Joan Kee, Associate Professor of History of Art at the University of Michigan and a leading authority on contemporary Asian art, presents an overview of important artists and developments in postwar Korean art, including the rise of performance art and the significance of ink painting.

Kee points out that no clear-cut division exists between "modern" and "contemporary" in Korean art, and that this absence is not so much an omission as an intentional acknowledgment of the competing senses of time and history with which Korean artists engaged from roughly 1953—the provisional end of the Korean War—to 1988, the year of the Seoul Olympics, Korea's proverbial "coming-out" party. The force of these engagements was especially palpable in the 1960s and 70s. This talk presents an overview of some of the most important artists and developments, including the emergence of Tansaekhwa, the loose constellation of abstract paintings which ranks among the most important artistic movements in post-1945 Asia, as well as the rise of performance art and the significance of ink painting. Such explorations continue to resonate today, as "contemporary art" worldwide becomes increasingly, and paradoxically, more expansive and less inclusive than ever before.

Thursday, March 12, 2015 | 6 PM

 If you have any questions, please contact Jahee Yu  or (212) 759-7525