Der Tagesspiegel, "Die Koreaner kommen" — Shin Jang-sik's First Berlin Solo Exhibition Coverage (1989) and an Exhibition Photograph

The Koreans Are Coming — Three Artists from Seoul at Roho

The Western world knows little of East Asian art — Chinese ink painting, Japanese color woodcuts, and not much else. In truth the scene is far more differentiated. Korea, geographically located between the two countries, played an important role in the art history of the Far East — both as a mediator of Chinese achievements and through its own work.

Korean artists, too, are eager to engage. Apart from Nam June Paik, who took part in 〈Positionen heutiger Kunst〉 (Positions of Contemporary Art), there is openness and interest in the broader art world as well — and contacts with Berlin are now taking shape.

A first acquaintance came about at the Seoul Olympics. At present the Berlin Galerie Roho seeks to expand those relations further. An exhibition of paintings by three young Koreans now marks the prelude to intensive exchange, to be followed by other Berlin institutions with exhibitions, workshops, and seminars.

The three painters are inspired by the various possibilities of Korean art — from the classical Far-Eastern to the progressive Western. Shin Jang-sik draws on originally folkloric beginnings, working on fibrous rice paper with strongly colored flag- and magically mystical mask-images said to summon good spirits. Bae Sung-hwan carries on the tradition of his forebears' classical ink painting, and it is astonishing to see that this path too leads to a contemporary, gesturally abstract manner. The pictures by Lee Sang-bong feel Western-surrealist. Vessel-like medical imagery is arranged spatially on bare tables, with light and shadow falling across. Especially striking is 'Light and Shadow on a Clear Day,' in which the branches of a leafless tree before a white wall combine into a multilayered composition through highly original shadow and spatial effects.

All three share certain qualities — a courage of empty surface, a refusal of artistic acrobatics, an utmost economy of means. From this, interesting perspectives emerge — and there is more to be said about Korean art and creativity.

Galerie Roho — Sesenheimer Straße 19, through 23 January 1989; Monday to Friday 3:00–6:30 PM.