Sailing toward a multitude Asia across the ocean that links us all

The “Alternative Sea for Asia” exhibition began from a reflection on Asian art grounded in the geographical and cultural traits of the Jeonnam Museum of Art, which faces Korea’s southern sea. An “alternative Asia” is a concept that aims to understand the Asian continent through transideological and trans-boundary lenses. In the past, Asia was a leading force of modern art through its geopolitical identity as the “Far East.” Today, we seek new meaning in an effort to move beyond such past. In other words, the “alternative Asia” concept attempts to bury the East as a concept manufactured relative to the West and, instead, create a notion of Asia as a transnational body comprised of entities that may be smaller but are nevertheless each imbued with unique value. Through the history and cultural customs of different regions, the exhibition presents the ocean as something that can transcend the limitations of time and space to allow for such transnationalism. Starting with artists from the southernmost part of Korea, the exhibition sails across the South Pacific to meet artists of Taiwan and goes further east to engage in dialogue with Japanese artists. In all of these encounters, it makes a record of the many layers of meaning that can be found in the depths of the ocean.

The first section, “The Ocean’s Waves,” displays music in which the ocean’s sounds are visualized and, based on the historical significance of intermedia art, works of Paik Namjune and Chen Yujung. “The ocean’s dream” explores the meanings embodied by the art of Oh Jiho, a Jeonnam based artist who is deeply loyal to his hometown while engaging in futuristic endeavors. It also introduces the
works of Kang Honggoo, who takes a critical perspective of humans and civilization, and Kim Seungyoung and Murai Hironori, who encourage us to think about what it means to meet someone else through their seafaring project. Uchida Aguri is a Japanese artist who, in response to Western tradition, produces works in which dreams flow on rivers to the sea. “Transcending the ocean” reconsiders the roots of Jeonnam’s classical landscape tradition– as embodied by Heo Ryeon and Heo Baekryeon–through the ink-and-wash paintings of Kim Chunil. It also explores how traditional landscape painting is being reinvented for our times through the works of Taiwanese master Li Yihong and up-and-coming artist Yuan Huili. Through the works of Imazu Kei, who awakens us to the paradox that colonial history’s reenactment in a globalized world is the ideal to which humankind should
aspire, it shows how modern images can be connected to the past. The final section, “The Boundary that Separates Us from the Ocean,” is inspired by Kim Whanki’s “universe paintings” and also displays works by Nakamura Katsumi, who creates based on a system of symbols, and Huang Bohao, who produces razor-sharp images of the deep sea as a space that transcends boundaries. The viewer will be able to experience the creative elements of “realistic depiction (寫境),” which concerns itself with portraying the truth as opposed to the ideal or the imaginary–an experience that will manifest in a space that transcends realistic boundaries.

By contemplating our uncertain future, this exhibition sails out into the waters off the coast of Jeonnam as well as those of southern, eastern, and western Asia, through which it reflects on the oceans of the East and West as well as of our past and present. The exhibition suggests that, when the concept of Asia is used as a gravitational center, our alternative sea can become even richer in layers of meaning. It will be the first step of our journey across the ocean of our times.

Kang Honggoo, Kim Seungyoung, Kim Cheonil, Kim whanki, Nakamura Kazumi, Lee Yihhong, Murai Hironori, Paik Nam June, Oh Jiho, Uchida Aguri, Yuan Huili, Imazu Kei, Chen Yujung, Heo Geon, Huh Baekryun, Huang Bohao