These artists hit back at South Korean society through their work: a look at the nation’s 20th-century experimental art

An exhibition in a New York art museum features around 90 artworks by South Koreans who matured as artists during a politically and socially challenging time

Their work was seen as a reaction against those issues and as an attempt to overthrow the conservative art establishment that existed at the time

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Installation view of “Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s-1970s”, of 20th-century South Korean art, with Jung Kang-ja’s “Kiss Me” in the foreground, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Photo: Guggenheim

Published: 4:15pm, 9 Oct 2023

A survey of the 20th-century South Korean experimental art seen at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York reveals how artists reacted to the repression of the time while continuing with their bold experimentation.

The result was an outpouring of creativity by artists attempting to overthrow the conservative art establishment.

“Only The Young: Experimental Art In Korea, 1960s-1970s” features around 90 artworks by those who came of age in the war-torn 1950s and who matured as artists at a time when there was a lot of societal anger against the dictatorial regime of then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee, who came to power in 1961.

As Kyung An, the Guggenheim’s associate curator of Asian arts, explains, many of the artists drew inspiration from each other even when their broader environment was not supportive.

The first gallery, “A New Beginning”, surveys the beginning of the movement when artists worked under the umbrellas of various art collectives.

“This gallery looks at how the artists harnessed new processes and materials as they graduate from university and try to find a place for themselves in the conservative art establishment,” says An.