The exhibition Oh Yoon commemorates the 40th anniversary of the passing of artist Oh Yoon (1946–1986), a quintessential figure of Korean Minjung Art in the 1980s. Centered around the Oh Yoon Collection at the Art Archives Seoul Museum of Art (AA SeMA), this exhibition reexamines his unique artistic world and creative process. It articulates the multi-layered narrative embedded in his work within the context of turbulent modern and contemporary Korean history, traditional culture and performance, native philosophies including Donghak, and literature such as minjung poetry (the people’s poetry). The exhibition also sheds new light on the figurative aspects of Oh's prints through the physical traces of carving on his original printmaking blocks. Taken together, Oh Yoon explores the creative vision of the artist who embraced the everyday lives of minjung and pondered the role of art.
Born in Busan in 1946, Oh graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in sculpture. From early on, he contemplated the relationship between reality and art, forming Reality Group in college in 1969. In the 1970s, he established a distinctive visual language rooted in traditional brickmaking and woodcuts based on the lives of minjung. During this time, he also collaborated with the literary and publishing communities, making various cover art and illustrations. After helping found Reality and Utterance in 1979, Oh revealed his critical views on reality and thoughts on art through his works and writings. The mid-1980s marked his artistic peak, as he gave dynamic form to the han (sorrow) and shinmyeong (spiritual exuberance) of the minjok (Korean people). Shortly after his first solo exhibition at Geurimmadang Min (a historic art space in Seoul), Oh passed away at the young age of forty in 1986.
The exhibition traces Oh’s works and archives in chronological order and is divided into six sections, with each title taken from his notes. Section 1, “Gaedochi Oh Yoon,” covers his exploratory years in college. Section 2, “There Are Souls in the Land,” examines the minjung aesthetics of Oh, who embraced the wounds of modern and contemporary Korean history and the lives of minjung. Section 3, “Gwanjajaebosalhaengsimbanyabaramildasi,” highlights his performative practice, documenting the lives of his neighbors and ordinary people around him. Section 4, “What Ought We to Express” centers around his time with Reality and Utterance, revealing his critical perspective on art through his artworks and writings. Section 5, “Collective Exhilaration Including the I,” presents the rebirth of his work through shinmyeong, which marked the peak of his artistic career. The final section, “I, Too, Am Leaving,” starts with a travel diary he wrote at age fifteen, tracing his life as a journey of creation. Altogether, the newly compiled and presented materials include original printmaking blocks, sketches, drawings, notes, and other creative tools. We hope to offer multiple perspectives on Oh's artistic world through this exhibition and broaden the possibilities for further research and interpretation.
