작업 소개

57STUDIO는 국립현대미술관의 열린강좌 프로그램 중 미술관 소장품 강좌 시리즈를 제작하였습니다. 윤범모 관장이 직접 작품을 설명하는 형식으로 구성하였으며, 실제 교육 현장에서 효과적인 학습 자료로 활용될 수 있도록 제작되었습니다. 또한, 어느 장면을 캡처하더라도 교육 자료로서의 기능이 충실히 전달될 수 있도록 화면을 구성하였습니다. 이 시리즈는 작가 12명의 작품을 조명하며, 매주 수요일 YouTube LIVE를 통해 공개되었습니다.

57STUDIO produced the Museum Collection Lecture Series as part of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s (MMCA) open lecture program. The series was structured in a format where Director Yoon Bum-mo personally explains each artwork, ensuring its effectiveness as a valuable educational resource for use in learning environments.

The videos were designed so that every frame could function as an informative material, regardless of where it was captured. This series highlights the works of 12 artists and was released weekly via YouTube LIVE every Wednesday.

Shin HakChul, Who Said They Saw the Sky?, 1989

Who Said They Saw the Sky? This is a painting that asks many questions. The artist is Shin Hak-chul, and it is from his series entitled Korean Modern History. The first thing to notice is the unusual composition. Overall, it has a vertical structure that rises toward the sky. At the bottom, there are various people representing the modern history of Korea. Of course, many of the people at the bottom of the painting are anonymous. Moving upwards, the people become more prominent, yet still anonymous depicting those who could play a leading role in history. Those in the upper part represent the contemporary era.

Who Said They Saw the Sky? I think this title has such a deep resonance. By the 1980s, the field of Korean art had undergone major changes, dividing into two main camps:institutional art vs. Minjung art. Before that, the Korean art world was dominated by a strong focus on modernist art. However, groups of young artists began to raise their voices to resist the dominance of modernist art. With an elevated social consciousness, fueled by the conditions and spirit of the times, they started pursuing grand discourses, including what a nation or what a society should be. This led to a new painting style that came through like a fresh breeze, dividing the existing art field in two. This is how the movement later called “Minjung art” was formed.

Shin Hak-chul, who made this painting, emerged in the 1980s as an artist with a very original style. After entering the art field as a modernist and building his artistic foundation, Shin Hak-chul opened his eyes to social realities and started demonstrating his true capacity. He began to produce his Korean Modern History series, which explored the theme of modern history on a grand scale. The series can be viewed as a restaging of scenes from history according to the artist’s own interpretation of reality. Many of these works combine methods of collage with oil painting for a highly unique style and composition. That is, the format of the series is an attempt to express the artist’s interpretation of history through the language of formal aesthetics. In Korea, the 1980s were still the period of the military regime, but also the fierce struggles of the democratization movement against the military regime. In this painting, as in the entire series, the artist evenly blended those intense conflicts with a deep awareness of history and a spirit of the times.

It also contains his thoughts reminding us of that history and reality. The production of such works of “committed art” was totally unique to Korea in the 1980s, and this art movement has now become the subject of wide research, leading to the various exhibitions and publications. Perhaps this means that the movement’s uniqueness has been recognized and confirmed. Now, let’s look more closely at this painting I think it represents an anonymous person, who is still a protagonist of history. Despite being anonymous, this person still embraces history at the very site where history is taking place. It is through people like this that our modern and contemporary history changed and developed. This image contains the artist’s full interpretation of Korea’s modern and contemporary history, from the Donghak Peasant Revolution of the late 19th century to the democratization movement of the 1980s. Since the 1980s, Shin Hak-chul has been renowned for his innovative style and independent interpretation of history and reality. Who Said They Saw the Sky? I’m curious to know how you would answer that question.