Works by artists between cultures

You Sun, a Korean artist who currently lives and works in New York, often receives some unintended responses from Americans when she holds exhibitions there.

"No matter what kind of work I show, some simply understand it as a work of `Korean style.` I usually make my works using colorful vinyl, and some critics said that the pink and light green colors of the vinyl remind them of hanbok. I had never realized that before," You told The Korea Herald.

Including You, 24 young up-and-coming Korean artists who have had similar experiences are showcasing their works at the exhibition "Emerging Korean Artists in the World 2009 - U.S.B" at Seoul Arts Center.

The artists are overseas ethnic Koreans from eight different countries including Germany, Argentina and Japan. Although they have Korean nationality, they are better known in their resident countries and they say that Korea is unfamiliar.



So for them, it is ironic that their unintended nationality provides so much bias to the viewers. The irony continues in Korea, as here, they are once again treated as aliens who are somewhere in between Koreans and foreigners.

It was obvious at the recent press conference, as the press kept on asking, "so does the work reflect Korean sentiments or cultures or not?"

"What exactly is Koreanness? Now is time to compete with art itself and the artist themselves, not with countries," said curator Gu Jeong-won.

As well as meaning memory stick, as a metaphor for the artists who easily travel around the world, "U.S.B" in the title of the exhibition stands for "Urban Nomadism," "Species of Singularity," and "Becoming Gestalt."

With or without any stereotypes concerning the artists` nationalities or current country of residence, however, the 100 exhibits are simply fun, original and sometimes a bit peculiar.

For example, Lee Wonho, who resides in Germany, photographed himself posed in an inverted V-shaped prone position - head and feet rested on books with arms folded on his back. Named "Eolcharyeo," the position is actually used in the Korean military for punishment. Lee said the purpose of the picture was to express how hard it is for an artist to survive in the competitive art market.

Hwang Eunok, resident of France, decided to give a sneak peek of Parisian life, as if in a reality program. In her video "#8 Wrapping bodies project," Hwang and her friends each hid inside black vinyl bags, scattered themselves in the middle of a street in Paris and communicated with curious Parisians.

Other than the interesting status of the artists or the originality of the works, another factor of the exhibition that could attract visitors is that it received the most-ever financial support for a single exhibition - 300 million won ($255,000) - from the government. It is the third most including the Gwangju and Busan Biennales.

The exhibition runs through Dec. 6 at Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. Admission is 2,000 won for adults and 1,000 won for students and adolescents. For more information, call (02) 580-1300 or visit www.sac.or.kr

(claire@heraldm.com)



By Park Min-young