1980년대 민중미술 : 반(反)풍요와 반(反)개방

김현화(KIM hyun-wha) 한국미술사교육학회 2011 美術史學 Vol.- No.25

민중문화운동은 1980년 5월 광주학살사태 이후 대중적이고 예술적인 반응을 크게 불러일으켰다. 많은 미술가들은 미술을 통해 전두환 정권에 대항하고자 했다. 민중미술은 민중의 사회적 문화적 운동으로부터 유래되었으며, 또한 사회주의 미술의 미학적 원칙에 기본을 두었다. 김정헌, 김경인, 손장섭, 주재환 등과 몇몇의 비평가들은 전두환이 정권을 장악하는 시점인 1979년 12월에 그룹 ‘현실과 발언’을 창립했다. 김봉준은 1982년부터 ‘두렁’ 그룹을 이끌고, 이종구는 뜻을 같이하는 동인들과 함께 1982년에 ‘임술년’을 창립했다. 임옥상, 노원희 등도 1980년에 ‘현실과 발언’에 가입한다. 우리는 이것들을 ‘민중미술’이라 부른다. 민중미술은 사회적 소통과 정치적 참여를 추구하는 리얼리즘에서 출발하였다. 1980년대 모더니즘 미술의 대유행 속에 있었던 민중미술가들은 구상화로서 출발하였으며 추상미술을 거부하였다. 민중미술은 한국 전통예술과 모더니즘과의 관계를 통해 정체성이 확립되었다. 민중미술가들은 기본적으로 구상적인 이미지를 추구하였지만 하이퍼리얼리즘이나 전통적인 구상미술과 같은 것을 추구하지는 않았다. 민중미술은 사회적 현실에 근본을 둔 것이다. 혼란과 격변의 시기인 1980년대 10년 동안, 한국 경제는 다국적 자본주의와 후기 산업사회로 접어들게 된다. 민중미술은 노동자와 농민들로 대변되는 민중들이 정치적 투쟁의 주체임을 분명히 하였다. 민중미술가들은 정부에 빈부격차를 좁히고 모두가 평등하게 사는 더 나은 사회를 만들 것을 촉구했지만 산업화, 현대화, 도시화를 거부하였다. 민중미술가들은 경제개발을 위해 외세와 협력하는 것을 거부하고 순혈주의와 자연을 보존하는 것이 민족생존의 길이라고 생각했다. 민중미술가들은 외세에 굴복하지 않고 민족적 정체성을 지키고자 했다. 민중미술은 막스-레닌주의 관점에 기본을 둔 사회주의 미술이지만 사회현실의 혁명을 위한 것이 아니라 민중을 행복하게 만들고자 사회를 개혁시키기 위한 이상적인 미술이라 할 수 있다. 민중미술가들은 노동자와 농민이 지식인계층을 지배하는 유토피아를 실현하고자 했다. 조르주 바타이유는 노동은 무엇보다 인간 존재의 근본임을 주장하였다. 바타이유처럼 민중미술가들은 역사의 처음부터 끝까지 첫 번째는 노동와 노동자임을 강조한다. 민중미술에 있어 유토피아는 노동자들을 위한 세계이다. 민중미술은 무엇보다 순수미술이다. 1980년대의 사회 시스템과 민중미술과의 관계는 후에 한국현대미술의 방향을 결정짓는 중요한 요소가 되었다. Minjung cultural movement has called forth the popular and artistic response after the Gwangju Massacre in May of 1980. ‘Minjung Art’ was originated from the social and cultural movement of Minjung(the populace), and was founded upon the aesthetic principles of Socialist Art. A lot of artists were inspired to line up against the military government by Chun Doo-hwan. Some painters, such as Kim Jung-heun, Kim Kyong-in, Son Jang-sup, Joo Jae-hwan, Oh Yoon, etc., and several art critics organized the Group 〈Hyun-sil and Bal-un〉 in December of 1979 when the General Chun Doo-hwan seized power in a military coup. Kim Pong-jun led the 〈Du-rong〉 Group since 1982; Lee Jong-gu launched the Group 〈Im Sul lun〉 in 1982; the famous painters, such as Im Ok-Sang and Nho Won-hee, etc., became the members in the Group 〈Hyun-sil and Bal-un〉 in 1980. It is called ‘Minjung Art’. Minjung Art started out at the Realism that agonized over social communication and political participation. Minjung Artists who were in jungles of Modernism Art in 1980s started creating the figurative painting and represented the defiance against Abstract Art. Minjung Art has arisen from the relationship between the Korean Traditional Art and Modernism. Minjung Artists used figurative images as a reference source, but unlike Hyperrealism, or Figurative Art in the tradition. Minjung Art is based upon Realism Art in the conte×t of intending to communicate with society. During the decade of the 1980s, termed as a period of confusions and Upheavals, Korean economy rapidly shifted to a multinational capitalism and to a post-industrial society. Minjung Art tried to show that the populace is the main body of political struggle through the reappearance of idealized laborers and famers. Minjung Artists has been urging the government to make Korea a better country for every one, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor. However we are mortified to find the Minjung Art blaming the industrialization, modernization and citification. Minjung Artists refused to negotiate with foreign power for the economic development, prefering instead to preserve the nature, the pure blood. Minjung Artists intended to show that our people shared a national characteristic of not succumbing to oppression. Minjung Art has its roots in Mar×ism. Minjung Art is the Socialist Art, based on the Mar×-Leninistic view, for not an revolution of social reality but an ideological art seeking for the reforms of the society to make happiness for Minjung. Minjung Artists is looking for a Utopia that the laborers, Farmers would dominate the intelligentsia. Georges Bataille insiste that Work, beyond all doubt, is the foundation of the human being as such. Minjung Artists maintain that From one end of history to the other, the first place belong to Work and workers. In Minjung Art, the Utopia means the World for workers. Minjugn Art, is above all else, the Fine Art. The relationship between the systems of society and Minjung Art in the 1980s became the essential factor in determining the direction of Korean Modern Art afterwards.

