This is the new Korea

Swarming in on top of the J-pop craze, K-pop has now been a bubbly part of Thai culture for over a decade, and yet Korean contemporary art remains virtually unknown here. Thanks, though, to Bangkok’s Numthong Gallery and Mite-Ugro, a non-profit art centre in Gwanju, South Korea, the exhibition “This Finding Me” offers a representative taste.

Mire-Ugro director Cho Seungki brought Haru K, Lee Jo Heum and Jeong Jin Gab to Bangkok over the weekend to help him introduce Korean contemporary art.

Curator HJ Kim has put together nearly 30 paintings and sculptures that reflect the rapid changes in that country and how the artists felt the impact.

Jeong Jin-gab focuses on immature human violence in resin sculptures of men and women in classic poses of frustration. He is dismayed that top university grades, fancy jobs and expensive houses and cars define “the good life” today. In their rush to achieve this standard of “success”, he says, people miss the chance to enjoy and appreciate fundamental humanity. 

Lee Jo Heum regards each individual as holding a special place in society, but society’s failure to recognise them as anything but part of the whole, as cogs in the wheel, leaves them feeling frustrated.

Inspired by computer games, his painting “3 Types of Humans” has people in the shapes of triangles, squares and circles voicing their discontent.

Haru K offers paintings of chaotic landscapes in which cultural aspects of East and West mingle in vivid colours. His imaginary landscapes reflect her frustration amid the chaos of the extreme opposites mixing together and losing their core identity in the process.

Unable to visit Bangkok for the show, a fourth artist, Lim Nam Jin, is represented by several paintings that address the sentiments she’s developed through self-examination.

“In our fast-changing society, we’re too busy simply surviving to have time to look back at our lives. Endless work and other demands weigh down the heart and it becomes difficult to find our true inner nature, leading to social instability,” the curator notes.

“Nah-hahn-do” depicts the various manifestations of human nature in modern society. “Nah-hahn” refers to Buddhists at the highest spiritual level, and these portraits elevate ordinary people to the status of nah-hahn. Each of us has this in our nature, Lim suggests, and it’s recognisable through a process of self-examination.

 

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“This Finding Me” runs until August 31 at the Numthong Gallery on Soi Aree 5 North off Phaholyothin Road. 

Find out more at www.GalleryNumthong,com and Facebook/NumthongGalleryAtAree.