‘한국 리얼리즘’의 가능성 연구: 신형상 미술에서 제기되는 리얼리티의 양식화 문제

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, a new genre of fine art has emerged; it was called figurative art. The purpose of this study is to review, in the context of realism, the possibility of the figurative art settled as a genre reflecting the phenomena of our time beyond a collective art trend. As is well known, 'realism' in the visual art has been defined as 'an attitude and means of art attempting to represent and describe the objective reality as it is.' The disputes surrounding the realism have unfolded through the discourse about the concept of 'reality' and the means of its expression, while having always been centered on philosophical concepts such as 'real,' 'being,' 'fact,' 'truth,' 'essence,' 'actuality' etc. In the case of fine art, a critical realism emerged in France in the 19th century; it aimed at 'expressing the history and reality in a true and objective way. Since then, realism has mutated into, or branched off, Socialism Realism, Surrealism, Nouveau Realisme, Hyper-realism, Photo-realism, Realisme Fantastique, and the like. At last, the theories of hyper-reality and simulation put forwarded by Jean Baudrillard in the early 1980s demolished the concepts and interpretations about the conventional actuality and images fundamentally, upholding the ecosystem of the realism art to a dimension quite different from before. Thus, if the nature of art could be defined as incessant meditative activities for the changing reality and being, it can hardly be doubted that the theme 'what is realism' would continue to be discussed. The reason why a new potential of realism should be discussed is that we believe realism would be suggested as an alternative for our future in today's reality when definitions and the order of modernity are being overcome anew in our Korean art history. Such efforts are in line with the new discourse about realism among the art critics in Asia. A new possibility of realism may be found in the belief that the concept of reality can be accommodated in a more expanded system of aesthetics.