Art News

The National Museum of Contemporary Art Presents "Artist of the Year 1995-2010"

artwork: Lee Jong-gu - "Earth-At Oziri", 1988 - Acrylic and colloge on wrapping paper - 170 x 200 cm. - Courtesy the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul. On view in "Artist of the Year 1995-2010" until October 30th.


Seoul, Korea  – The National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea is pleased to present “Artist of the Year 1995-2010”, on view until October 30th at its main building in Gwacheon. The exhibition will look back on the past 16 years of Korea’s contemporary artwork. In addition, the ‘Artist of the Year’ initiative will be revised. Under the ‘Artist of the Year’ initiative, which was established in 1995 and ran until 2010, artists who showed a strong creative drive and performed distinguished art activities in the Korean art world were selected on an annual basis regardless of their age and genre, and were invited to hold individual exhibitions at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea. Over the past 16 years, 23 artists, including Jheon Soo-cheon, Yoon Jeong-seop, Suh Se-ok, Jung Yeon-doo, and Park Ki-won, were selected through this system,  enabling them to establish a stronger position in the art world and develop into leaders of the Korean art scene.

The exhibition,  titled  Artist of the Year 1995-2010, offers a good opportunity to reflect on the history of the chosen artists in the years 1995-2010 and to explore and declare a new direction for the future. The representative art works of the 23 artists selected by the ‘Artist of the Year’ will be displayed in this exhibition, and a video of each artist’s message will be presented as well. Through this exhibition, visitors will get to know all about the artists’ art world and life story, as well as the future direction of Korean art. This exhibition will also help  the National Museum of Contemporary Art Korea to make a great step forward with the opening of the Seoul  branch, UUL which will satisfy the needs of the 21st century. For the past 16 years, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea has been exploring various changes and innovations through the ‘Artist of the Year’ program, and now seeks to revise the system as its first step  before the opening  of  the UUL. The new  program will be a comprehensive, practical art sponsorship  initiative that will  focus on discovering and assisting artists so that they can develop as global artists. This program seeks to discover and foster artists who have future potential and vision in the realm of Korean contemporary art. Unlike other award programs in the arts arena, it will sponsor the activities of the selected artists, provide a matching program between artists and theorists and continuous support through a dedicated curator system, and establish systematic assistance for the production of promotional art catalogue videos. Together with SBS, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea will provide a better work environment for the selected artists, which will contribute to constructing a basic infrastructure for art in the long run.

artwork: Jheon Soo-cheon - "Tou-time Tunerl", 1994 - Teracotta, neon, iron, glass, dust - 630 x 140 x 70 cm. Courtesy the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul. -  On view until October 30th.

Located in beautiful Gwacheon, the National Museum of Contemporary Art displays work by Korean and international modern artists, as well as work by those contemporary artists currently making waves in the art world. As well as its permanent collection, the museum generally presents several special exhibitions, which run for three to four months. The museum is conveniently located on the outskirts of Seoul near to several other attractions, such as the Seoul Grand Park, and Seoul Land amusement park. The National Museum of Contemporary Art museum building was constructed in a manner that harmonizes with both the natural and the artificial beauty of its surroundings, through a traditional form that invokes contemporary tastes. The design of the museum reflects Korea’s traditional architectural style of fortress walls and a beacon mound. The museum features a sculpture gallery in the form of fortress walls, a painting gallery the shape of a semi-oval hall, and the Ramp Core in the style of a beacon mound that connects the two sections.The exterior space of the museum is designed to reflect a traditional Korean garden, enabling gradual access through a passage that gives the visual effect of a steady ascent. The sculpture garden is formed naturally by the shape of the surrounding land and the trees and shrubs. Starting in 1971, two years after its establishment, the museum has collected works of art, and each year adds historically valuable and important works to its collection. In the early years, the museum’s collection was focused on modern arts, and in the 1980s abstract art and works of international artists were actively collected. In the 1990s, the collection began to favor a more collectable form of art, and began to focus on works by young artists rather than those of mainstream artists and deceased artists. In the 2000s, with the supplementation of the collections in accordance with a re-evaluation of art history, interest and collections in lesser-known genres, as well as experimental and avant-garde art forms such as engravings, crafts and photography increased. The history of the National Museum of Contemporary Art’s collection has unfolded along with the flow of Korea’s art and culture since the 1970s. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.moca.go.kr