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Research Guide for the Jung Jungyeob Collection

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Research Guide for the Jung Jungyeob Collection

Author | Yang Jungae(Minjung Art, independent researcher)Publication date | 2024.12.13&nbsp;1. Preliminary Information&nbsp;Jung Jungyeob (b.1962-) is a prominent Korean feminist artist who addresses the reality of women’s lives as well as labor and ecological issues both through her work and personal life. Jung’s portfolio since the 1980s is characterized by its diverse range of formats—paintings, drawings, installations, and performances, underpinned by a feminist and ecological perspective. Her key work, the Grain series, represents the anonymized lives of women and their invisible labor through beans and wild greens. In other works, Jung contemplates minority through animals and plants under the threat of extinction; she further explores the value of life through bugs and moths, alienated and vulnerable creatures that coexist with humans. In addition to empathizing and resonating with women’s daily lives and the aesthetics of housekeeping, Jung’s work showcases women’s solidarity, friendship, and hospitality, apparent in her relationships with women she met on the road of life. Jung’s body of work as an artist is well-documented in catalogs accompanying her major solo exhibitions.Jung’s artistic practice is grounded on her trajectory of life which saw her labelled a feminist and Minjung artist. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she participated in the artist collective Dureong as well as the Incheon-based local culture clubs Ilson Naneum and Gaetggot, as part of the Minjung Art and cultural movements, which were oriented towards labor activism. During the same period, she also spearheaded the women’s art movement, participating in Teo, a group composed of alumnae from the College of Fine Arts at Ewha Womans University; Women’s Art Research Association; and the feminist artist project group Ipgim. A comprehensive understanding of Jung’s art thus requires addressing not only her artworks as objects but also herself as an activist engaged in social participatory works centered around labor, women, and ecology. The following references are notable for this end.&nbsp;Korean contemporary art book 002: Jung Jungyeob (Hexagon, 2011)Published for the solo exhibition Off Bean (Gallery SKAPE, 2011), this catalog covers Jung’s body of work from the 1990s until the early 2000s. It includes images of major works from the&nbsp;‘Off Bean,’&nbsp;‘Red Bean,’ and&nbsp;‘Grain’ series, along with critiques by Kim Yunkyung (“The Beauty of the Raw”), Kang Sujeong (“Red Bean on My Forehead”), and Im Minhui (“Jung Jungyeob’s Beans—Paintings in Search of a Path, an Untamed Life”).&nbsp;History of My Workroom Transition 1985-2017 (Hexagon, 2018)This collection of drawings was published as part of the #쓸데없이아이처럼 (lit. “#useless_childlike”) project, which was part of the 2018 solo exhibition History of My Workroom Transition 1985-2017 held at LEESANGWON Museum of Art in Chuncheon. It includes thirty-three drawings that condense a year between 1985 and 2017 into a piece of text and image. The drawings depict more than fifteen various workspaces as Jung moved from one to another, from her first studio in Hyehwa-dong, which she rented right after graduating college in 1985, to her 2017 studio in Mirinae, Anseong. The works testify not only to Jung’s artistic trajectory but also to social events intertwined with her personal life; practical artworks such as geolgae geurim (hanging paintings) and print works were a mainstay of the 1980’s democratic movement, while other drawings provide insight into Jung’s art movement through group actions. These records of the Jung’s three decades of transition between workrooms constitute a valuable resource into how a woman artist struggled to persist in Korean society.