Working with Nature is the first major exhibition of contemporary Korean art to be held in Britain. It allows us to consider some of the differences between a West European and an East Asian approach to making art. Although to Western eyes much of the work will be seen to relate visually to modernist abstract painting (such as that in the Myth-making), it in fact has deeper roots in the beliefs and traditions of Korean culture.
The six artists have been selected because their work continues a Korean tradition of working with nature. The artists see their work, like themselves, as being part of nature, sharing its dynamics, and its textures. In Korean thought, nature is not something separate or an unattainable ideal. It is the governing principle.
The artists whose work is represented in this show were aged between seven and twenty-three when North Korea invaded the South on 25 June 1950. Some of them were students at the time, and were drafted into the army. Some had friends and family killed in the war. All of them have been affected by its legacy.
CHUNG, CHANG-SUP Born 1927 Lives and works in Seoul
YUN, HYONG-KEUN Born 1928 Lives and works in Seoul
KIM, TSCHANG- YEUL Born 1929 Lives and works in Paris and Seoul
PARK, SEO-BO Born 1931 Lives and works in Seoul
LEE, U-FAN Born 1936 Lives and works in Tokyo
LEE, KANG-SO Born 1943 Lives and works in Seoul