New Forms of Korean Landscape Painting: Barcoded Landscape by Oh Hyun-Yong

Abstract

The article focuses on the landscape art of the South Korean artist Oh Hyun-yong (b. 1949) proposing an original approach to adapting the artistic traditions of Korean landscape painting sansuhwa (“mountain-water”) by using the technology of our time — the visual symbol of the bar code. The purpose of the article is to study the distinctive features of the master’s creative method, in which, while using new expressive means, one can observe the preservation of high spiritual ideality inherent in the traditional Korean landscape, which undoubtedly constitutes the most important specific feature of Korean sansuhwa painting — increased attention to the philosophical and aesthetic aspect of landscape art which was considered as an integral and largely determining part of the artistic process. The research is based on the principle of an integrated approach to the problem stated in the theme of the report. In addition to a systematic analysis, an art history approach is used which combines elements of typological comparisons of various discoveries of Oh Hyun-yong with stylistic and comparative analysis of selected landscape paintings of famous Korean artists of the past era, such as Jeong Seon (1676–1759), Kim Hongdo (1745–1806?), Kim Gyujin (1868–1933) and others. Analyzing Oh Hyun-yong’s landscape works, called “bar-coded landscape” by South Korean critics, which represent a creative reinterpretation of artistic traditions while following the innovations of our time, their role and significance in the contemporary art of the Republic of Korea is determined. The author makes a conclusion about the originality of Oh Hyun-yong’s landscape art that represents the aspiration to technology and the reflection of the problems of the modern world, based on the artistic principles inherent in the traditional painting of sansuhwa which contributes to the revival of the aesthetics of the Korean landscape in the new art forms of modernity.