[Exhibition of the Week] Hip-hop Exhibition Seen Through Comics · Real Banksy (REAL BANKSY) and More

Editor's NoteThis week's exhibitions introduce a variety of attractive exhibitions that can be experienced nationwide over the course of one week.

Banksy, Flower Throwing Boy, Love is in the Air (Flower Thrower)
Photo by Atoons

▲ ‘REAL BANKSY: Banksy is NOWHERE’ = At Ground Seoul (formerly Ara Art Center), the largest Banksy exhibition in Korea, ‘REAL BANKSY: Banksy is NOWHERE,’ is being held.

Banksy is a UK-born graffiti artist who calls himself an Art Terrorist for peace, known as a faceless celebrity and a street artist who hides his identity. Having made his name in the art world since the late 1990s, he once said, "Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." He is a street artist who exposes scenes of violence and discrimination worldwide.

Banksy, Girl with Balloon.
Photo by Atunes

His works deliver messages on issues involving art, politics, and social satire through his unique perspective in graffiti form. Mainly created using stencil graffiti techniques, his works appear on streets, walls, and bridges in cities around the world. This exhibition is expected to focus less on the artist’s real name and nationality and more on his messages and achievements as an artist who sought to transform our lives.

Planned in four sections, the exhibition is organized to showcase Banksy’s early works that began as street art and his 25-year journey at a glance. Visitors can explore various social transformation messages such as Banksy’s nonviolence, anti-war stance, commercialization of art, and the value of art, capturing scenes of violence and discrimination worldwide. The exhibition runs until October 20 at Ground Seoul, Insadong 9-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Painter Im Chang-yeol's former poster.
[Photo courtesy of Gallery La Mer]

▲ Painter Lim Chang-yeol Exhibition = Gallery La Mer presents a retrospective of painter Lim Chang-yeol’s 60 years of work, as seen through the eyes of his daughter, the curator. What does it mean to look back? The retrospective gathers the father’s works by era and theme in one space, and the curator reflects on what is being recalled. She says she wanted to highlight the personal time of her father as testified by his paintings. Through the works he has created over the years, she aimed to meet and introduce ‘Lim Chang-yeol the person’ and ‘Lim Chang-yeol the painter’?to understand what kind of life he lived, what he observed, what inspirations he was sensitive to, what emotions he felt, and how he expressed them.

Paintings contain not only the existence of tangible objects but also the themes reflected by the subjects, the rational and emotional person who painted them, and the artist’s turbulent life and the era he lived in. One can talk about the canvas and paint, recall flowers that were once commonly seen on the streets during a certain period, and discuss light and shadow through the flowers depicted in the paintings.

By examining brushstrokes and color tones, one might infer the painter’s personality, and by connecting the works to those of similar or contrasting artists, the scope of thought can be broadened. Looking at the year the painting was created, one can momentarily return to the time we all lived through or to one’s personal time, recalling people met, things heard, seen, and learned, and more broadly, events that happened in Korea or the world at that time.

Cover of the book by Hanna Lim, daughter of artist Chang-Yeol Lim and exhibition curator.

The sensory experiences and possibilities for new reflection that a single painting can evoke are infinite. The observer replays and newly experiences the past memories brought by the painting through present-day emotions and thoughts, and the painting is simultaneously renewed through the observer’s gaze.

“A painting has life because of the observer,” as painter Mark Rothko said; a painting is only revived when it meets the observer’s gaze. The curator daughter hopes that her father’s 60-year retrospective will become a precious time of reflection for the public as well. The exhibition runs until the 27th at Gallery La Mer, Insadong 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Image from the comic 'Hip Hop' by artist Kim Su-yong.
Photo by Seoul Munhwasa

▲ ‘Hip-hop Meets Comics’ Exhibition = The Korea Manhwa Museum is holding a comic exhibition themed on hip-hop titled ‘Hip-hop Meets Comics.’ Composed of three parts, this exhibition conveys the dynamic and free spirit of Korean hip-hop culture through a convergence of comics, music, video, and art.

The exhibition is divided into three main zones showcasing the history of Korean hip-hop. Part 1, ‘Flow of the HIPHOP: Hip-hop, Viewing the Era,’ archives 35 hip-hop songs including Hong Seo-beom’s 1989 release ‘Kim Satgat,’ Hyun Jin-young and Wawa’s ‘Sad Mannequin,’ and 015B’s ‘A Story I Want to Tell You.’

Part 2, ‘Graffiti, Art of Reality: Streets Embracing Art,’ features works by world-renowned artist Shim Chan-yang, allowing visitors to experience the free-spirited street art of graffiti. The final part, Part 3, ‘Fill of The Feel: Comics Containing Soul,’ lets visitors feel the soul of hip-hop through hip-hop comics such as ‘Hip-hop’ and ‘Al Ge Mwo Ya.’

Poster of the Hip-hop Exhibition Encountered Through Comics.
[Photo by Korea Manhwa Museum]

Kim Sun-mi, head of the Comic Content Department at the Korea Manhwa Museum and the exhibition planner, said, “Through this exhibition, we hope to bring together comics, art, and music themed on hip-hop for a new reinterpretation and provide a sensory experience that satisfies all visitors. We hope hip-hop will easily approach the public and advance globally as a genre of K-culture.” The exhibition runs until September 27 at the Korea Manhwa Museum, Gilju-ro, Ojeong-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do.