East Meets West: Exploring and Sharing Culture Spirit and Tradition

Abstract

The purpose of art is to be communicative, decorative, emotive, and bring social engagement. Art brings people together through common connections and affects how people view the world. There are strong relationships between the arts, cultural engagement and social achievement. Exploring and sharing one’s culture, spirit, and tradition are profound ways to connect people all around the world. One aspect of the remarkable power of visual communication is its ability to arouse unbounded dimensions of emotions that dialogue with the beautiful world we live in. This designer has been influenced by a genre of the Korean traditional folk paintings called “Minhwa”, which was developed during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). The Minhwa paintings enable the creator to express their imagination through the symbolism and beauty of their styles. In modern times, Minhwa still profoundly expresses the life and spirit of Koreans with great wit and wisdom. This designer’s creative conceptual theories of design are rooted in the popular themes of Minhwa art forms that were developed during the late Joseon era (17^th -19^th century) and are generated from folk mythology, legend, symbols and scenes of everyday life. In my creative Minhwa designs, I use these themes not only to exhibit my proud heritage but also to increase the viewer’s artistic cultural diversity using digital expressions. During the past 20 years, computer technology has greatly improved the ability to communicate visually. In particular, advances in digital technology have enhanced the limitless opportunities for designers, artists and others to represent concepts through expressive visual means. As a medium, this designer integrates technology, cultural engagement, literary narrative, and morphological structure using Gestalt Laws to represent artistic emotional connections beyond graphic design aspects. Cultural connections through art are one of this designer’s interests where aesthetic pleasure creates experiences of social bonding with the public, community and the world. As a result, this designer is motivated to promote the uniqueness of traditional Korean art and culture to the western culture.