SPACE July 2023 (No. 668)
Exhibition view of ‘80 Urban Reality’
©Kim Sangtae / Image courtesy of Seoul Museum of Art
What did Seoul look like in the 1980s? The constant construction of towering buildings, cars rushing on asphalt roads, and the bustling lives of the people within them. Starting from May 25, the Seosomun Main Branch of Seoul Museum of Art presents the exhibition ‘80 Urban Reality’, which explores various aspects of contemporary society during that era. The exhibition is organised around the theme of ‘urban reality and urban dwellers in the 1980s’ and features selected artworks from the Seoul Museum of Art’s collection and the GanaArt Collection that are relevant to the theme. The GanaArt Collection, consisting of 200 artworks donated by Lee Ho-jae (chairman, Gana Art) in 2001, reflects the social reality of 1980s – 1990s Korea. The exhibition aims to provide the contemporary artists’ perspective on the rapidly developing cities, the people who migrated to them, and the declining rural communities. The selected artworks are divided into three subthemes: ‘The Other Side of Urbanization’, ‘Urbanites’, and ‘Beyond Urban Surroundings: Origin of Life’. Lee Hung-duk’s artwork, Noon Siren in the Sleeping City (1985), depicts the tension and anxiety of the city through dense buildings and a blue colour scheme. Jheon Soocheon’s Eclipse (1989) portrays humans calmly confronting the order of nature. Kwun Sun-cheol’s Yongma Mountain (1977), which represents nature as the opposite concept to the city, depicts the struggles of our people by likening them to the mountain. The human figures marginalised by excessive development captured on the canvas are not so different from the modern reality. In that sense, the exhibition that delves into the history of the people offers significant insights that resonate even today. ‘80 Urban Reality’ will continue until May 26, 2025 and can be visited without prior reservation at the GanaArt Collection exhibition hall on the second floor. by Jung Youngju
