Campus Library Exhibition

The Land The People: Contemporary Korean Prints

University Library Gallery, California State University, Sacramento

February 6 – May 17, 2014

Historical background is the theme of the exhibited works.  The imagery screams Korean culture.  The show has portraits, animation-type imagery, and there was much imagery of scenery and industrial landscape, even abstraction.  

My fascination is mostly in the linocut works I saw.  A portrait I fell madly in love with titled “The Testimony No. 1, 2001” by Jung Won Chul stopped me in my tracks.  I never realized the amount of detail that can be achieved through carving linoleum.  The most stunning part of this work was that at first glance across the room, it looks like a photograph.  When you stand closer, it looks like a painting.  Even closer, and it looks like a drawing (which technically is closest to what it is).  

I was also amazed with what Koo Harvey, a curator of the show, had told me.  She had described to me the process of pressing patterns into paper using weight, so that the layers of paper underneath would be texturized.  The closer you stand to these images, the more and more seemingly infinite the detail is.  

This show really made me feel like I was looking into Ian and Koo Harvey’s interest and culture and even their inspiration of their collaborative work, probably.  I thought it was very interesting feeling like I was in Korea standing in an art museum or gallery quietly keeping to myself and doing silent critiques.  I came up with so many new inspirations and ideas for my own work just looking at these!

I can really begin to appreciate art from different parts of the world, and I did not realize just how much coming from a different culture can affect types of artwork produced.  I love seeing the different landscapes and faces and ideas that come from Korea, and it makes me want to look at more diverse populations of art.  I have been so subjected to just American art and abstraction and realism, that I have been restricted.  

This show made me realize how much is out there and how much I can learn from other people and how their patience in creating work may enhance mine, or even how aggressive some artists are with their work may help me let loose with mine.  I mostly love how connected these artists were to the material they were using, and I speak mostly to that pressed paper when I say this.  I always work from already processed materials and I just add paint.  These artists really go in deep and are harmonious in ways with building and using their materials.  I have really begun to open up my eyes thanks to this show, so conveniently located on campus.