“Washing the Feet” (1992) is an extension of Lim’s work under the same title from 1988. While his previous works satirize the distorted social and political aspects of society with their depiction of Korean politicians, the 1992 version adopts texts instead of figures. The blue backdrop is filled with writings about the actual conditions of ordinary people who have lost hope due to the government’s policy of full-fledged marketopening. On top of the pile of newspapers is a collage of news articles declaring that the current regime has launched an investigation into alleged corruption by the regime of former President Chun Doo-hwan and is proceeding toward his imprisonment. Through these texts with conflicting information, Lim invites us to question whether what we hear is true or false, and whether falsehood is being disguised as truth. The flame in the center is illuminating the dark side of society, burning the pile of newspapers and about to set it aflame. As human figures stand together hand in hand, rendered faintly in the background, they are surrounded by phrases saying that, the flame represents the light of hope to reveal the truth and the
undying, noble spirit of the people.
Lim Ok-sang (b. 1950, pen name Hanbaram) received his bachelor’s degree from the Department of Painting at Seoul National University in 1972, where he also received his master’s degree in 1974. He graduated from the EESI Angouleme-Poitiers in France in 1986. Throughout his artistic career, he has held numerous solo exhibitions, both domestic and international, including “Hanbaram” at ARKO Art Center in 1981; “Landscape of Our Times” at Ondara Museum in 1990; “Rising Land” at Gana Art, Seoul, and Galerie Gana-Beaubourg, Paris, in 1995; “In the Spirit of Renaissance: Lim Ok-sang” at The Alternative Museum (TAM), New York, in 1997; “A Song of Water and Fire,” Korea Art Gallery in 2001; “Total Art-Water, Fire, Wind, Flesh, Steel” at Gana
Art Center in 2011; and “The Wind Rises” at Gana Art Center and CMay Gallery, Los Angeles, in 2017. He has also participated in group exhibitions, both domestic and international, including “Controversial Artists” at Seoul Art Museum from 1983 to 1984; “Minjoong Art: A New Cultural Movement from Korea” at Artists Space, New York, in 1988; “Anti-apartheid” at the Hangaram
Art Museum of Seoul Arts Center in 1991; “Mountains and Rivers of Mother Land” at Seoul Museum of Art in 1997; “Spirit of May: Missing” at Gwangju Museum of Art in 2001; and “The 1980s Realism and the Age” at Gana Art Center in 2001; “The 30th Anniversary Exhibition of Reality and Utterance” at Insa Art Center in 2010; “GanaArt Collection Anthology” at Seoul Museum
of Art in 2016; and “Regrettable Times” at Seoul Museum of Art and “Jeju Culture Festival in Memory of April Flowers” at Arario Museum, Jeju Island, in 2018. In addition, Lim has served as a professor at Gwangju National University of Education and Jeonju University, and as are presentative on the Korean People’s Arts Association.
After participating in the “December Exhibition” with his Seoul National University colleagues in 1974, Lim Ok-sang renounced abstract painting and started to focus on works that criticized social reality from a historical perspective. As a founding member of Reality and Utterance since 1979, he has long been a major artist known for his activity with the Minjung arts community. The decline of rural societies due to rapid industrialization and the difficulties faced by farmers and laborers have been reflected in his work since the late 1970s. By showing the rampant development of the “earth” that has been the Korean people’s source of life and the basis for their history, Lim has sought to warn audiences about the threat of industrialization. Not only did Lim Ok-sang deal with various social issues during the politically and socially tumultuous 1980s, but he also expanded his scope in the 1990s to cover issues arising from inter-Korean division. In addition, he started to work with mud as a medium to depict the sociological implications of the earth underneath us and express his abiding interest in the land. More recently, he has demonstrated the social role of the arts through interventions at historical sites and socially controversial areas resulting in works such as the “Seodaemun Prison Project” (1999) and “A Million People” (2018).
