Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles

Exhibition

Work with Torrance Art Museum, Dae Bak Super Cool

Date : Saturday, September 22, 2018 - Saturday, November 10, 2018
Time : All day event

Sept 22 ? Nov 10, 2018
Opening Reception: Saturday September 22, 6-9pm
Dae-Bak (Super Cool)
Contemporary Art and Korea
Participating Artist : O Sang Gwan, Junghwa Hong, David Jang, Young Joon Kwak, Yi Hwan Kwon, Kang Seung Lee, Nam June Paik, Kyung ryul Park, Soung W. Park, Haena Yoo


*** Korean Slang 101. ? 대박 (Daebak): It means jackpot, big success, originally. But now people also use it when they are surprised/shocked, as an exclamation and as a way to indicate that something is super cool.


Torrance Art Museum (TAM) and Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles (KCCLA) will host an event with 10 South Korean and Korean-American Artists. The exhibition called, "Dae-Bak (Super Cool)” will take place from September 22 to November 10, 2018 at TAM, located at 3320 Civic Center Dr. Torrance, CA 90503.

Dae-Bak (Super Cool)

Korean and Korean American artists have exploded onto the international art scene in recent years with a contemporary voice that resonates across both East and West. A Korean art scene has emerged from the traditions of its history to now reflect a world of connectedness and technology, of ambitious new architecture, of K-Pop, of strange fashionistas and contemporary design. It is a country breaking from its agricultural background and into the 21st century, and Seoul in particular, reflects the way that South Korea wants to project its image on to the world.

After World War II and the Korean War the social structure of Korea went through a rapid change with the influx of western civilization and its narratives. The Korean art scene started showing remarkable change in its structure and style during this time period. South Korea took the path for democratization and economic development, and achieved these two formidable tasks in half a century, with one of the recent studies of the World Economic Forum reporting South Korea as “the most innovative country in the world in 2018.”

The art works included in this exhibition explore this new national psyche, its relationship to a more internationally orientated outlook and new dialogues of the present. Political difficulties, both in Korea and the US, currently mirror the disruptions of this new, educated and financially solvent culture, of the democratic will of a Facebook generation, in the face of a patriarchal structure and a traditional society. Aspects of this can be seen reflected, albeit at times obliquely, in the art being produced by these pioneers of Korean contemporary art.

This exhibition brings together a group of Korean American and Korean artists, based in Los Angeles and in South Korea, to highlight the technical mastery and conceptual finesse of artists from this culture. Torrance Art Museum and Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles highlight a varied group who address aspects of contemporary practice, from painting, to sculpture, to installation, as viewed through a Korean lens.
Participating Artists;