Exhibit Looks at Oppression in S. Korea

Han Kyong Kim wanders through the exhibit of woodcuts displayed on the pristine walls of Venice’s Social and Public Art Resource Center gallery. He stops to describe the cultural and political meanings behind the intricate works of the artists from the South Korean Minjoong (People’s) art movement.

Standing before the woodcut “Mourning of the May,” which depicts the brutal killing of more than 2,000 South Korean protesters in May, 1980, Kim says, “This is the event that sparked the Minjoong movement, the event that made us know that the government couldn’t be moved.”

The woodcuts depict political oppression in South Korea that Kim says was ignored by the media during the recent Olympic Games. In fact, many of the woodcuts, including “Two Sides of the Republic of Sport” by Chul Lee, deal directly with the Olympics. Reunification between North and South Korea is the other major theme.

“They’re so detailed. They look more like etchings than woodcuts,” says Joe B. Rodriguez, executive director of the Social and Public Arts Resource Center.

When the movement first began in 1980, the woodcuts, which take several days or even months to create, were practically given away in South Korea. They went for a couple of dollars at local flea markets, according to Kim, who chairs the foreign affairs committee of the Los Angeles chapter of Young Koreans United, a group devoted to the reunification of Korea.

“Farmers would come up to the artists in the market and ask, ‘Will this bring me good luck if I hang it up?’ ” Kim says. “And the artists would say, ‘Oh yes,’ ” since they were hoping not only to make a sale but to reach a larger audience.”

But when Minjoong artists attempted to spread their message further through public exhibitions, cunning and quick wits were not enough. Police would block gallery entryways and snatch up the art. Kim says this censorship continues.

The exhibit in Venice is the first public exhibit of Minjoong art in the United States. Carol Wells, executive director of Los Angeles’ Center for the Study of Political Graphics, came across the woodcuts while putting together an exhibit for an Iowa State University conference on world revolutions.

“They gave me a shopping list of countries,” Wells says. “I had posters for most of the countries in my personal collection, but I didn’t have anything from South Korea.” After making some phone calls, Wells found herself in touch with Young Koreans United. “I asked if they had any posters. They said, ‘No, but we have these woodcuts.’ And they were amazing.”

Wells immediately got in touch with Rodriguez. He was so impressed with the work that he shuffled schedules and mounted the exhibit just 2 months after Wells’ first call. “Normally, these kind of shows are booked a year in advance,” Rodriguez says.

One woodcut depicts the daily lives of urban South Koreans, trying to eat and make a living while avoiding encounters with police. Another is a scene of a corrupt election, with votes acquired through bribery.

Yet another, on the theme of reunification, shows the barbed wire of oppression being lifted from the people. In the foreground is a bed of azaleas--a powerful symbol of both hope and anger in South Korea.

“Azaleas grow everywhere in Korea--North and South. It’s a wildflower,” Kim says. “But when North Korea made azaleas its national flower, the flower was outlawed in the South. The simple act of painting a single azalea on a wall got its muralist arrested and the painted covered up.”

“This is one that doesn’t need any explanation,” Kim says in front of the woodcut titled “Land of Our Fathers.” Depicting a plight similar to one in the United States--farmers being forced out of farming--it shows a son leaving the family farm as his father looks into the distance.

“These are pictures of ordinary people in scenes from their daily lives,” Kim says. “People look at these and say, ‘Hey, that looks like me.’ ” Art for art’s sake, the kind that many see as the result of foreign influence, is what the Minjoong are trying to fight.

The “Woodcuts of Liberation” exhibit continues through Friday at the gallery (685 Venice Blvd., Venice). Gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A free public slide presentation on the exhibit and the Minjoong art movement will be held Friday at 7 p.m.