Dynamic Eye

We set forth this special edition with the aim of introducing 101 Korean contemporary artists. Ranging from veterans of the art circle to emerging artists, they are figures that represent an array of generations and genres. Their artwork covers various styles of art ranging from Informel to minimalism, Neo-expressionism, and to the Pluralism that flourished since the 1990s.
Korean art had adopted and institutionalized the Western formative style since the early 20th century, but under the 36 year-long dark history of Japanese colonial rule, the modernization of art was not free to unfurl independently. At the end of World War II, Korea was at last liberated from the fetters of oppression. All artists introduced in this edition are from the post-liberation generation. They developed their independent art language in the full swing of a sovereign nation. Thereafter, the dynamic history of Korean art started to blossom into an environment in which artists challenged themselves to strike a balance between tradition and modernity, and between local identity and world universality, and now we can at last observe the the fruits of this struggle to overcome. This edition is a space to introduce the strength and spirit of the preeminent figures heading up this passionate history.

In order to select the 101 Korean artists introduced in this special edition, art in Asia conducted a survey of 30 art experts hand in hand with our sister magazine published in Korean, art in Culture. This assortment of experts is comprised of leading figures from the forefront of Korean art including critics, curators, professors, art space directors, art directors at biennales or art museums and gallery representatives. The standards by which candidate artists were set forth is as follows: (1) the establishment of artistic styles worthy of being recorded in the 20th, 21st century art history of Korea, (2) the ability to form in a way that secures the spirit of the times and modernity (3) Prominence in name that cultivates artistic communication with the public (4) a broad formative language graspable in the global art world, as well as other considerations.
The 50 top artists in this survey have been introduced each week since January of this year in the art section of Korean (http://navercast.naver.com/korean/list), published by the portal site Naver (www.naver.com). Major artists who were not introduced by the Navercast but recommended by numerous experts are addressed in this special edition. And the artists dealt with extensively in the spaces like study of artists, special interviews in art in Culture - which released total 117 editions including the one of July 2009 since its first edition in October 1999, and art in Asia, which was founded in September 2007 - were added to the 101 artists.

As almost every artist included in this feature has a unique style of transliterating their name into English, whenever possible, we sought to maintain these particular styles. However, in certain instances we found it necessary to insert punctuation marks such as the dash, comma, upper-or lower-case letter to clearly delineate the artists?first and last name. The table of contents is arranged by artist name in alphabetical order as written in the Korean alphabet, Hangeul.
Writings about the artists included in this feature are some part of or excerpts from the writer? own essay, article or criticism. We? like to appreciate their tolerance.