Busan Biennale
The Busan Biennale is a biannual international contemporary art show that integrated three different art events held in the city in 1998: the Busan Youth Biennale, the first biennale of Korea that was voluntarily organized by local artists in 1981; the Sea Art Festival, an environmental art festival launched in 1987 with the sea serving as a backdrop; and the Busan International Outdoor Sculpture Symposium that was first held in 1991. The biennale was previously called the Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival (PICAF) before it launched.
The biennale has its own unique attribute in that it was formed not out of any political logic or need but rather the pure force of local Busan artists’ will and their voluntary participation. Even to this day their interest in Busan's culture and its experimental nature has been the key foundation for shaping the biennale’s identity.
This biennale is the only one like it in the world that was established through an integration of three types of art events such as a Contemporary Art Exhibition, Sculpture Symposium, and Sea Art Festival. The Sculpture Symposium in particular was deemed to be a successful public art event, the results of which were installed throughout the city and dedicated to revitalizing cultural communication with citizens. The networks formed through the event have assumed a crucial role in introducing and expanding domestic art overseas and leading the development of local culture for globalized cultural communication. Founded 38 years ago, the biennale aims to popularize contemporary art and achieve art in everyday life by providing a platform for interchanging experimental contemporary art.
LIM Ho
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관리자 2020-09-05 15:21
Born 1918 in Busan, Korea
Died 1978 in Busan
LIM Ho, Euljiro 3-ga, October 5, Unknown, Pencil on paper, 20.4×24cm
LIM Ho (LIM Chaewan) is known by his use of simple lines in portraying local and ethnic sentiments in his drawings. He is recognized as one of theimportant legacies in the Korean modern art scene, which was interspersed with Western influences and nationalist contents. LIM was active for only a short period of 20 years from the 1950s to 70s, but has played a crucial role in the establishment of art scenes in Busan, with his involvement in various activities which introduced movements and trends of Busan art scenes to a wider audience. He studied Western painting at the Osaka University of Arts, Japan, andafter the liberation, he returned to Korea and sought to establish his career as an artist.
LIM was introduced to Busan in 1949 through the founding exhibition of the ‘Research Group on Gyeongnam Art,’ established in 1947, and also worked as a military painter along with Suh Sungchan and other fellow artists. In 1953, LIM settled in Busan and took up a teaching post at a high school. He was involved in various activities in Busan’s art scene, including an art movement group, ‘ToByeok’, which he founded with artists in Busan includingthe renowned artists; Kim Gyeong, Kim Youngkyo, Kim Yoonmin, Kim Zongsik, and Suh Sungchan. During this period, LIM constructed a world of Realism on canvas which portrayed local and nationalistic characteristics. It was a response, a resistance towards the heterogeneity in the practice of painters whom evacuated from Seoul. ‘ToByeok’ presented three group exhibitions in the following year of its foundation, only to be dismantled by a disagreement over“(different) ways of interpreting Realism.”
While preparing for his first solo exhibition at Mihwadang Department Gallery (June 17 - 23, 1955), LIM noted, “painting is not merely delivered by an impromptu or the techniques of the hand, but it can only be delivered through an earnest contemplation, through agony and a strenuous effort which can reach the essence of painting’s divine nature,” an idea resonating in the inaugural declaration of ‘ToByeok’ which he founded.