The exhibition "Origin, Emergence, Return," which runs through July 23 at the Rink Level Gallery of Rockefeller Center in New York, displays the works of artists Lee Bae, Park Seo-bo and Jin Meyerson. Lee is the first Korean artist to have his work displayed at the center's Channel Gardens. This exhibition is a part of celebrating Korean culture being held by Rockefeller center throughout the month of this July.
All three are considered pioneers of contemporary and modern Korean art and have produced works using materials like the traditional paper Hanji, computer graphics, augmented reality and charcoal. The organizers of this exhibit are Johyun Gallery and Rockefeller Center in New York.
The exhibition includes Lee's outdoor sculpture Issu de Feu, or "From the Fire," which rises 21 feet or 640 cm high. His use of charcoal in abstract paintings in the exhibition's "Emergence" section can be seen at Johyun Gallery in Busan.
Through this experience, I learned of the diverse styles and impact of the three artists on contemporary art movements worldwide. One was dansaekhwa (monochrome painting), which emerged in Korea in the 1970s and was inspired by minimalist art pieces.
I was impressed to learn that Park is considered one of the founders of dansaekhwa. Much of his featured works come from the Ecriture series he began crafting in the 1960s. Getting close to the paintings, I could see the tiny scrapping marks he etched on a wet monochromatic surface with various types of paper, including Hanji. This reminded me how much patience and skill he needed to create these pieces.
The final section showed the works of Korean American artist Meyerson. Born in Korea, he was adopted by an American family but returned to his motherland. His section "Return" tells the personal story of his cultural identity.
He combined computer graphics and augmented reality to create immersive large-scale paintings, something that allowed me to understand technology's integration with art.
This exhibition made me feel like I was part of art history.