혼성공간으로서의 민중미술

윤난지(Yun Nan-jie) 현대미술사학회 2007 현대미술사연구 Vol.22 No.-

All art is a product of ideology as well as a mirror on realities of time; Minjung Art is no exception to this idea. While Minjung Art set forth social utterance and social reform, it is also a manifestation of historical and social contexts. Critical writings on Minjung Art hitherto have mainly focused on addressing its ideological aspects and therefore it is more difficult to find texts that examine the realities of its time represented in Minjung Art. In this paper, I will attempt to illuminate this lesser discussed aspect of Minjung Art; its aspect as the “mirror of reality.” Looking through the mirror of Minjung Art, I am able to see what Homi Bhabha described as the “Third Space.” This theoretical term refers to a cultural contact zone that deconstructs the fiction of “purity” of a native culture and reveals its “hybrid identity.” In this Third Space, native and foreign things do not merely meet each other but ambiguous and complex exchanges occur continuouslyamong diverse signs in the form of collision, amalgamation, appropriation and adaptation. When the detente between the Left and the Right as well as multinational capitalism became familiar realities, global space of hybridity emerged worldwide in the late 20th century, thereby creatinga sensibility of the post-modern. Located in the inferior space called the other and inevitably exposed to the world powers, the Third World became an exemplar site in the global space of hybridity. The Korean society in the 1980s is a typical example of such “third-worldly” space of hybridity and Minjung Art is its version of art practice. In the 1980s, Korea underwent a period of rapid, domestic political change in which one-person dictatorship ended in a pretext and was placed in diversified international relations? being the only divided nation (after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989). At the same time, the nation’s economy rapidly shifted to a main peripheral nation of multinational capitalism and to a post-industrial society. Accordingly, disparate contexts in areas of politics, economy and society became entangled and Minjung Art bore out of these contexts. With the aims of “pure” nationalist art, Minjung Art, in fact, became a vivid documentation of this “impure” site. Not limited by critically represented urban landscapes, Minjung Art generated cultural responses from the realities of hybridity including inclination to purebloodism or ethnic homogeneity. Korean racial superiority complex came into effect with even more force as the crisis of hybridity unfolded in front of the Koreans and in visual arts, it emerged as Minjung Art. This is an example of nationalism Frantz Fanon referred to as a type of defense mechanism. The modes of hybridity that emerged in Minjung Art werefirst presented through images of the nation state and its members. The native images therein aimed at a singular ethnic nation are mixed with the actual conditions as a universal crossroad images of the subject matter “minjung”(means ‘people’ in Korea) of the same ethnicity and images of the cosmopolitan “masses” thatare of multiple ethnicities, are entangled. The images represented in Minjung Art are not univocal signs that represent nationalism. In contrast, they are equivocal signs that reveal a peripheral status surrounding the Korean Peninsula which brought the changes in its imperative under the premise of diversity and fluidity of nationalism. Whether the site of hybridity is depicted directly or indirectly, a crossroad of complex international relations? a geopolitical map of Korean Peninsula at the time is juxtaposed on the works of Minjung Art. It is also possible to look at the site of hybridity through the visual environment portrayed in the works of Minjung Art. Minjung Art’s notion of utopia basedon an agricultural society rooted in tradition has been realized in the temporal-spatial matrix of plasticity where tradition and modern, natural and artificial, agricultur

