The Koa Art Gallery ushers in a new year with a brand new display featuring the works of six prominent artists from the ever-changing, embattled landscape known as Korea.
The display, entitled “Unrealistic World,” has been organized by Jeong Yoon Kwon, who has taken the show around the world in hopes of illuminating Korea’s underrated artistic talents.
The Koa Gallery has the privilege of being the first art gallery in the United States to showcase the exhibit.
Korean artwork is typically known for its politically-charged messages, which are generated either blatantly or subtlety due to the inherent conflict in which they reside in.
That being said, this exhibition looks to highlight the breadth and range of their craftsmanship, delving exuberantly into realms of the unreal and surreal.
This is also evident in their cerebral cinematic offerings, through Korean directors such as Park Chan-Wook, whose “The Vengeance Trilogy” series earned him recognition as one of the world’s most forward-thinking auteurs.
The artists in the show are Nanda, Da Yeon Lee, Dong Wook Ahn, Lee Nam Lee, Jun Young Son and Sung Keun Jun.
The six have collectively employed a range of techniques and mediums to convey their ideas and messages, including video, photography and new media.
The work is diverse as the creators themselves, challenging fundamental concepts of the body and mind, space and time, and everything in between.
One of the most well regarded of the lot is Lee Nam Lee, whose emotive landscape portraits capture the mythical beauty of their timeless surroundings. His work typifies the popular Korean aesthetic of seamlessly melding traditional and modern elements into a cohesive, singular vision.
His work is surrounded by like-minded individuals, with penchants for the other-worldly, and the creative tools to achieve their goals.
The perpetual relationship between the realistic and unrealistic is articulately represented in this exhibition. Every participating artist brings something new and decidedly different than the other, making the show room as lucrative a draw for inquiring minds as possible.
The show opened on Jan. 11, and is set to run approximately one month. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information, visit the website at http://koagallery.kcc.hawaii.edu.