Korean Beauty: Two Kinds of Nature aims to examine the original perspectives and aesthetics of contemporary Korean artists. In this exhibition, the viewers will be able to observe the distinctiveness, universality and creative aesthetics of contemporary Korean art. 

Even in this present day when contemporary Korean art is characterized by its diversity and use of a wide range of modes of expression, the public tends to confine the concept of “Korean beauty” to several hundred year old traditional artifacts such as Buddhist statues, stupas, ceramic works, and Hanok. Intending to prevent making the error of not being able to discern the unique characteristics of Korean art while being taken away by the present-day tendency to lay emphasis on international university, this exhibition shed light on the artistic originality and distinctive aesthetics of contemporary Korean art.    
The subtitle “Two Kinds of Nature” came from the following questions: how Korean artists’ deep thoughts and philosophies on “nature” as the origin of all beings are embodied; what is a common perspective among them. In this exhibition, therefore, are unfolded the artists’ warm attitudes towards and empathies for “nature” and the world of “another nature” created on the basis of their deep contemplations and understandings of the fundamental attributes and essence of “nature”.  

“Nature,” which has contained itself through the process of generation and degeneration, has been the constant source of creative “inspiration” to all the artists throughout the world. In the simple forms of abstract works in which artists’ thoughts and understandings of nature are reflected and the subtle expressions of nature that artists captured through empathy and observation, the viewers will discover the aspects of contemporary Korean art’s original aesthetics and artistic visions.
In other words, they will be able to experience the inspirations and expirations of nature that tend to be veiled by the absurd arrogance of man to consider himself as the lord of all creatures, the lingering imageries before our eyes, and the resonances ringing in our ears. Art can be described as a sharpened hatchet that breaks the icy-cold shells of our senses blinded by the intense light of the artificial civilizations and of our thoughts stiffened due to our materialistic thoughts and desires.

*image (left)
Hyun Sook Song
2 Strokes, 1997
courtesy of MMCA