1980년대 한국화의 한 단면 : 도시의 인물상

Abstract

Korean painting from the 1980s saw an increase in the amount of figurative paintings that featured cityscapes in their backgrounds. The majority of these were depicted within colorful paint and Indian ink, or with colorful paintings using monotone. The figures painted within these cityscapes were portrayed in a number of different ways, sometimes as a staffage within the background of the urban landscape, or as urban peoples who were predominantly drawn. These groups or portraits of individual figures were depictions of laborers nonchalantly going about their everyday routines. They were depicted as enjoying the benefits of their civilized lives, yet at the same their agonies and conflicts were revealed, often lacking their passions for life, while the meta-discourse regarding urbanism had left indelible conflicts in their unconsciousness. The painters drew attention to the everyday scenes that they had experienced within these cities, and their portrayals appear at the same time both familiar and unfamiliar due to their unique style of brushstroke and individualised ways of coloring. Figurative painting in the 1980s can be clearly distinguished from the previous period of Korean art, through the genres, medias, and styles being employed. Its subject matter includes the developments of cities and civilization located in urban life, the daily rituals within it, as well as urbanisation’s side effects such as marginalization and inequality. It was therefore reflecting a visual language of the 1980s. Therefore, figures within cityscapes represent another aspect of what we might identify as the city, its space and its attributes, in the 1980s. This serves as one of the most representative symbols of the Korean art scene at the time, which was mostly characterized by a desperate hope for change.