1980년대 한국사회와 민중미술 - 대중소비사회의 시각이미지와 비판적 리얼리즘의 재고

최태만,Choi, Tae-Man 한국미술이론학회 2009 미술이론과 현장 Vol.7 No.-

This paper intends to examine the significance of the "Minjoong Misool(People's art)" of the 1980s emerged in Korea in its social, cultural, and art historical context. This paper also aims to provide an analysis of the meaning and form of the individual artist's works, which have been overlooked under the dominant discourse that has emphasized their political role as a collective group. In particular, this paper scrutinizes the work of "Critical Realists" by examining the way in which they perceived Korean society in the early 1980s and visualized their experiences of the period. The figurative art newly emerged in the early 1980s challenged the formalist Modernism, which was adopted into Korea and translated into monochrome paintings and the work of the conversative academicism of the 1970s. The figurative art encouraged a social communication and moreover it intended to criticize the conflicts in the political, economical, and social domains in Korea. The targets of its critique include the unavoidable results of the unprecedented development of economy, various social phenomena of the post-industrial society, and the growth of the commercialized kitsch culture. Along with Shin, Hak-chul's work that incorporates collage technique since the 1980s, the work of some members of "Reality and Utterance" and "Im- sul-nyun" exemplify their critical interests in disclosing the false dream of wealth and happiness by both referring to and drawing on the utopian fantasy manipulated and distributed by mass media and commercial advertisements. This paper pays particular attention to Nouvelle Figuration emerged in France and Europe during the 1960s, which is comparable to the new figurative art emerged in Korea during the 1980s. Nouvelle Figuration criticized the autonomy in art isolated itself from political and social reality after WWII, in particular the indifference of Informel and abstract art as well as American abstract art. Moreover it became rather politicized around May of 1968. Given that French Nouvelle Figuration was introduced in Korea in 1982 and made a significant contribution to the formation of figurative art in Korea, it should be noted that the new figurative art emerged in the 1980s in Korea cannot be categorized merely in relation to People's Art. This paper intends to critically redress the notion that People's art was formed in the particular political, economical, and cultural context of Korea independent of the contemporary artistic practices outside Korea. It will provide a critical examination and analysis of the content and form of the new figurative art, from which People's Art was germinated, in the global context.

자연에 바치는 경의

최태만(Choi Tae-man) 현대건축사 2008 마루 Vol.- No.80

1950년대 이경성의 미술비평관

최태만(Choi Tae Man) 한국근현대미술사학회 2011 한국근현대미술사학 Vol.22 No.-

The purpose of this paper is to reassess the contribution of Lee Kyung-sung as art critic who became active since 1953, focusing on his criticism published in the 1950s. Although some artists also wrote criticism on artwork, Lee was the only professional art critic during the decade. Despite harsh milieu, he developed his own critical viewpoint while writing reviews on exhibitions, in which he claimed that Korean artists should seek reality and modernity in their artworks for the development of Korean art. He was able to publish his criticism in limited venues such as newspapers and magazines. Thus, most of his writings tend to be brief, yet his criticism was severe and pointed. Although his criticism tends to provide evaluations rather than close analyses and profound interpretations about his contemporary art, his criticism published in the 1950s provides important basic information of art and art criticism of the period, which serves significantly in restoring Korean modern art.

미술비평의 효용성에 대해 다시 묻는다 : 아서 단토의 ‘미술종말론’에 대한 비평적 독서

최태만(Choi Tae Man) 현대미술학회 2006 현대미술학 논문집 Vol.10 No.-

'The End of Art' written by Arthur Danto has caused diverse discourses on the definition of art as well as the use and abuse of art criticism. He proposes that, since Andy Warhol presented his quasi ready-made objects 'Brillo Box' in 1964, contemporary art has been confronted with the end of art. It means not the crucial end of art itself but the end of a narrative insisted by Clement Greenberg, that is, the end of the modernist narrative. In fact, since Marcel Duchamp introduced the ready-made, the notion of art has been deconstructed. Insertion of non-art materials in art started to be proliferated. Moreover, Joseph Beuys manifested that 'Everyone can be artist', and Andy Warhol's Brillo Box also generated disputation about what is art. According to Danto, in Brillo Box, the long tradition of mimesis in art cannot be established, so it pronounced 'the end of art' . Because contemporary art is professional and self-defined, it has to do with philosophy. He said, after Warhol's Brillo Box, the history of art also reached the point where it had to tum into its own philosophy. Therefore, contemporary artworks need to gam assistance from philosophy, and this condition allowed plural possibilities. Dance's approval of pluralism and recognition of equality in art provides a new vision against old conventions which were produced and commonly enforced by art history and criticism in the modern era. In this article, I raise a question that his contention, on the one hand, can evoke abuse of art criticism. On the other hand, it can stimulate non-necessity of criticism. He argues that artwork is faced with every possibility without any norms. Though, his theory on the end of art is not supported by precise evidences except Brillo Box. In conclusion, I propose that the necessity of art criticism should be still efficient, even though it belongs to the art world as an institution, for the interpretation and evaluation of art. Philosophy is not the only one resource but an applicable means for art criticism. Art criticism is not merely based on the philosophical approach but also might be influenced from other institutional systems including education, journalism, gallery, museum, market, etc.

