Reconstructing Art Criticism in Korea - A Proposal for Selecting Agenda for Art Criticism in Korea

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국예술종합학교 한국예술연구소
· 수록지 정보 : 한국예술연구 / 31 ~ 58페이지
· 저자명 : 양정무

초록

This article examines the problem of art and its documentation in regards to art criticism. In depth, the article contemplates whether art criticism will continue to be an arena for circulation of partisan arguments, or whether it will mature into an activity that reaches the possibility of human liberation. In this paper, I will examine the state of Korean art criticism through the events surrounding the 1991 Grand Art Exhibition of Korea when the first prize winner of the oil painting field was accused of plagiarism. The prize winner Cho Won Kang was blamed for synthesizing his painting, Another Dream, from two photographs: a black and white nude photograph by French photographer Frederic Achudou and a color nude photograph by Italian photographer Paolo Gioli. A number of critics became enmeshed in this incident and the issue quickly expanded to involve more fundamental problems regarding art criticism in Korea.
On one side of the debate was Chung Young-Mok who stated the fundamental problem of Korean art criticism was the education of art criticism which focused on aesthetics that often lead critics to be fixated on idealistic, speculative, and metaphysical concepts. On the other side of the debate was Seo Seong-Rok who argued that art criticism was not a field of study that should be focused on the pursuit of objectivity and universality. Instead, he argued that art criticism reflected the subjective point of views that bind artwork to reality and reflect the critics’ own power and vision. Moreover, he stated that art criticism had its background in art history and the humanities which leaves no ground for asserting that art history is superior to art criticism.
At this same time period, there was a similar argument among historians in the western art debating whether art history should change in order to overcome the perceived narrow-mindedness of traditional art history. Fundamental questions were being asked in art history about art in which alternative directions were suggested based on epistemological concerns toward a more practical view of art history. Additionally, in art criticism, there was a drive towards a stronger methodology by objectively investigating modern cultural discourses.
It should be emphasized that when both art history, which observes art in the process of historical development, and art criticism, which examines art at work in the real world, meet in a complementary manner, the evaluation and record of art can be rational and be reasonable. This paper presents an example of a biased artistic record and suggests a dialectic consolidation in the fields of art history and art criticism as an alternative.

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