This was the first major survey show of contemporary British art to have been shown in Korea. The exhibition was the result of over a year’s research, following an earlier study tour of the IK organised by the British Council for Korean curators. The project was selected and organised collaboratively by Visual Arts and the National Museum of Contemporary Art on Seoul.

Works by some of the leading younger artists in the UK< namely Douglas Gordon, Gary Hume, Sarah Lucas, Julian Opie, Simon Patterson, Gavin Turk and Gillian Wearing were included. However, the exhibition did not aim to focus on a particular generation ot trend. The selection represented a number of common themes and shared concerns reflected as much in the work of Gilbert & George and Art & Language, considerable forces in contemporary over the past two decades, as in their younger contemporaries.

The exhibition included video works such as Gillian Wearing’s My Favourite Track, and a new three projector video installation by Douglas Gordon, photographic work by Gavin Turk and recent self-portraits by Sarah Lucas; Gilbert & George were represented by their 1986 yriptych Class War Militant Gateway. Early paintings on newspaper by Sarah Lucas were included alongside more recent sculpture. Art & Language were represented by Sighs Trapped by Liars 510-602(1997), a free-standing floor based sculpture constructed of texts printed on canvas and Gary Hume by recent painting.

Julian Opie and Simon Patterson travelled to Seoul to install their work and participated in a seminar. Works included in the show by these artists were a major wall painting Once Upon a Time in the West by Patterson and a new five metre vinyl painting and four portraits pasted directly onto the wall by Julian Opie. A wall-based text piece by Douglas Gordon bore the inscription From the moment you read these words, until you meet someone with blue eyes’.

A catalogue was published by the National Museum of Contemporary Art, with an essay by Michael Archer and individual texts on each of the artists. ISBN 89 85538 32 2 93600

Collection Artist(s)

Glossary

  • Canvas

    A piece of cloth woven from flax, hemp or cotton fibres. The word has generally come to refer to any piece of firm, loosely woven fabric used to paint on. Its surface is typically prepared for painting by priming with a ground.

  • Contemporary

    Existing or coming into being at the same period; of today or of the present. The term that designates art being made today.

  • Installation

    An artwork comprised of many and various elements of miscellaneous materials (see mixed media), light and sound, which is conceived for and occupies an entire space, gallery or site. The viewer can often enter or walk around the installation. Installations may only exist as long as they are installed, but can be re-created in different sites. Installation art emerged in the 1960s out of Environmental Art (works of art which are three-dimensional environments), but it was not until the 1970s that the term came into common use and not until the late 1980s that artists started to specialise in this kind of work, creating a genre of ‘Installation Art’. The term can also be applied to the arrangement of selected art works in an exhibition.

  • Painting

    Work of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is a tightly stretched piece of canvas, paper or a wooden panel. Painting involves a wide range of techniques and materials, along with the artist's intellectual concerns effecting the content of a work.

  • Sculpture

    A three-dimensional work of art. Such works may be carved, modelled, constructed, or cast. Sculptures can also be described as assemblage, in the round, relief, and made in a huge variety of media. Contemporary practice also includes live elements, as in Gilbert & George 'Living Sculpture' as well as broadcast work, radio or sound sculpture.

  • Video

    Images recorded on videotape or on optical disc to be viewed on television screens, or projected onto screens. The medium through which these images are recorded and displayed.