일본 전쟁기록화와 1945년 전후의 후지타 쓰구하루(藤田嗣治)

최태만(Choi Tae-man) 한국근현대미술사학회 2015 한국근현대미술사학 Vol.30 No.-

Fougita Tsuguharu moved to Paris in 1913 after he has graduated from Tokyo Academy of Fine Arts in 1910. Fougita joined cole de Paris and after the World WarⅡ then he became well recognized. His milky colored nude paintings done in the traditional Japanese painting style was shockingly unfamiliar with Parisians and they were exuberated by his eccentric actions. Fougita painted the most war campaign documentary paintings among the Japanese artists after he came back to Japan. Furthermore following the defeat, since Fougita was cooperating with the Japanese military as the president of Japanese Military Art Association, he was caught up in the middle of war responsibility controversy. After the US military occupation in Japan, GHQ classified War Campaign Documentary Paintings as propaganda, not as art paintings and shipped 153 pieces to the United States of America. Initially, GHQ had appointed Fougita to be in charge of collecting these paintings but after these war propaganda campaign documentary paintings became the main controversy in the Japanese art world, Fougita passed on the responsibility to Yamada Shinichi and left to go to the US and then France. Fougita, who was beloved by the Japanese Military for his war campaign documentary paintings during the WWⅡ, purchased diamonds from the money he made by selling paintings to US military officers and their wives. Instead of accepting his war responsibility, he avoids all blame and claims his legitimacy. In 1949, with the aid from the US military, he was left for New York. After one year in New York, he moved to Paris. Fougita became naturalized as a French citizen and ended his life in a hospital in Switzerland in 1968. From the facts above, Fougita’s war campaign documentary paintings were the result of his ambition of success, not just an outcome of Japanese military’s order. The reason he wanted to escape from Japan after the WWⅡ was to recreate his success which he already had in Paris earlier his life. In conclusion, the paintings show us what Fougita’s consciousness was like the horrendous war scenes of his paintings show that he considered war as a mere theatrical experience and bloody slaughter as a spectacle.

해방정국과 한국전쟁 사이 이쾌대의 행적

최태만(Choi Taeman) 한국근현대미술사학회 2017 한국근현대미술사학 Vol.33 No.-

The purpose of this study is to clarify the activities of Lee Quede during the Liberation Period and the Korean War. As soon as Korea was liberated from Japanese Colonialism, he participated at the Choseon Formative Art Alliance in 1946 and appointed as a chief of painting department of Chosun Art Alliance. However, he withdrew from the Chosun Art Alliance, a group of leftist artists, and founded the Chosun Art Culture Association, and served as chairperson. During this period, he produced <A Group of People> series and his representative works, and presented them mainly at the member’s exhibition of this association. In the situation of extreme confrontation between left and right, he wanted to keep the position of the marginal man, an artist stood between borders, rather than belonging to one ideology. However, as Lee Seongman regime founded the Federation Protecting and Guiding the Public in order to find and watch former leftists, he entered in this federation due to a psychological burden of his activity in the Chosun Art Alliance. Although he made ideological changes in the federation, he played an important role in the rebuilt Chosun Art Alliance when the North Koreans took over Seoul. When the South Korean army recovered Seoul, he was arrested as a prisoner and sent to the Geoje War Prisoner Camp. At the time of the exchange of prisoners between South and North, he chose the North. The reason why he went to the North was inaccurate until the testimony of Lee Juyoung, who had been accommodated in the same camp. He did not choose North Korea according to his ideology, but went north to survive. To examine his life as a marginal man is as important as interpretation of his works in modern and contemporary Korean art history.

