2009.4.10
The ever-evolving art world, new forms tend to overshadow on more conventional art forms. Amid the flood of new genres, however, print art -- one of the oldest genres -- has managed to maintain its popularity.
More than 360 print artists from 48 countries have submitted 677 entries for the 15th SPACE International Print Biennial Seoul this year.
Korean artist Don Sun-pil's "Wound & Aggression" won the grand prize and "Excellent" awards were given to "Staircase G" by Keisuke Yamamoto of Japan and "Untitled NO.4" by Zhang Minjie of China.
Launched in 1980, the international event for print artists is recognized by contemporary art communities worldwide.
Including the awarded pieces, 100 juried pieces are on display at Seoul Museum of Art in Seosomun-dong, central Seoul.
 |
The five jury members -- Carter Foster, print and drawing professional curator at New York Whitney Museum of American Art, Breda Skrjanec, adviser and print theorist at International Centre of Graphic Arts in Slovenia, Chichiro Minato, professor at Tokyo Tama Art University, Wu Chang Jiang, secretary general of Chinese Artists Association, and Korean print artist Kim Bong-tae -- agreed that the entries showed a high level of technical training.
"There were quite traditional things, and also very strong technical things. Overall, they were all works that require lots of training and print-making," said Foster at a press conference on Tuesday.
When deciding on the grand prize, the judges reached a unanimous agreement.
"The image was fresh, satiric and very experimental. The artist used lots of intense expressions that are not usually seen in traditional prints," said Kim Bong-tae.
The judges were surprised when they later found out that Don was only a junior at Hongik University who majored in print. They were not provided with any personal information about the artists during the screening process.
The "Excellent" prize winners were all more experienced artists. Keisuke Yamamoto skillfully expressed light and dark contrast and mythical ambience in his simple and minimal work while Zhang Minjie showed extraordinary talent in making such a fun and rhythmical woodcut, according to the judges.
Unexpectedly, all the prize winners turned out to be Asians.
"We only judged from the image of the works, so we did not know which work was by what artist from what country, but they seemed to have an international tendency that could be related to any culture," said Foster.
"When I saw Don Sun-pil's work, I actually thought it was by an American artist because I immediately thought of an American painter in the 70s. I do not know if the work contains any certain national aesthetics, but it could as well be related to Western traditions," he said.
At the end of the conference, the juries dismissed worries that the future was gloomy for print art now that digital images are replacing traditional pictorial images and prints.
"The question is not even relevant. It is a completely autonomous media, and there are many fine artists out there working in it," said Skrjanec.
"The quality of (print) works is very impressive and they are a part of contemporary art. It requires a long time in training and studying, you must devote your life for this art, but print is very important for the whole art history," Minato added.
The exhibition runs through May 10 at Seoul Museum of Art. For more information, visit www.spaceprintbiennial.org
By Park Min-young
(claire@heraldm.com)
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기