Korean hyperrealism, a style that transfers photographic imagery and conventions to the medium of painting, is one of the few art forms of the late 1970s that has yet to receive substantive re-evaluation. Contrary to some critics’ derogatory dismissals, the style raises issues of cultural identity central to the aesthetics and critical theory of art after the Korean War. This study investigates how the hybrid forms and iconographical attention paid by Korean hyperrealism to common objects of everyday life reflect Korean society at a time when sophisticated encounters of opposing socio-political identities were taking place. After reviewing the history of this little known art form, especially of its critical discourse with prevalent social currents in the Korea of the period, the present study proceeds to define its iconography in relation to its “cultural other,” American hyperrealism. Many works of Korean hyperrealism engage some of the most pressing issues of Korea in the 1970s. In terms of subject matter, the works show complicated views of the character of the urbanization policies under President Park Chunghee (Pak Chŏnghŭi 朴正熙). Formally, the works present photographic details with a monochromatic tendency, a minimal surface infused with a sense of real-time theatricality, and an image of actual objects confluent with the illusionistic details. Juxtaposing and combining many antithetical concepts in an attempt to maintain a fragile balance, Korean artists struggled to create a culturally relevant mode of modernist expression and representation, and thereby translate their experience into a distinctive artistic language that is unique to their time period.
목차
Abstract Historical Background Issues of Cultural Identity Nature vs. Culture Two-dimensional Plane vs. Three-dimensional Space Real Time, Real Object Conclusion References
한국연구원은 1970년 5월 한국 민속의 각 분야에 걸친 자료의 수집과 학술적 연구를 목적으로 '한국민속연구소'로 출발하였다. 그 후 1973년 5월 연구 분야를 확대하며 민속뿐만 아니라 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 위해 '한국학연구소'로 개편하였고, 다시 1989년 3월 한국의 국제적 위상의 부상과 함께 한국학 연구의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라 '한국학연구원'으로 확대, 개편하였다. 한국학연구원은 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 통해 지역과 민족문화 발전에 기여하며 한국학의 세계화를 위해서 학술활동을 강화하고 나아가 내·외국인에 대한 한국문화 교육을 담당하고자 한다.