“Production of Modern Korean Art” is not just a historical survey, but also a reminder that modernism is not only an aesthetic, but also a common way of life formed through communication and mutual communication. The academic, archive-driven exhibition kicked off with landmark English publications of the same title, which led to letters from four key figures unpublished in post-war Korean art: Kim Whanki, Kim Tschang-Yeul, Lee Ufan, Lee Ufan and Park Seo-Bo. Spanning twenty years, these letters paint the intellectual, emotional and geopolitical trends that shape the emergence of Korean modernism.
Showcased with groundbreaking early works – including the park No. 65-75 (1975), Kim Tschang-Yeul Water drops (1975), Lee Ufan From (1977) and Kim Whanki’s New York Times (1971) extraordinary dots and strokes – letters function not in context, but in parallel material: intimate, ideologically vibrant, and often very fragile. They oscillate between practical logistical and philosophical contemplation and reveal the shared urgency to define modern Korean art and established norms and traditional cultural authority different from the Western paradigm.
An outstanding example is a letter from Kim Whanki to Kim Tschang-Yeul in 1973, a poetic reflection of the “waterdrop” series: “It looks like a sweating drop, not water. [It would be] As a great desert, a wide plain; the more enthusiastic the inspiration, the more serious it seems. “The letter reveals how peers observe and deeply feel artistic labor – modernism is an intimate conversation shaped by mutual care, criticism and emotional investment.
This shared spirit can also be felt in a group of Asian societies over the past May, where a group of people associated with the book – famous Yeon Shim Chung and Doryun Chong, contributors Kyung An and Lee himself have reflected on the project’s long-term pregnancy. Lee talks frankly about the need to resist the absorption of Western-centric narratives. As the exhibition shows, their correspondence is a lifeline, a form of mutual understanding and fundamental endurance.
By June 21, at Tina Kim Gallery, 525 West 21st Street.
