Korean art exhibit communicates a forward vibe

• Intrigued? Take part in these 'Crossings 2003' activities

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Cho Sung-mook, one of 56 Korean artists participating in "Crossings," incorporates noodles into his work. Images courtesy Crossings 2003: Korea/Hawai'i

A mother-of-pearl installation by Kim You-sun.

"Rhythm of the Sea" by Jung Young Kuwan.

Exhibitions University of Hawai'i Commons Gallery: Sunday-Sept. 26 Honolulu Hale (City Hall): Sunday-Oct. 31 University of Hawai'i Art Gallery: Sunday-Nov. 7 East-West Center Gallery: Sunday-Nov. 14 Gallery 'Iolani at Windward Community College: Tuesday- Oct. 18 Koa Art Gallery at Kapi'olani Community College: Wednesday-Oct. 22 Honolulu Academy of Arts: Thursday-Nov. 16 The Contemporary Museum: Sept. 19-Nov. 16 The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center: Oct. 3-Jan. 6, 2004 Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center (Maui): Dec. 27-Feb. 1, 2004

But with a major installation, a keynote speech and a week full of fetes and festivities, Cho knew he had to keep his priorities in order.

What he needed most was 400 pounds of noodles.

Cho is one of 56 Korean artists participating in Crossings 2003: Korea/Hawai'i, a collaborative effort among 10 local art venues celebrating the centennial of Korean immigration to Hawai'i and the work of contemporary Korean artists.

The event kicks off at 2 p.m. Sunday with the official opening ceremony at Honolulu Hale's main courtyard and continues with exhibitions, lectures and workshops through 2004.

Cho, 63, arrived in Honolulu at 10:30 a.m. and promptly headed to 99 Ranch Market to find vermicelli, from which he would sculpt his contribution to the Crossings exhibition.

"In contemporary art, it is in finding the new materials for our work that denotes creation," Cho said through an interpreter. "The advantage of using noodles is that it represents some kind of weakness. It's not permanent, like us people."

Cho identifies himself as part of a generation of Korean artists who first encountered Western art in the wake of the Korean War.

"As an Asian person, I inherently was affected by the geography of Asia, Asian culture, and Asian philosophy," Cho said. "Western art came to me as a new culture..."

"I have tried to familiarize myself with Western (culture) for the last 50 years, but now I'm sort of going back to the Asian origins of Korean art and pursing art that is hard to tell whether it's Korean or genuinely Western."

Cho's recent work with noodles — he started exploring the medium three years ago — has provided him a way to explore the philosophical difference of East and West on a different level. He said he is intrigued by the Asian concept of softness as a form of strength and the notion that impermanence is an elemental truth.

"People nowadays pursue permanence and something that exists maybe forever," he said. "In my work, I remind them that life is short and within that short life being soft (as well as) being strong is important.

"When it comes to art, the image we get from a work doesn't have to be a strong image," he said. "There are sometimes the soft image, the images that are weak, the characteristics that are weak, that permanently rest in our memory. And, personally, I like that."

Cho's installation at the University of Hawai'i Art Gallery is titled "Communication," a further exploration of his long-held interest in the relationships humans have with God, nature and events.

For the piece, Cho uses noodles to sculpt a boat floating benignly on a shallow tide. He said the image expresses a sense of flow that is appropriate for the exhibition.

"It is a flowing concept because 100 years ago my ancestors came to Hawai'i," he said. "Now they're gone and now I am here. It's like a movement or a flow."

Cho's installation is in keeping with Crossings 2003's decidedly modern, exploratory vibe — from featured artist Kimsooja's awe-inspiring "A Mirror Woman 2003," which includes a 20-foot-diameter mirrored circle and 57-foot-high fabric cylinder, to Noh Sang-kyoon's arresting 9-foot pink sequin Jesus figures, to Lee Hyung-woo's provocative "The There Is," a minimalist installation using grids of barbed wire. The works highlighted by the various galleries find Korean art in a forward-thinking mode.

"A lot of these works stretch the limits of what we think of as art," says Tom Klobe, director of the UH Art Gallery and coordinator of Crossings 2003. "Some people will relate very well and some others may find that it's not to their tastes. But it is very important that we show these things."

Klobe headed the previous two Crossings exhibitions (Crossings '86: Japan/Hawai'i and Crossings '97: France/Hawai'i) and was involved in activities for the 75th anniversary of Korean immigration to Hawai'i.

"When they asked me if I'd be interested in coordinating this exhibition, I said I thought it would be appropriate not to look back at where we'd already been, but instead to look toward where the future is going to be."

Klobe sees Crossings 2003 as more than an opportunity to expose Hawai'i art laity to art in Korea.

"I want the rest of the international community to be aware of what we're doing here and the importance of the arts in this island state," he says. "We want to help build awareness of the vitality of the arts scene in Hawai'i."

The exhibition has attracted plenty of attention in international art circles. Klobe says he's been helping to arrange visits for curators and reporters from around the world. The Korean Central Daily has called the exhibition the largest showing of contemporary Korean artists outside of Korea.

Each of the participating galleries was responsible for selecting its own exhibition subjects, and each took a different tack. The Honolulu Academy of Arts built its exhibition around artists who use traditional Korean crafts in contemporary expressions. The Contemporary Museum chose to feature works that use various media (photography, sculpture, video, etc.) in a conceptual manner. And Kapi'olani Community College's Koa Art Gallery boasts a cutting-edge assemblage of new-media artists.

In fact, organizers anticipate strong interest in the exhibition's video and other new-media offerings.

"Korea is at the forefront of experimentation with new media," Klobe says. "They'reÊ... moving into unexplored territory. I think it's important for the people of Hawai'i to be exposed to what's going on."

James Jensen, associate director and chief curator at The Contemporary Museum, said the exhibition's video offerings don't represent the amount of new-media work in South Korea. "Technology is much more integrated into their culture than it is here," said Jensen, who visited South Korea last October in preparation for the exhibition.

Intrigued? Take part in these 'Crossings 2003' activities

Lectures/Talks

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., UH Art Auditorium: Kim Hong Hee, director of Ssamzie Space, Seoul, and curator of the Korean section of the 2003 Venice Biennale, "The State of Korean Art." Responses by Kim Young-na, art historian and Kim Heh-kyong, independent curator. Free.

Workshops/Performances

Sept. 19-21: Pojagi Korean Textile Wrapping Cloth Workshop with Chunghie Lee, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Linekona Art Center. Tuition: $120 ($40 materials fee). Register: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 532-8700.

Sept. 27: Kosong Okwangdae Korean Masked Dance-Drama, 5 p.m. at the East-West Center Friendship Circle. Free.

OCT. 11, 18 and 25, and NOV. 1: "When Tiger Smoked His Pipe," by Nora Okja Keller, presented by the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. at Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter. For reservations, call 839-9885.