현대 한국미술과 민족주의란 두 개의 얼굴

최태만(Choi, Tae-Man) 한국미술이론학회 2006 미술이론과 현장 Vol.4 No.-

융합과 창발 - 백남준과 전자 실크로드

최태만(Choi Taeman) 한국근현대미술사학회 2021 한국근현대미술사학 Vol.42 No.-

이 글의 목적은 플럭서스 아티스트, 퍼포먼스 아티스트, 아방가르드 작곡가, 비디오아트의 개척자, 뉴미디어아트의 선구자, 심지어 문화적 테러리스트로 규정되는 백남준의 역사의식을 밝히는 데 있다. 1962년에 스스로 선언한 ‘황화, 그것이 바로 나다’로부터 1995년의 〈고속도로로 가는 열쇠(로제타비석)〉에 이르기까지 그는 비디오아트뿐만 아니라 세계사에서 중요한 역할을 담당했던 유목문화의 복원에 주력했다. 1970년대 스스로 ‘정주-유목민’이라 규정한 그는 「말에서 크리스토까지」를 비롯하여 여러 글과 인터뷰를 통해 우랄 알타이인로서 자신의 정체성에 대해 말했고, 실크로드와 ‘팍스 몽골리카’ 시기의 역참로가 만든 대여행이 대항해를 가능하게 했음을 밝힌 바 있다. 그는 유목민이 문명의 파괴자가 아니라 동서문명과 문화의 융합을 이끌어 낸 역사의 주체임을 인식했다. 이러한 배경에서 그는 샤머니즘에 주목했으나 이 글은 유목민의 역사를 재검토함으로써 정작 백남준이 수립하고자 했던 것은 21세기의 전자 실크로드였음을 논증한다. 그가 제안한 전자 실크로드는 1974년 록펠러재단에 제출한 「후기 산업사회를 위한 미디어 계획, 21세기는 불과 26년밖에 안 남았다」에서 이미 나타났으며, 이 글은 인터넷을 예견하는 것이기도 했다. 백남준은 자신이 제안했던 전자 초고속도로를 1993년 베니스비엔날레 독일관에서 실현했다. 《전자초고속도로: 베니스에서 울란바토르까지》란 제목을 붙인 이 전시에서 그는 비디오설치뿐만 아니라 베네치아에서 출발한 〈마르코 폴로〉를 비롯하여 〈스키타이 왕 단군〉, 〈알렉산더 대왕〉, 〈칭기즈칸의 복권〉 등의 비디오 로봇도 발표했는데 여기에서 그의 역사의식을 읽을 수 있다. 즉 그에 의해 스키타이, 흉노, 몽골이 야만적인 침략자가 아니라 고속도로를 개척하여 문화를 융합시킨 장본인으로 복권될 수 있었다. 그는 자신의 생각을 〈고속도로로 가는 열쇠(로제타비석)〉에도 여러 나라의 문자로 새겼다. 결론적으로 백남준은 21세기 융합과 창발의 뿌리가 실크로드와 역참로로 거슬러 올라가며 그 바탕 위에 전자기술의 발달을 근거로 전자 초고속도로를 제안했던 것이다. This research aims to discuss Paik Nam June’s historical consciousness: as a member of Fluxus, he worked for performance art and has been considered as an avant-garde composer, pioneer of video art and new-media art, and cultural terrorist. Exploring his projectsfrom Yellow Peril, c’est moi (1962) in which he made a self-declaration to Key to the Highway(Rosetta Stone (1995)-demonstrates that he focused on restoring nomadic culture for his video art as well as a vision of world history. Paik defined himself as “Stationary-Nomad” in 1970 and discussed his Turanian(Ural-Altaic) identity through numerous writings and interviews including From Horse to Christo. In addition, he revealed that the grand travel through the road-station system during the Silk Road and Pax Mongolica eras-a traffic system to lend a horse to government officials in stations; it was popular in East Asia from the Ancient to the Pre-modern-brought the grand voyage. He thought nomadic people were not a destroyer of civilization. Rather than it, they were the historical subject who combined Western and Eastern cultures together and re-created them. Although he focused on Shamanism constructing his ideas, this research discusses the ways in which Paik established the twenty-first century’s electronic Silk Road by re-examining history of nomadic people and his research of it. The twenty-first century’s electronic Silk Road by Paik already appeared in Media Planning for the Post Industrial Age: Only 26 years left until the 21st Century that he submitted to the Rockefeller Foundation in 1974, and in a sense, this writing predicted the Internet. Eventually Paik realized electronic highway in the German Pavilion in Venice Biennale in 1993. He entitled Electronic Superhighway: Fram Venice to Ulaanbator for this exhibition and showed video installations as well as robot-works such as Marco Polo, Tangun as Scythian King, Alexander the Great, and Rehabilitation, all of which revealed his historical consciousness.

이응노의 조각에 있어서 숭고의 문제

최태만(Tae-Man Choi) 이응노미술관 2001 고암논총 Vol.1 No.-

정광식의 풍경조각

최태만(Choi Tae-man),안정원 현대건축사 2009 (월간)Maru Vol.- No.84