Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

14.2.4
Korean Contemporary Art
Festival
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The Korean Contemporary Art Festival,
which was designed to present Korean
arts today, was not originally included
in the plan for the Olympiad of Art.
The SLOOC had planned to invite 20
Korean artists to the three original
Olympiad programs including five to
the International Open-Air Sculpture
Symposium, five to the International
Open-Air Sculpture Symposium, five to
the World Invitational Open-Air
Sculpture Exhibition and 10 to the
International Contemporary Painting
Exhibition.
When it was announced that 165 artists
of 81 countries would be invited to the
World Invitational Open-Air Sculpture
Exhibition and 110 artists of 59 countries
to the International Contemporary
Painting Exhibition, the local art community
requested reconsideration of
the plan, pointing out that, in view of
the venue of the events, too few
Korean artists were included, that
unpersuasive criteria were used in
selecting the participating artists, and
that no clear theme was presented.
In response to the protests, the SLOOC
increased the number of Korean
members on the Steering Committee
and met with representatives of the art
community to hear their opinions. The
SLOOC then decided, with agreement
from the Steering Committee, to
increase the number of Korean participants
in the World Invitational
Open-Art Sculpture Exhibition from
five to 10, and that of the International
66
Contemporary Painting Exhibition from
10 to 20. It was also decided that along
with the International Contemporary
Painting Exhibition, a Korean Contemporary
Art Festival would be staged
featuring works of about 100 painters
and 30 to 40 sculptors and that the two
events would be given equal status
and held side by side in the same
museum.
The opposition to the Olympiad of Art,
however, grew still stronger when the
SLOOC on February 3,1988
announced the names of 10 Korean
participants in the World Invitational
Open-Air Sculpture Exhibition, 21
Korean painters for the International
Contemporary Painting Exhibition and
161 artists for the Korean Contemporary
Art Festival, who were all selected
through votes by Korean members of
the Olympiad of Art Steering Committee.
Upon learning that the selections had
heavily favored abstract artists and
that only 17 painters following traditional
Korean styles were included, many of
the artists excluded from the selection
began to collect signatures on a petition
seeking nullification of the selection
and the resignation en masse of the
Korean members of the Steering Committee.
Groups of representational
artists and sculptors held joint rallies
to demand the nullification of the
selection. The Korea Fine Arts
Association issued a statement
requesting a reselection of participants.
The opposition grew into a
debate over the identity of Korean art.
Complying with the request of the
opposing artists and critics, the
SLOOC named three leading painters
of the traditional Korean school to sit
on the Steering Committee for the
Olympiad of Art and, after a number of
consultations, chose 581 artists comprising
86 traditional Korean painters,
304 Western painters, 95 sculptors
and 96 handicraft artists. Eighty-one
young artists centered around the
Council on the Art for the Masses
opposed the Olympiad of Art to the
end, refusing to submit their works.
Consequently, works of 500 artists,
including 65 Korean paintings, 252
Western paintings, 90 sculptures and
93 craft art objects, were eventually
exhibited in the Korean Contemporary
Art Festival.
The 65 traditional Korean painters
included 53 representationalists and
12 abstractionists, the 252 Western
painters were composed of 116
representationalists and 136 abstractionists,
and the 90 sculptors included
43 representationalists and 47 abstractionists.
No classification was made of
the craft artists. Altogether, there were
212 representationalists and 195
abstractionists. The 500 Korean artists
comprised 331 active in the Seoul
area, 150 in the provinces and 19 in
foreign countries. Despite the initial
controversy, several changes in planning
and the refusal by certain circles of
artists to participate, the Korean
Contemporary Art Festival provided a
good overview of Korean art today.
Some took the view that restriction on
the size of paintings to 1.5 square
meters and that of sculptures and craft
works to dimensions suitable for indoor
display might discourage artists who
might wish to express themselves free
from any such restriction, thus
hampering a full presentation of
today's Korean art. The restriction,
however, became unavoidable as the
number of participating artists
increased from the original 160 to 500.
64
64. Footprint impressions at the National
Museum of Contemporary Art.
65. The International Contemporary
Painting Exhibition at the National
Museum of Contemporary Art collected
156 works by as many painters from 62
different nations.
66. Canvases included in the International
Contemporary Painting Exhibition.