Crossfields: Young Korean Artists in London

Private View: Thursday, 30th July 2009 (6.30pm)

The Korean Cultural Centre UK is proud to launch the forthcoming exhibition ‘Crossfields’, an exhibition of 23 artists based in London. The exhibition will take place between 30 July and 12 September 2009.

Crossfields brings together a broad range of artists from across the art and design fields: each having studied in Korea before coming to Europe to continue their work. This multidisciplinary exhibition, with a collaboration of various aesthetic genres celebrates the crossing and blending of boundaries in the same way that the Korean Cultural Centre has worked to fuse Korea’s relationship with the British people.

Crossfields has been designed as a celebration of the vibrant talent that young Korean artist’s are now bringing to London’s art scene. Having come to the UK as mature students in the final stages of preparedness, the training they have received in London along with the artistic grounding that they received in Korea has served them well for this exhibition. To mark the symbolic union of so many disciplines under one exhibition, three of the artists were specifically commissioned to focus upon the interior and exterior of the Korean Cultural Centre UK as the centre piece of their work; they have risen to the challenge and produced some very interesting results. These thought-provoking pieces encourage the audience to question what is around them; to never accept anything at first glance. Nominated by their respective institutions, the Korean Cultural Centre UK looks forward to giving a platform to these artists to launch the next stage of their careers.

Crossfields also features ‘an exhibition within an exhibition’ showing the highly innovative work of eight professional fashion designers.

The fashion designers chose some very specific outlines from Korean history: each choosing a very different theme. CHOI Eudon was inspired by the Korean Giseng, the traditional professional entertainers of noble/professional men; HEO Hwan’s ‘Women who dived into the water’ explores female sacrifice in Korean history; PARK Hwan Sung is inspired by the memory of an animated television hero from his youth; CHOI Jinwoo works with the fabrics/off cuts traditionally used as table cloths or to store goods; LEE Hyun Shick was inspired by the humiliating costumes and punishments traditionally inflicted on children who wet the bed; KO Kate Yun Ju reinterprets the restrictive fashion rules of Korea and blends them with a traditional palette of colours; LEE Chung Chung’s is inspired by traditional suits of armour and KIM Jae Hwan was inspired by the fashion of 1970’s London with the traditional hats of the Joseon Dynasty.

The show also invited many participants to contribute: Illustrator Gwen LEE makes caricature of artists’ faces whilst photographers and graphic designers will also be presenting their work. The invited fashion designers worked with metaphysical subjects from Korean history and used this to inspire their collections which feature abstract patterns, shapes and silhouettes. The show is curated by Stephanie Seungmin Kim and offers the audience the opportunity to see the best the current Korean art scene in London has to offer.

Exhibiting Artists:

BAAK Je, CHOI Anna, HONG Jung-Ouk, HUR Shan, KANG Eemyun, KIM Dong Yoon, KIM Gemini, KU Hyeyoung, KWON Soon-Hak, PARK Changhwan, RYU Dai-Hyun, SHIN Gunwoo, SHIN Kiwoun, SHIN Any Hye-jung, YOON Jungu

Participating Designers:

CHOI Eudon, CHOI Jinwoo, KO Kate Yun Ju, LEE Chung Chung, KIM Jae Hwan, PARK Hwan Sung, HEO Hwan, LEE Hyun Shick,

Contributors:

PARK Kwan-joo (Architecture major), LEE Gwen (Illustrator), LEE Junho (Fashion Photography)

Events

Mini Fashion Show

Thursday 30 July 7pm

The Show will feature the work of the eight Korean Fashion Designers: each having produced a new collection inspired by Korean History for the Crossfields Exhibition.

Theatrical Performance by Participating Artist Ku Hye-young

Thursday 30 July 7.30pm

Artists Forum is scheduled for September