collision between images and the tactile sensations that arise in the process. Choi Haneyl uses three-dimensional languages to explore his various interests centering around the formative genre of sculpture, and Hwang Sueyon probes the objects around her to discover unique sculptural languages in the process of transforming them.

The works in this exhibition testify to the determined outlook and attitude of the artists, who will always continue to advance and never surrender no matter how much challenge comes their way. Young Korean Artists 2019: Liquid Glass Sea hopefully functions as a catalyst that will allow us, passing “here and now” with the 9 artists, to sense the currents of the time. This exhibition is curated by Choi Heeseung.

For more information, visit the website of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.