Exhibition Information

			Sensing the diverse potential of the print medium, in the 1970s, young Japanese artists began making prints, and in so doing, expanded the expressive range of contemporary art as a whole. Though certain aspects of this development have certainly been acknowledged, it was mainly artists who did specialized in or concentrated on prints that served as pivotal figures in post-World War II, contemporary Japanese print-making. In Europe and America, artists who were responsible for trends in contemporary art made printmaking history. But the evolution Japanese printmaking seems to be a singular development in the world. This exhibition is not made up of works by artists who are considered to have created a unique or specific development in contemporary Japanese printmaking history, but rather on those by artists who tend to be seen as support players in this process. There are two reasons for this focus. First, the exhibition is designed to shed light on the fact that a new field was developed through contemporary Japanese prints. This field, prints made by painters, is notable both as a variation on painting and an autonomous form. Thus, the works helped establish the genre of contemporary Japanese prints while imbuing it with a suitable breadth. Second, the exhibition is intended to encourage viewers to reconsider the existing history of contemporary Japanese prints. Today, 70 years after World War II, at a point when prints are on the verge of being forgotten as a trend in contemporary art, there is a need, both in Japan and abroad, to reconsider history from a variety of critical perspectives without overlooking the subject of dissolution.
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(Source = Sungkok Museum)