Greatness of Everyday: Reversing the Narratives / The Nature of Art

Greatness of Everyday: Reversing the Narratives
Busan Art in the 1980s

Greatness of Everyday: Reversing the Narratives sheds new light on the meanings of new figurative art that made its historic mark along with wide-ranging art movements in the ’80s.

The Korean art scene has attempted to define expressionistic artworks that are distinguishable from the existing figurative painting or art since the mid and late ’70s by using such terms as “new figurative painting/art” and “new figuration.” It could be interpreted as a gesture to newly contextualize the movement of artists leveraging the distortion and modification of objects and strong color tones to express their perception of the reality, unlike the realism-driven portrayal of objects or figures found in the existing figurative painting. Such a tendency was later described as “new figurative art.” It is a form of art that flourished based on “our stories at this moment in time” topping the agenda back in the 80s, deserving to be understood as a concept even encompassing the realism in art emerging in tandem with the democratization movement during the times. In this sense, new figurative art is worthy to be revisited as a keyword to figure out a topographical map of the Korean art history in the ’80s.

Despite the implications of new figurative art in the art history of Korea, it is yet to be officially defined due to the broad implications of the concept, leading to a failure in having a historical presence. This exhibition, nevertheless, seeks to gather together an artistic tendency of artworks introduced in the budding times of new figurative art with a closer look at the period ranging from the mid-70s up to the mid-90s, overshadowing the existence of numerous limitations such as absence of clues in figuring out a specific time frame for certain artworks. It is hoped that some of the keywords and themes embedded in new figurative art could be explored through the attempt, thereby paving the way to position it within the Korean art history.

The exhibition is themed on several keywords embedded in new figurative art. It consists of four sections: “Expression of the Reality: Development of New Figuration” revealing the recovery of abstraction into figuration through the expression of the reality; “Recovery of Expressions” dealing with the perception of everyday life and expressive attempts for it; “Twisted Desires” exposing explicit expressionistic attempts with the multi-dimensionality of new figurative art; and lastly, “The Turbulent Times” revealing the scent of day-to-day life of greatness in multiple views.

It is wished that this exhibition could enable the audience to eye the “recovery of narratives” contained in new figurative art, and rediscover its historic significance.

The Nature of Art

The COVID-19 pandemic, known as a great disaster in the history of humankind, has caused traumatic effects in the current era beyond national borders. The normal ways of doing things have been constrained all of a sudden, making us adapt fast to the new demands of the current times. Our desperate wish for things to turn around is not likely to be addressed so soon.

The post-corona world has been described as the irony of neoliberalism, a curse borne out of climate change and destruction of civilizations. Anxiety, fear and frustration have substituted the place of the human spirit. Meanwhile, this disastrous situation has become an opportunity for us to diagnose the ironies of the social system and predict the new era to come. As historian Yuval Harari noted, “We must allow ourselves to have a dream. It is a time to execute belated reforms and also correct the structures of injustice.”

Genuine consolation and healing may not be easily achieved amid the current tragedy of the pandemic. And yet, we are to encounter the art, contemplate on ourselves, and broaden our horizons for sensations in the tragic times. I ruminate about something deep upon encountering art: what are some of the facets of humankind?; how is the vitality of the land in a symbiotic relationship with us wriggling? And how should our lives be led anew?

This exhibition consists of three sections: “Imagine from Today,” which enables structural ironies of the world to be projected, and imagination-driven suggestions for the future to be listened to. The second section is “Contemplate from Emptiness,” sharing the sounds of nature in foreign lands in real time to liberate a restricted body. Another piece of art is to pay condolences for those who passed away in solitude due to the disaster, and their family. The last section is “Empowered by Mother Nature,” giving courage for us to move forward into a new world.

Artists do not turn against the world even in the times of tragedy, but take steps forward to move on. And right now, they would console us in a saddening, yet beautiful manner. It is wished that this exhibition is to offer experiences of healing and consolation for those living in the era of depression not to be lost and continue on with their journey.