Layers and Spaces examines the past and present of Korean contemporary print media, centering on the collection of prints at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. The ‘layers’ in the title of the exhibition signifies the printmaker’s plate for expression, while ‘spaces’ symbolizes the crevices or engravings left on the plate which make up the prints. This exhibition intends to expand the concept of layers and spaces by centering on these two axial elements that constitute the framework of print media. Presenting over 150 works by approximately 50 Korean artists, Layers and Spaces sheds light on artists who, even in the midst of changes, cultivated their own unique art world through their relentless exploration of the expressive methodologies, and the process of this exploration developing into their attitude.
Layers and Spaces is largely organized into four themes. ‘1950s-70s: Creation and Development of Korean Contemporary Prints’ focuses on the birth of contemporary print media in Korea, while ‘1980s: Engravings and Korean Minjung Art Prints Movement’ looks at a period when print media in Korea became a prominent subject of exploration in both academic world and Minjung Misul movement. The third section ‘1990s-Present: Creativity of Prints in the Media Era’ presents the experimental nature of print media in a period of rapid media advancement, and lastly, ‘Prints as Medium vs. Attitude’ explores the ways of locating print media in the contemporary art world.
The print media, which conventionally involves a three-step process of drawing, engraving and printing, has entered a new phase today due to a dramatic leap in computer graphics and accelerated advancement of printing technologies including 3D printers. The question now focuses on print media, not as a mechanism of printing images, but as an attitude through which artists employ the distinctive attributes of prints. We must question how the nature of print media, which lies on the premise of plurality, chance and indirectness unlike in painting or sculpture, has been dealt with by artists, and in what ways prints can be viewed. In a time ruled by ‘editions’, from T-shirts and cell phones to even apartments, Layers and Spaces is an invaluable opportunity which offers the viewers to imagine the infinite possibility of print media.