80년대 민중미술을 다시 생각한다

김종기(Kim, Chongki) 민족미학회 2012 민족미학 Vol.11 No.2

한국의 민중미술은 일종의 미술운동으로서 80년대에 뚜렷이 드러난 바 있다. 이 민중미술은 대중들과의 소통, 현실비판, 민중들의 삶의 대변, 통일운동, 진보적 이념의 지향 등 다른 미술 유파와는 뚜렷한 차이를 보이고 있었다. 그러나 ‘민중미술 15년전’(1994)을 기점으로 한국의 민중미술운동은 급속히 쇠퇴하였다. 그리고 현장을 중시하는 사회운동의 하나로서의 미술 ‘운동’은 사라졌다. 그러나 민중미술의 정신은 사라지지 않았다. 그 내용성은 기존의 민중미술가들에게 그리고 후배 미술가들에게 다양한 방식으로 넘겨졌다. 필자는 그것을 ‘네오 민중미술’이라고 부를 것을 제안한다. 그리고 이 ‘네오 민중미술’은 다양한 형식과 장르를 통해 사회와 역사 및 현실에 대한 비판 정신을 확장시켜가고 있다. 물론 현재 이 ‘네오 민중미술’이 한국의 현대 미술 또는 동시대의 미술에 의미 있는 반향을 불러일으키고 있다고 말할 수는 없을 것이다. 더 나아가 ‘네오 민중미술’이 아직 일정한 유파를 형성할 수 있을 정도의 동질성이나 실체성을 가진다고 말할 수도 없을 것이다. 다시 말해 ‘네오 민중미술’은 이제 막 그 움직임이 포착될 정도의 미미한 수준이라고 할 수도 있다. 그럼에도 그것은 초국적 자본주의에 대항해서 예술적 문화적으로 어떠한 효과적인 저항도 또 저항수단도 만들어내지 못하는 포스트모더니즘을 대체하는 ‘하나의’ 대안이 될 수 있을 것이라 본다. 개개인의 자유와 존엄성 고양, 권위적인 권력 비판, 소외의 극복, 생태 환경의 파괴 방지, 주민과의 소통, 나눔과 연대라는 실천적 지향성은 네오 민중미술의 내용성으로 취해질 수 있을 것이다. 그리고 이러한 내용성을 바탕으로 네오 민중미술은 전위적인 다양한 실험을 해 나갈 수 있을 것이다. 그리고 그것을 우리의 민족미술, 민족미학의 한 토양으로 삼을 수 있을 것이다. The Minjung Art (Minjung Misul) of Korea was extant as an art movement in the 1980"s. Minjung Art was clearly distinct from other art schools as evidenced by its communication with the populace, criticism of reality, representation of the people"s lives, its association with the unification movement and its orientation to progressive ideas. However, Korea"s Minjung Art declined rapidly after the exhibition "15 Years of Minjung Art" in 1994. Moreover, the art "movement" as one of the social movements emphasizing scenes and places of labour has disappeared. But the spirit of the Minjung Art has not dissipated. Its content was delivered and relayed to the traditional artists of the school and to younger artists in a variety of ways. I would characterise this as "neo-Minjung Art". Through a variety of forms and genres it takes its heritage of criticism and expands this spirit to take greater account of society, history and reality. Of course, one could not claim that neo-Minjung Art is greatly exerting its influence over Korean Modern Art or other contemporary art. Further, one could not say that neo-Minjung Art has strictly definable characters or trends that are substantial enough to be classified as a school of art. In other words, the neo-Minjung Art"s movement is currently so subtle and immature that its trend could only be identified recently. Nevertheless, it can be an alternative to postmodernism which itself cannot, artistically and culturally speaking, revolt or produce any means of resistance against transnational capitalism. Neo-Minjung Art"s practical orientations like promotion of the freedom and dignity of the individual, criticism of authoritarian power, overcoming alienation, prevention of environmental destruction, communication among neighbours in local communities, sharing and solidarity can be interpreted as its defining properties. Based on this, it will be able to continue to conduct a variety of avant-garde experiments. Furthermore, it has the potential to be fertile ground for the growth ofour ethnic art and ethnic aesthetics.

