Making K-art mainstream: Four artists from South Korea showcase paintings in Lucknow

Artists Hyungmee Lee, Hyunwook Park, Jain Gu and Youngbin Lee from South Korea are on their debut visit to India with the agenda to promote Korean art.

Four artists from South Korea are on their debut visit to India with the agenda to promote Korean art. Hyungmee Lee, Hyunwook Park, Jain Gu and Youngbin Lee are holding painting exhibition Saranghae at Kala Srot Art Gallery here.

Hyungmee Lee, Hyunwook Park, Jain Gu and Youngbin Lee from South Korea with chief guest Jai Kishan Agarwal

“K-pop and K-dramas are very popular in India. So, we hope that K-art will also catch up soon. Art lovers were very interested in our art form. There are many similarities in our hearts and minds, only the landscape and streets are different,” says Jain Gu, 30.

“I have paintings that I made in Korea and here in India. I painted cows on the ghats of Varanasi and people in a marketplace of Lucknow. We have many elements of India in our paintings.”

Park, 40, says, “I have done exhibitions in the UK, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy and France... We were also in Varanasi and our paintings show the aspects of the ghats there and of Lucknow.”

The youngest of the four, Youngben, says, “We are all from Seoul and got together after we were selected for a month-long residency programme.” Hyungmee Lee says that the essence of life and death that she saw at the cremation grounds in Varanasi left a great impact on her.

Mansi Didwania of the art gallery says, “Rather than focusing on monuments, these artists captured the finer aspects of life and other essence of the city.”

The exhibition will end on January 17.