Resistance and Meditation: Hong Sung-dam

OPENING RECEPTION OCTOBER 5, 2003, 3-6PM

The Queens Museum of Art is pleased to present the first solo New York exhibition of the work of Korean artist Hong Sung-dam. Hong was born in 1955 in the Sihan Island south of the Korean peninsula into a situation of poverty and oppression. He began the “People’s School of Art” in Gwangju, a city in Southwestern Korea, in 1983, and organized an artists association in 1985. Known to South Korean authorities for his perspective on social reform individual freedom, in 1988, Hong, then exhibiting internationally, was imprisoned for his participation in the creation of a mural in North Korea depicting various injustices suffered by South Korean people. He was subjected to torture in prison, and released in 1992 after persistent protests from humanitarian groups. Since his release, his work has turned away from the specifics of war to address global issues of communication, violence, protest, and rehabilitation. Resistance and Meditation: Hong Sung-dam is part of East Wind, a two-part exhibition along with Nostalgia Today: Kim Dae-won, Ha Chul-Kyung, Kim Young-sam, co-organized by the Gwangju Art Museum. The exhibitions run from October 5 – November 30, 2003. An opening reception will be held October 5, 3-6 pm.#8221;

Hong’s “propaganda style” of the 1980s refutes both traditional and Western Modernist trends, both popular options for artists of his generation. Instead, Hong’s work is associated with the Minjoong art movement, or “People’s Art,” which emerged in response to political oppression. Minjoong art incorporated hyperreal images of violence and suffering and surreal emblemsof democracy. The visual disjointedness pointed to a unique notion of “Realism” as a “protest against reality through art,” an artform that became an important mode of communication during the revolution. Hong’s famous Minjoong-style mural in North Korea will not be shown, although it still hangs in a North Korean government museum today.

Faded Tears in the Moonlight (1995) refers to the Donghak Revolution, an uprising in January 1894 by the Gap-o Farmers. This was the first farmers' revolution on a nation-wide scale in Korea's history, and initiated public awareness about the conditions of the poor. It was an anti-feudal resistance movement seeking increased freedom and civic rights, as well as a movement for national independence and self-reliance. It is suggested that later progressive movements had roots in this farmers’ protest, which also began in May.

Hong’s work balances image of struggle with optimism and hope for the future. In Baridaegi, for example, Hong depicted the bitter plight of woman who was allegedly used as prostitute for the Japanese army during their occupation of Korea. The work expresses the possibility of means of survival and transcendence beyond this life. While imprisoned, Hong was forced to spend weeks in a tank of water; now, water, once a source of great pleasure, now inspires deep fear. His folk-inspired paintings of water and wave motifs demonstrate his effort to reconcile with and achieve some forgiveness toward his captors. Rice has also become a lifelong subject for Hong, and he deals with all permutations of its relationships in the daily life of East Asians: “rice and labor, rice and struggle, rice and ideologies, rice and life, rice and death.” This exhibition consists of more than thirty paintings, prints, and photographs, and videos.

Exhibition co-curators: Jang Kyung-hwa, Chief Curator, Gwangju Art Museum and Tom Finkelpearl, Executive Director, Queens Museum of Art. This exhibition East Wind was co-organized by the Gwangju Art Museum and the Queens Museum of Art.

The presentation of East Wind at the Queens Museum of Art is made possible by Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Korea, Korean Cultural Service Korean Consulate General, Asiana Airlines, BooKook Foundation for Korean Culture, Gwangju Biennale Foundation, and The Centennial Committee of Korean Immigration to the United States.

A 150-page catalogue titled East Wind will be published by the Gwangju Art Museum.

Press Contact: Carolyn Bane, (718) 592-9700, ext. 147, cbane@queensmuseum.org