ABSTRACT
In the field of Korean art history, “modern art” and “contemporary art” are generally placed in the first and second half of the twentieth century, respectively. This chapter, however, deals with art since the 1990s, which may be considered the “era of contemporaneity.” Art historian Kim Youngna suggested that postmodernism enabled Koreans to experience world culture and move away from the narrow-minded nationalism of the past. One of the artists who laid the foundation for the globalization of Korean art was Paik Nam June. Minjung's authoritative organizational structure, fealty to obsolete social realism, and romantic construction of “Korean tradition” and “Korean subjectivity” were clearly incompatible with Foster's paradigm of “oppositional” and “subversive” postmodernism. Since its emergence in the late 1970s, Minjung misul had rigorously promoted its origins in “tradition.” For centuries, tigers have been icons of Korean culture, from their role in the country's origin myth to their worship as guardians in shamanic rituals.