The South Korean Minjung Art in 20th century

Joo, Mi Kyoung(주미경) 한국전시산업융합연구원 2016 한국과학예술융합학회 Vol.23 No.-

In 1980`s, Korean painters began to represent these terrible scenes in their arts. The movement is called ``Minjung Art``. This research explores the characteristics and meanings of the Minjung Art, primarily considering the relationship between art and Korean political situation in the 80`s. Minjung Artists thought that Korea has become a new colony of American economy, culture, art and politics. That is why Minjung Art was strongly motivated by the anti-colonial, and anti-American ideas. Minjung Art is a Socialist Art based on the Marx-Lenin theories. An influential literary and art critic of the twentieth century was a Post-Marxist who pointed out the capability of Realist Art to confront an objective reality that exists in the world. Art was a work. Bataille believed that the making of tools and weapons was the departure point for that early faculty of ration, which humanized the animals we once had been. It is obviously work that made him a human being, the reasonable animal we are. Bataille thought that if it is true that work is our origin, if it is true that work is the key to humanity, human beings would eventually distance themselves completely from animalist through work. Minjung Art did not aim at the revolution of social reality but to be an ideological art seeking for the reforms of the society that grants freedom for the people. The import of “culture” for understanding human activity and the history of its many uses provide the initial basis of Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary field formed over forty years ago, primarily in the US and UK. Since then, interest in the field has grown exponentially. Incorporating a diverse range of new theoretical inputs, methodological innovations and objects of inquiry, Cultural issues takes up a number of issues related to contemporary culture while being aware of their specific historical formations.

민중미술 연구사

유혜종(柳慧宗) 한국미술연구소 2020 美術史論壇 Vol.- No.50

Minjung art is considered a critical turning point in the history of contemporary Korean art. Ref lecting its significance, this essay delineates a history of studies on minjung art based on common problematics and methods of analysis which many art historians and critics shared since the 2000s. Although this essay focuses on the literature on minjung art after the early 2000s, it also looks into art critiques, exhibitions and art history writings produced during the period of the 1980-90s as they provide basic frameworks and concepts for the discussion of minjung art in the current scholarship semicolon; yet the studies after the 2000s have expanded the earlier discussions to a great extent while bringing new and diverse perspectives on this art movement. While discussing the unfolding of studies on minjung art, this essay also attempts to demonstrate that these studies ultimately are intertwined with the objective of rewriting and reconfiguring contemporary Korean art history. At the same time, this essay emphasizes the importance of writing minjung art in a global perspective, thereby going beyond the national boundary of Korean art.

‘실천’으로서의 예술: 민중미술 이후, 한국 커뮤니티 아트(Community Arts)의 ‘상황’ - ‘재현’에서 ‘실천’으로 진화하는 예술개념에 관한 소고

박미연 한국예술경영학회 2013 예술경영연구 Vol.0 No.27

This thesis analyzes how Community Arts are changing art concept in korean art currents. Art projects for various communities are in the explosive growth trend around 2000, as government, local governments and other private organizations have carried out these art projects as part of cultural programs. Accordingly, many researches for Community Arts have been actively conducted from the perspective of cultural policy. However, most of researches are focused on analyzing the effects on a case-by-case basis without providing a clear definition or criteria of Community Arts. This current tends to ignore artistic significance of Community Arts and their historical origins. Consequently, it would bring about difficulties to get effectiveness of these art projects. In this situation, this thesis aims to trace historical lineage of Community Arts, and to analyze how Community Arts contribute to the evolution of art concept. This attempt would provide a theoretical basis to define the scope of Community Arts, and would offer a productive suggestion for planning of community art programs. Concretely, this thesis assumes 1980s Minjung-art as the pioneer of Community Arts. Minjung-art was a challenge to go beyond the boundaries between ‘art and life’. Before the advent of Minjung-art in Korea, art has been considered as ‘representation’ of world and artworks have been considered as being shown only at artworld such as galleries, museums, etc. As artwork, form of representation has functioned as the frame which seperated art world from real world, art ccould construct its own independent world. Thus, there was a clear distinction between the artist and the spectator, between art and non-art. This thesis proposes that Minjung-art tried to innovate this circumstance in art. It is because that Minjung-art seeked to break the boundary between art and life by involving in actual problems of the real world such as political and social issues and revolutionizing everyday-life through art practice. However, this thesis analyzes that the challenge of Minjung-art turned out a failure resulted from holding on to the certain art form, Realism. In addition, this thesis asserts that community arts inherit the issue of Minjung-art. It is because that Community Arts happen in the real places like streets, towns not in museums and above all, that they seek a solution to the problems of everyday life. However, Community Arts differ from Minjung-art in that they consider ‘pratice’ itself as art, without any other certain art form. Concretely, this thesis tries to propose a critical perspective for Community Arts by tracing evolution of art concept in community art currents through three selected cases. 이 논문은 커뮤니티 아트가 예술의 개념을 어떻게 바꾸어가고 있는가에 대한 분석이다. 한국에서 커뮤니티 아트를 표방하는 프로젝트 사업은 2000년을 전후로 폭발적으로 증가하는 추세에 있는데, 이는 정부나 지방자치단체 혹은 민간단체 등이 문화사업의 일환으로 주도적으로 수행한 데에 힘입은 바 크다. 커뮤니티 아트에 대한 연구 역시 문화정책의 관점에서 활발하게 논의되고 있는데, 대부분의 연구들이 프로젝트의 사업적 효과를 사례별로 분석하는 데에 그치고, 커뮤니티 아트에 대한 명확한 정의나 기준을 제공하지 못하는 실정이다. 이는 커뮤니티 아트가 예술로서 유의미한 지점, 그것의 역사적 기원을 간과하는 태도에서 기인한다. 결과적으로 합의된 기준이나 정의가 존재하지 않는 상황에서 커뮤니티 아트의 용어를 남발하는 것은 커뮤니티 아트에 대한 이해에 모호함만을 가중시키게 되며, 이러한 상황에서 시행되는 사업은 단발적인 이벤트로 끝날 뿐, 실효성을 거두기 어려울 것으로 판단된다. 이에, 이 논문은 한국 커뮤니티 아트의 역사적 계보를 추적하고 커뮤니티 아트가 예술의 흐름과 개념의 진화과정에 기여하는 방식을 면밀히 분석하고자 한다. 이러한 시도는 향후 커뮤니티 아트를 정의하고 범위를 설정하는 데에 이론적 기반을 제공하는 한편, 이후 전개되는 커뮤니티 아트 프로그램의 기획과 방향설정에 생산적 제안이 될 것이다. 구체적으로, 이 논문은 커뮤니티 아트의 선구적 작업으로 1980년대의 민중미술을 상정한다. 민중미술은 예술과 삶의 구분된 경계를 뛰어넘으려는 도전적 시도였다. 민중미술의 등장 이전까지 예술은 세계 혹은 세계 속 삶의 ‘재현’으로 인식되어 왔고, 미학적으로 완성된 재현의 형식인 예술 작품은 예술의 영역인 ‘전시장’에서 선보이는 것이 일반적이었다. 결국 재현의 형식은 예술의 영역과 삶의 영역을 구분짓는 틀로 작용해왔고, 이 형식으로 인해 예술은 삶과 괴리된 독자적 세계 구축이 가능했다. 따라서, 예술가와 관람자, 미학적 완성품으로서의 예술작품과 비예술품의 명확한 구별이 존재했다. 이 논문은 민중미술이 이러한 예술의 상황을 혁신하고자 했다고 본다. 민중미술가들은 현실의 문제에 직접적으로 개입하고 예술을 통한 삶의 변혁을 꾀함으로써 ‘삶과 예술의 통합’이라는 아방가르드의 테제를 실천하고자 했기 때문이다. 그러나 민중미술의 도전은 리얼리즘이라는 특정 형식을 통한 실천의 방식을 고수함으로써 예술을 형식적 틀 안에 가두게 되었고, 그 결과, 예술의 혁신이 곧 삶의 혁명이 되고, 예술가와 민중(관람자/비예술인/생활인)이 하나되는 문화대중주의의 실현과제는 실패하게 되었다는 것이 이 논문의 분석이다. 아울러, 이 논문은 예술의 현실개입, 예술을 통한 삶의 혁신이라는 민중미술의 문제의식을 커뮤니티 아트가 계승하고 있다고 평가한다. 커뮤니티 아트의 실행은 재현의 무대로서의 전시장을 떠나 삶의 현장에서 이루어지며, 일상의 현실적 문제들에 대해 발언하고 궁극적으로 이를 해결하기 위한 실천들로 이루어진다는 공통점을 지니는 까닭이다. 그러나, 커뮤니티 아트는 예술의 결정요소를 재현의 형식에 두지 않음으로써 민중미술과 차별화된다. 즉, 커뮤니티 아트가 주목하는 지점은 미학적 결과물을 생산해내는가의 여부가 아니라 삶 속에서 전개되는 사건들, 삶의 문제들을 해결하려는 실천 ...

20세기 한국의 민중 미술 연구

주미경 ( Mi Kyoung Joo ) 한국전시산업융합연구원 2016 한국과학예술융합학회 Vol.23 No.-

In 1980`s, Korean painters began to represent these terrible scenes in their arts. The movement is called ``Minjung Art``. This research explores the characteristics and meanings of the Minjung Art, primarily considering the relationship between art and Korean political situation in the 80`s. Minjung Artists thought that Korea has become a new colony of American economy, culture, art and politics. That is why Minjung Art was strongly motivated by the anti-colonial, and anti-American ideas. Minjung Art is a Socialist Art based on the Marx-Lenin theories. An influential literary and art critic of the twentieth century was a Post-Marxist who pointed out the capability of Realist Art to confront an objective reality that exists in the world. Art was a work. Bataille believed that the making of tools and weapons was the departure point for that early faculty of ration, which humanized the animals we once had been. It is obviously work that made him a human being, the reasonable animal we are. Bataille thought that if it is true that work is our origin, if it is true that work is the key to humanity, human beings would eventually distance themselves completely from animalist through work. Minjung Art did not aim at the revolution of social reality but to be an ideological art seeking for the reforms of the society that grants freedom for the people. The import of “culture” for understanding human activity and the history of its many uses provide the initial basis of Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary field formed over forty years ago, primarily in the US and UK. Since then, interest in the field has grown exponentially. Incorporating a diverse range of new theoretical inputs, methodological innovations and objects of inquiry, Cultural issues takes up a number of issues related to contemporary culture while being aware of their specific historical formations.

민중미술; 「원시(原始)를 꿈꾸다」, 바타이유(G. Bataille)와 루카치(G. Lukacs) 사상으로 접목 고찰

김현화 미술사와 시각문화학회 2011 미술사와 시각문화 Vol.10 No.-

이 글은 루카치 사상과 바타이유 담론을 민중미술의 작품과 개념의 분석기저로 삼는다. 바타이유는 자본주의와 마르크스주의를 동시에 공격하며 휴머니즘 관점에서 부의 평등한 분배를 주장하였으며, 또한 후기마르크스주의자인 루카치는 예술이 휴머니티의 도구가 된다고 강조하였다. 이 두 학자의 사상은 현대사회의 구조적 모순으로 제기된 빈부의 격차를 해소하기 위한 이론적 배경으로 제공된 것이다. 민중미술 역시 자본주의의 모순과 군사독재정권의 출현이라는 사회의 구조적 모순에 맞서 출현된 미술장르이다. 바타이유, 루카치, 민중미술 모두 ‘민중을 위함’이라는 공통된 지향점을 갖고 있으므로 루카치와 바타이유 사상을 민중미술에 접목하여 고찰한다면 민중미술의 의미적 깊이를 더욱 심화시킬 수 있을 것이라 판단되어 연구를 진행하였다. In 1980's, Korean painters such as Kim Jung-heun, Kim Kyong-in, Son Jang-sup, Joo Jae-hwan, Oh Yoon, Lim Ok-Sang, Lee Jong-Gu, who witnessed Gwangju Massacre in May 1980, began to represent these terrible scenes in their arts. The movement is called "Minjung Art". This research explores the characteristics and meanings of the Minjoong Art, primarily considering the relationship between art and Korean political situation in the 80's. Korea has depended on and been protected by the world superpower America after its liberation from Japan by the aid of American military force. This situation has deeply affected Korean people that they have identified Americanization with capitalism, industrialization, and modernization. Minjung Artists thought that Korea has become a new colony of American economy, culture, art and politics. That is why Minjung Art was strongly motivated by the anti-colonial, and anti-American ideas. Minjung Art is a Socialist Art based on the Marx-Lenin theories. As such, it has its root in the philosophy of Gyogy Lukacs. In this paper, I attempt to illuminate the theoretical relationship between the Gyogy Lukacs, Georges Bataille and Minjung Art. Gyogy Lukacs, an influential literary and art critic of the twentieth century, was a Post-Marxist who pointed out the capability of Realist Art to confront an objective reality that exists in the world. Georges Bataille, a French writer, economist, and sociologist, was a member of the extremely influential "College of Sociology" in France. For them, work was the foundation for knowledge and ration. In the primitive times, Art was a work. Bataille believed that the making of tools and weapons was the departure point for that early faculty of ration, which humanized the animals we once had been. It is obviously work that made him a human being, the reasonable animal we are. Bataille thought that if it is true that work is our origin, if it is true that work is the key to humanity, human beings would eventually distance themselves completely from animality through work. Minjung Art did not aim at the revolution of social reality but to be an ideological art seeking for the reforms of the society that grants freedom for the people.

한국현대미술사에서 1980년대 ‘여성미술’의 위치

김현주(Kim Hyeon-joo) 한국근현대미술사학회 2013 한국근현대미술사학 Vol.26 No.-

The Korean Women’s Art movement was established in the mid-1980s by a handful of female artists who were conscious of women’s issues. From the working class women’s perspective, they pursued for social acceptance of gender equality and greater political activism from the female community. The Minjok Misul Association was created as an umbrella organization of the Minjung Art movement of the 1980s. The Women’s Art Division was established under the Minjok Misul Association by 11 female artists in 1986, and renamed the Women’s Art Society in 1988 to clarify its identity as a group which sought for gender equality and social changes from a working class viewpoint. For 8 years(1987-1994), the members of the Women’s Art Society gave voice to their message through a variety of means to include the 《Women and Reality》 annual provincial exhibition tours, the Gulgai paintings by the “Doonggi” group, and the cartoons by the “Miyal” group. All these works were produced under the title of ‘Women’s Art’. The artists unfolded their activities in affiliation with both radical women’s social movement groups and the Minjung art movement. By the 1990s, feminist art discourses emphasized postmodern cultural issues resulting in the decreased focus on women’s activism and the working class women’s problems. It has been generally accepted that the Women’s Art Society of the 1980s only scratched the foundational surface of feminist aesthetics, but created the building blocks for the feminist art of the 1990s. Unfortunately, the Women’s Art Society is considered as merely an appendix to the Minjung Art. To make matters worse, the Women’s Art Society has been marginalized by both the feminist discourse of the 1990s and the Minjung Art movement. I will prove that the Women’s Art Society has been gradually excluded from the history of Korean contemporary art due to the Minjung Art’s community minimizing the Women’s Art Society’s contributions to the Minjung Art’s theories, publications, and exhibitions, and feminists decreasing the importance of the Women’s Art Society.

1980년대 민중미술과 임옥상 작가의 사회적 수용에 대한 Q연구

이창현 ( Lee Changhyun ) 한국주관성연구학회 2017 주관성연구 Vol.- No.35

이 논문은 1980년대 민중미술과 그 대표적인 작가인 임옥상에 대한 사회적 수용의 특성을 파악해보고자 하였다. 이에 대한 답을 얻고자 인간의 주관적 인식을 구체적으로 파악해볼 수 있는 Q방법을 이용하였다. Q방법은 2016년 봄 가나인사아트센터에서 열린 `리얼리즘의 복권`전의 관람객 29명을 P표집 대상으로 하여 민중미술과 임옥상 작가에 대한 30개의 Q진술문에 답하도록 하였다. 30개의 진술문에 대한 응답 자료를 Q분석한 결과 3가지 유형이 나왔다. 첫 번째 유형은 민중미술의 `한국적 정체성`을 강조하고 있으며, 두 번째 유형은 민중미술의 `역사적 특수성`을, 세 번째 유형은 민중미술의 `가치의 재평가`를 강조하였다. 이들 유형 간 차이에도 불구하고 다음과 같은 점에서 합의를 이루었다. 첫째, 민중미술이 1980년대의 억압된 사회현실을 반영한 것으로서 예술적 가치가 있다고 본다는 점이다. 둘째, 임옥상 작가에 대해서는 사회적 소통을 잘하며, 시대정신과 사회현실을 잘반영하고 있다고 보았다. 셋째, 민중미술이 이념중심이라 예술성이 떨어진다거나 미래가 없다는 것에 대해서 반대하였다. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of Minjung Art in 1980 and Lim Ok-sang, a representative artist of Minjung Art using Q-methodology. As this is an perception study, 30 Q-statements were sampled from the Q-concourse which representative of the general perception of Minjung Art and Lim Oksang. The 30 Q-statements were sorted by 29 people called P-samples. Q analysis revealed three types of perception for minjung art and artist. The first type emphasizes the `Korean identity` of Minjung art, the second type emphasizes `historic specialty` of Minjung art, and the third type emphasizes the `revaluation of value` of Minjung art. Despite the differences between the types, they agree on the following types: Minjung art reflects the repressed social reality of the 1980s and it has artistic value. Im Ok-sang artist is good at social communication. He reflects the spirit of the times and reflects the reality of society. It also object to the fact that minjung art is ideological and no future.