&nbsp;Jung Jungyeob: The First Dinner—The 4th recipient of the Goam Art Award (Leeungno’s House: Goam Leeungno Birthplace Memorial Museum, 2019)This catalog accompanies Jung Jungyeob: The First Dinner, an exhibition organized to celebrate the 4th Goam Art Award in 2019. Reflecting the wide span of the exhibition, covering three decades of the artist’s practice, the catalog includes major works from each period, ranging from Jung’s early woodprint work of the 1980s to the recent&nbsp;‘The First Dinner’ series. Art critic Lee Yoonhee’s essay “On The First Dinner by Jung Jungyeob” introduces Jung’s key works alongside her trajectory, providing a faithful commentary to&nbsp;‘The First Dinner’ series. Also included are Lee Byunghee’s critique “Modal Aesthetics in Jung Jungyeob’s Work” and Kim Hyesoon’s poem “Red-Bean Handstand.”&nbsp;Silent Uproar (Seoul Botanic Park, 2021)Publication for the 2021 solo exhibition Jung Jungyeob: Silent Uproar held at Seoul Botanic Park. Among Jung’s various body of work from the 1990s until 2021, this catalog focuses on works tat engage life and vitality. The first part, “Aesthetics of Housekeeping,” displays works with underlying feminist perspectives, such as the&nbsp;‘Spring Herbs’ series. The second part, “Seed of Life,” focuses on the representative&nbsp;‘Grain’ series; finally, “The Problem of Coexistence” includes works that address the environment and coexistence, such as the&nbsp;‘Bugs’ series.&nbsp;Walking on the Moon (Art Center White Block, 2021)This catalog, published alongside Jung’s 20th solo exhibition of the same title organized by Art Center White Block, is centered around portrait works depicting contemporary women who have communed with the artist. Major work series presented here include&nbsp;‘Walking on the Moon,’&nbsp;‘Face-Scape 2: Eleven Portraits,’&nbsp;‘Red Drawings,’ and&nbsp;‘Word Play’; also included are Kang Sung-eun’s essay “From a Dead Bird” and “People who paint: Dialogue between Jang Pa and Jung Jungyeob.”&nbsp;Min-jung-mi-sul, Yeog-sa-leul Deud-neun-da 2 (lit. “Listening to Minjung Art’s History 2,” Hyunsilmunhwa A, 2021)This collection of critiques consists of ten conversations between pairs of artists and researchers about the activities of small art movement groups and the progress of the Minjung Art movement surrounding the establishment of the Korean People’s Artists Association in 1985. Jung’s conversation with Yang Jungae is entitled “Jung Jungyeob: The Inevitability of Living Becoming Art.” The dialogue provides a window, through the artist’s own words, to her practice which has focused on women’s labor and identity while stemming from Minjung Art’s tendencies, through activities including Dureong, Ilson Naneum, the Incheon-based Gaetggot, the Ewha University-based Teo, Women’s Art Research Association, and Ipgim.&nbsp;Kim, Hyeonjoo, “Solidarity and Art Practice as Involvement of ‘Feminist Artists Group IPGIM’”, Art History Forum, vol. 42 (Center for Art Studies, Korea, 2016)This study offers an academic analysis of Ipgim, the feminist artist group in which Jung participated, and its diverse projects within the contexts of Korean contemporary art, especially feminist art, and art in a global age. It surveys Ipgim’s founding process as well as the group’s characteristics and aesthetics, in addition to providing detailed information about key projects such as Abanggung: Occupy Jongmyo Project, Missing Women, and Island-Survivor.&nbsp;Park, Eun Been, “A Study on Jung Jung-Yeob’s Feminism Art” (Thesis: Department of Art Theory, The Graduate School, Hongik University, 2019)This thesis paper highlights Jung from the perspective of women’s art, providing the first dedicated research on Jung’s overall life as well as her most recent exhibitions and works. It contains interpretations and working processes revealed through interviews with the artist. Notably, it provides an academic analysis on Jung’s recent works, including the post-2010s&nbsp;‘Mirrors’ and&nbsp;‘Square’ series.&nbsp;2. Background Information&nbsp;Personal LifeBorn in 1962 in Gangjin, Jeollanam-do, Jung Jungyeob graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Ewha Womans University in 1985. Immediately after graduation, Jung joined the Minjung Art group Dureong, which was oriented towards field activism. In 1986, she found employment at Bupyeong Industrial Complex and later participated in Ilson Naneum, a cultural group that supported labor movements, before joining the Incheon-based art group Gaetggot, where she produced diverse field-based artworks such as geolgae paintings, flag paintings, murals, prints, and illustrations. As a woman artist, Jung explored methods of social participation and was also actively engaged in the Ewha alumna group Teo, the Women’s Art Branch within the Korean People’s Artists Association (later renamed to Women’s Art Research Association), and the feminist artist project group Ipgim.In the 1990s, Jung began to focus on her personal artistic career, holding her first solo exhibition Living Merging with Life at 21C Gallery in 1995. Since then, she has showcased a wide range of works centered around women’s reality, labor, ecology, and social justice through more than twenty solo and group exhibitions. Jung’s second solo exhibition at Kumho Gallery was the first occasion that featured her major series of work,&nbsp;‘Red Bean’ and&nbsp;‘Grains.’ In the 2006 exhibition Be Erased at Arko Art Center, Jung reflected on the experiences of minorities such as anonymized Asian women and animals and plants under the threat of extinction. The 2016 exhibition Bugs at Gallery SKAPE saw Jung explore living beings that coexist with humans, echoing the seeds she had sown over the years. The 2019 solo exhibition The First Dinner brought together key figures in Korean feministdiscourse and Jung’s acquaintances to a dinner table, highlighting labor and action as central themes. Throughout her career, Jung has oscillated between personal artistic pursuits and group activities, which have contributed to her ongoing role as an artist within society. Jung’s involvement in various projects, including the Yellow Sea Art Festival from 1998 to 2016, the Oasis Project, which proposed a new art movement through artistic squatting projects, the anti-nuclear artist collective Hack Mong (lit. “Delusions of Nuclear Power”), and Seacoast Environmental Art Action, demonstrates her commitment to social causes.As Jung continued her solo and collaborative work through the mid-1980s and later, in the places of contradictions within Korean society, her artistic practice has been recognized for bridging micro- and meta-discourse. She was included in Korea Culture and Arts Foundation’s Selected Korean Art of the Year 2001 and was awarded the 4th Goam Art Award in 2018, the 13th Gender Equality Award by the Woman &amp; Culture In Network in 2020, and the 34th Lee Jungseop Award in 2022. She was selected as Kiaf SEOUL 2023’s HIGHLIGHT artist and one of Gyeonggi-do’s Women Figures of the Year in 2024. Jung’s works are part of collections at institutions including Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Gwangju Museum of Art, Arko Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Suwon Museun of Art, and Cheongju Museum of Art.&nbsp;Art collective DureongLaunched through the 1983 Pre-Inaugural Exhibition at Aeogae Theater and the 1984 Inaugural Exhibition at Kyung-In Museum of Fine Art, Dureong is an important Minjung Art group that organized cultural actions through collaborations with labor unions. In 1987, the group split into Bat-Dureong, which focused on labor activism, and Non-Dureong, which focused on supporting actions based in Seoul; it later expanded into regional and&nbsp;sectoral art movements. After being inspired by Dureong’s 1983 Pre-Inaugural Exhibition, Jung deliberated for two years before officially joining the group in 1985—just after graduating from college. As Dureong evolved and split into its two factions, Jung became involved with Bat-Dureong, securing a job at a factory in Incheon’s Bupyeong Industrial Complex where she was active for ten months.&nbsp;Ilson NaneumFounded in 1987, Ilson Naneum was an Incheon-based curatorial group focused on worker’s culture from 1987 to 1988. Its goal was to culturally support labor unions through various activities; Jung was in charge of the arts chapter. The group’s activities included cultural actions in support of significant events, including the 1987 June Uprising and Great Worker Struggle. They also supported the establishment of labor unions. The organization merged with the samul nori crew Hangwangdae and Gaetggot in April 1988; it later evolved into Urimunhwasaranghoe (lit. “Society for the Appreciation of Our Culture”).