As South Korea’s Creative Industries Converge, Fine Art Is Riding the Wave
The cultural exports of South Korea have never held as much sway in the U.S. as they have in recent years. From the K-pop craze to the rising acclaim of streaming television series such as Squid Game to ongoing genre film imports, the American entertainment market is increasingly comfortable consuming the peninsula’s productions. Still, the country’s fine art scene remains more of an enigma. With evolving artistic factors within South Korea’s borders brushing up against public and private efforts to make the outside world more aware of the nation’s creators, the question remains whether the nation’s painters, sculptors and other gallery denizens will ever make the same impact across the Pacific.
Born in South Korea and now based in Copenhagen, chef Kristian Baumann enjoys following the journeys of his Korean colleagues and the country’s artists. “It has such a deep and layered cultural history, and I think we’re now seeing that history unfold in new ways through the creative scene,” he tells Observer. “What’s particularly interesting is that I don’t think this recognition comes from one single factor. There’s a real cultural influence, but also a willingness to experiment, innovate and move quickly.”
Baumann credited Koreans with “a remarkable ability to adapt to change and create space for new ideas to come to life,” and he expects that energy will soon influence the global creative landscape. “The local scene feels incredibly dynamic right now. I think Korea’s influence across food, fine art, beauty and entertainment created something of a domino effect. These creative industries are all deeply connected to our culture, so when people discover one aspect, they do a deep dive into its traditions, societal norms or ingredients. As that curiosity grows, the different industries reinforce one another.”
South Korea is becoming a rich breeding ground for artists working on large-scale installations, in particular—especially those combining industrial materials with cutting-edge technology. Artists like Kimsooja, Do Ho Suh, Haegue Yang and Lee Bul are emerging as leaders of that reconstruction movement.
Can Yang, CEO of DRX (a Seoul-based game publishing and esports company utilizing emerging technology), agrees with Baumann that the overall Korean arts scene is becoming a connected ecosystem and moving away from its previous, export-oriented identity. “The global success of Korean entertainment created greater market confidence domestically,” Yang says. “Korean artists and creators are now developing work for both Korean and international audiences from the beginning.”
Yang explains that the expansion of K-pop in particular created new opportunities for Korean artists to participate in global exhibitions, collaborations and commercial projects. He also credits the music craze for encouraging more cross-disciplinary work, which increasingly involved fine artists collaborating with musicians, game developers, filmmakers, brands and technology companies: “The important point is that fine art is becoming part of a larger conversation about Korean creativity, which includes tradition, technology, craftsmanship and contemporary cultural expression.”
As South Korea’s capital and largest city, Seoul naturally emerged as the nation’s artistic and cultural hub. As the country’s creative industries grow more interconnected, that status is further cemented. “It developed the infrastructure, institutions and international audience necessary to function as that cultural hub,” according to Yang. “It is home to leading galleries, design firms, fashion houses, entertainment companies, technology companies, gaming studios, universities and creative communities. These industries constantly influence one another.”
Yang cites Seoul’s combination of deep cultural history and rapid innovation for its people’s ability to preserve traditional forms while experimenting with new technology, digital media and global business models.
“Its dense urban environment makes collaboration possible, and its highly connected population is often among the first to adopt new cultural and digital experiences,” he says. “Seoul is no longer only producing work for the rest of the world. International artists, brands, investors and audiences are coming to Seoul to participate in its cultural life. The city is becoming a place where ideas are developed, tested and then experienced globally.”
Dr. Eleni Nicolaou is an art therapist and creative wellness expert. She drew on concepts of Korean craftsmanship when she founded the therapeutic art programs at Davincified. “The methods of creating fine art in Korea are rooted in developing a relationship to materials and the hands-on training of working with those materials—not the headlines that are made about K-pop or K-dramas,” Nicolaou says. “Korea’s small, independent art studios take their time and use slow craftsmanship in order to maintain the honesty of the artist’s work.”
She points to Frieze Seoul as a window into the vibrancy of Korea’s art scene; the Gwangju Biennale is another and perhaps one that’s accessible to more people. That kind of local-first, on-the-ground engagement, she argues, is the key to making art relevant overall: “Contemporary art does not have to become an international phenomenon in order to have an impact. It simply needs a person or entity that is going to take notice of the artworks created by their local artist or artistic community.”
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