Arthub Favorite: Week 112

Bahc Yiso: Memos and Memories

Duration: 2018 July 26–December 16
Venue: Gallery 1, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
313 Gwangmyeong-ro, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, 13829, Korea

About Exhibition

Focusing on his key archives and works, the exhibition sheds new light on the artist Bahc Yiso. The exhibition has two axes that intersect. One is a visual representation of a chronology of Bahc’s artistic life. It reconstructs over 20 years of his New York and Seoul periods.

The other axis, cutting across the first, has three layers. The artist’s notes which served as the seed of his art are at the heart of the exhibition like a platform. In the second phase, visitors are introduced to archives including drawings. The last phase presents actual works by Bahc. This construction of multiple layers offers the viewer a rare opportunity to witness directly the process whereby seed ideas grow to produce their fruits, the works of art.

About Artist

The artistic activities of Bahc Yiso (1957–2004, Hangul:박이소, Hanja: 朴異素) are divided into two periods: his New York Period starting in 1982 when he went to the USA to study and his Seoul Period from 1995, the year of his return to Korea. After graduating from art school, he was involved in social activities alongside a passionate art practice under the name Bahc Mo. He founded an alternative art space “Minor Injury” in the Brooklyn area, and caught the attention of the New York art world as a young leader raising a voice for neglected immigrants and minorities. He was also enthusiastic about publication and played a pivotal role in introducing Korean art to audiences in New York.

After returning to Korea in 1995, he changed his name to Bahc Yiso and took up a position as a professor at SADI in Seoul which had recently opened. He devoted his efforts to establishing a new way of teaching art as well as creating works. He showed his works in a number of major national and international exhibitions including Gwangju Biennale and Yokohama Triennale. In 2002, he won the Hermès Art Prize and was invited to exhibit in the Korean Pavilion at Venice Biennale. However, just when he was attracting attention from the art world in Korea and overseas, he suddenly passed away from cardiac arrest in 2004. This exhibition is the first solo show of Bahc at MMCA.

For more details about this exhibition, please click here.