&nbsp;Gaetggot&nbsp;Gaetggot (1987-1992) is an acronym that translates to “flowers blooming in the mudflat,” where mudflat represents Incheon and the flowers symbolize culture emerging from barren soil. The art group originated from Work-Painting Club, a Minjung cultural organization which supported labor movement in 1986, and came into full swing as Jung joined along with Ilson Naneum. The organization produced geolgae paintings, prints, and flag paintings for demonstrations and supported cultural programs for labor unions needed during strikes. Jung contributed to a notable mural, Handok Metal Democratic Labor Union (1988), created in collaboration with Lee Sung-gang of Ganeunpae. This collaborative effort involved coloring the mural on the outer walls of the factory in Bupyeong Industrial Complex, where workers joined them. This work holds significance as it is considered one of the first documented labor murals in Incheon.&nbsp;TeoTeo is an artist group organized for a subjective art practice based on women’s lives. Its members consisted of Jung Jungyeob, along with her 1981 classmates from the College of Fine Arts at Ewha Womans University: Gu Seonhoe, Kim Minhui, Sin Gayeong, Lee Gyeongmi, and Choe Gyeongsuk. The group’s inaugural exhibition was held in 1985 at Ewha Gallery. Over the next seven years, four member exhibitions took place until 1992. In addition to these exhibitions, the group participated in a range of activities, affiliating with Women’s Art Research Association and Korea Women’s Association United, and participating continuously in the Women and Reality exhibition series.&nbsp;Women’s Art Research Association&nbsp;Women’s Art Research Association (WARA, 1986-1994) was first established as the Women’s Art Chapter affiliated with the Korean People’s Artists Association. WARA was founded by Siwol Gathering, a group of artists including Kim Insoon, Kim Jinsook, and Yoon Suknam, along with Teo, in 1986. In 1988, the organization was renamed to WARA in order to solidify its identity of investigating women’s issues through art. The group showcased its artistic practice through the annual Women and Reality exhibition series and touring exhibitions in Korea. During this period, it also collaborated with various groups, including the activist painting group Doongji (1987) and cartoon group Miyal (1988), to women’s social activism in the field, creating education material for women workers and farmers. Its members include Kim Insoon, Yoon Suknam, Park Youngsook, Kim Jongrye, Min Hyesook, Jung Jungyeob, Rhu Junhwa, Kwak Eunsook; one notable collaborative work is Forward As One Until the Dawn of Liberation! (1987).&nbsp;IpgimFounded in October 1997, during a period of heightened feminist cultural movements in South Korea, Ipgim adopted a feminist identity and developed an artistic practice focused on gender equality from the early 2000s onwards. The name “Ipgim” literally means “breath” and refers to the group’s intention to bring about change by infusing a positive breath into society, shared by women who are concerned about social issues. Its founding members included eight women in their thirties at the time: Jung Jungyeob, Kwak Eunsook, Kim Myungjin, Rhu Junhwa, Woo Shinhee, Yoon Heesu, Je Miran, and Ha Insun. Some notable projects by the group include the 2000 Abanggung: Occupy Jongmyo Project which subverted Jongmyo, a symbolic place of patriarchy, into the site of a women’s art festival, rebelling against Confucianist rigorism; Missing Women; and Goddess Within Us.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3. Related Keywords&nbsp;Housekeeping, Jipsaram, Grains, Red Bean, Bean, Bugs, Life, Mirrors, Square, Candlelight, Festival, Outpouring, Face-Scape, History of My Workroom Transition, The First Dinner, Word Play, skirt performance, women’s art, feminism, feminist, Teo, Women’s Art Research Association, Women and Reality, Ipgim, Abanggung: Occupy Jongmyo Project, Yoon Suknam, Park Youngsook, woodblock print, geolgae painting (hanging painting), flag painting, mural painting, Minjung Art, Labor Art, cultural movement, Dureong, Ilson Naneum, Gaetggot, Incheon Artist Union, Yellow Sea Art Festival, Korean People’s Artists Association, Artists’ Conference, squatting, Oasis Project, ecologism, anti-nuclear (post-nuclear), Hack Mong (Delusions of Nuclear Power), ecofeminism

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Research Guide for the Jung Jungyeob Collection

Research Guide for the Jung Jungyeob Collection