[Exhibition of the Week] 'Nowonhee: You Were There' · OKNP 'BAAA: Books As Art As' Exhibition and More

▲Seominji 'Senses Facing Each Other' Exhibition = Gallery Dos is hosting the exhibition 'Senses Facing Each Other' by artist Seominji, selected for the 2023 second half 'Shapes of Everyday Life' planning competition, until the 16th.

Flame 3, oil on canvas, 53 x 53, 2023
Photo by Gallery Dos

The artist pursues new transformed images by drawing and erasing sensations perceived in everyday moments to express the inner world situated within the awareness of the present. The traces created through this repetitive act of erasing attempt to materialize new communication, and the composition of the image is limited to color planes rather than any specific form, simplifying the canvas as much as possible. This allows the perception of the sensation itself, strongly conveying the breath and force reflected in that moment’s sensation, leading to deep meditation.

As one meditates and gazes at the canvas, accidental effects revealing conscious and unconscious actions are captured as other forms. These become traces created by repetitive acts, imparting a sense of temporality. Accordingly, the flat image develops into an organic form as the boundaries drawn and erased overlap and blur, conveying dynamic energy. These forms fill the canvas using extremely restrained colors, and the effects from the erasing process evoke an atmosphere similar to the ink bleeding in traditional East Asian painting, creating a subtle emotional impact even in the artist’s oil paintings.

The artist states, "The Flowing Boundaries series was created with the hope that the shapes or lines appearing through the repetitive process of painting and erasing would serve as indicators to awaken the present in viewers rather than conveying a complete image." At first glance, the seemingly simple and ordinary motifs naturally evoke reflections on the depth of life derived from the relationship between humans and nature, which is created through tremendous unseen effort and energy, resembling nature itself.

Also, the faintly visible canvas frame marks evoke and recall fragments of sensations deeply submerged within, generating new discourse and connecting to the present. Thus, what is clearly perceived in a moment does not completely disappear with any stimulus or the passage of time but remains beyond consciousness or unconsciousness like the thin layers of paint in the work, offering a narrative of life beyond mere reproduction of sensation at that time. The exhibition runs until the 16th at Gallery Dos, 7 Samcheong-ro-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Nowonhee 'You Were There'
[Photo by Korea Arts & Culture Education Service]

▲Curated Invitational Exhibition 'Nowonhee: So You Were There' = Arko Art Center is holding the curated invitational exhibition 'Nowonhee: So You Were There' until November 19. The exhibition presents 95 works by artist Nowonhee, including paintings from the 1980s to new paintings, large-scale fabric paintings, participatory collaborative works, and illustrations for serialized newspaper novels, along with 39 archival materials that provide an overview of the artist’s career.

Born in 1948 in Daegu, Gyeongbuk, the artist graduated from Seoul National University and its graduate school’s College of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, and held her first solo exhibition at Munheon Gallery in 1977. She was a founding member of the small group art movement ‘Reality and Speech’ in 1980 and served as a professor at Dong-Eui University in Busan from 1982 to 2013. Based on historical and social awareness shaped by changing times, she has expressed the psychological landscapes of society, politics, and culture created by individuals and groups, revealing the hidden aspects of our era.

This exhibition is organized to explore the artist’s artistic orientation to record human affairs on social and personal levels through the visual language of painting based on social awareness. The first exhibition hall opens with works depicting psychological landscapes sensing and portraying changes in Korean society. Representative works such as 'On the Street' (1980), 'One Road' (1980), and 'Tree' (1982) depict the unconscious and dreamlike expressions of the reality behind the times. The exhibition also unveils new works addressing industrial accidents. Since the 1980s, the artist has spoken on social issues through images of workers and power, and the new works continue this trajectory by empathizing with industrial accident victims and their suffering.

Nowonhee 'You Were There'
[Photo by Korea Arts & Culture Education Service]

The artist says, "Industrial accidents reveal capitalism’s attitude toward labor realities and human dignity in this era." The shadow-like human figures appearing in Nowonhee’s paintings represent youth, workers, and fighters whose survival and dignity are threatened in our time. The exhibition title “So You Were There” is a phrase quoted from the artist’s notes, evoking the act of discovering and addressing someone marginalized in society, just as the artist depicts specific individuals in her paintings. This phrase reflects the painter’s compassion for the prolonged struggles and suffering lives inflicted by society, revealing the social others and their forms that the exhibition seeks to portray through Nowonhee’s work.

Im Geunhye, director of Arko Art Center and curator of the exhibition, explains, “Nowonhee’s solo exhibition, held at the very place where the founding exhibition of Reality and Speech was canceled due to censorship in 1980, will be a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the relationship between art and society, one year before the art center’s 50th anniversary.” The exhibition runs until November 19 at Arko Art Center, Dongsung-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

AA Bronson, After General Idea, Three Star Books
[Photo by OK&P Busan]

▲OKNP 'BAAA: Books As Art As' = OKNP Busan is hosting the exhibition 'BAAA: Books As Art As' about artist books. Co-curated by French exhibition planners Christophe Boutin and M?lanie Scatiglia, the exhibition is divided into five sections including an archive section, and features videos to help understand the exhibited works and art publishing.

The history of artist books parallels the flow of contemporary art history. Before the term ‘artist book’ emerged, early forms were created in the early 20th century by avant-garde artists of Dada, Surrealism, Constructivism, Structuralism, Fluxus, and others. Instead of painting on canvas, artists produced works through ‘books’ and ‘publishing.’ Later, in the 1960s, conceptual artists, installation artists, and land artists began experimenting more diversely with artist books. These experiments continue today, with not only conceptual artists but also painters exploring various artistic worlds through books, each with different aims.

This exhibition gathers major artist books from around the world. It features the last artist book by John Baldessari, who passed away in 2020, as well as works by world-renowned artists such as Maurizio Cattelan and Sophie Calle. Among Korean artists, Kwon Osang, who pioneered new paths in sculpture, exhibits his original sculptural works, and Um Yujeong’s original paintings, whose book was selected as ‘the most beautiful book in the world,’ are also displayed.

Simon Fujiwara, Fabulous Beasts - Kohinoor Mink, Three Star Books
[Photo by OK&P Busan]

Park Hyeongjin’s special book 'Crow and Magpie,' which records the colors of trees daily like a diary, is exhibited alongside original paintings, and Kim Seonwoo participates with newly created drawing originals for the book 'ASTROLABE_FROM AM 5 TO PM 5,' created in collaboration with novelist Oh Hanggi and film director Oh Jaehyung.

The exhibition not only informs about artist books but also shows that ‘books’ have been a material for artworks and that such experiments continue. Furthermore, it offers today’s digitally accustomed generation a full experience of the physicality of analog books. The exhibition runs until September 10 at OKNP Busan, Haeundaehaebyeon-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan.