Korea Art Brut (Korean edition)

For this first-ever publication devoted to Korean Art Brut and outsider art, Tong Won Kim selected works of twenty-one artists, ranging in age from 12 to nearly 60 including a sampling of the ecstatic art of iconoclastic Zen Master, the "Mad Monk", Jung Kwang (Joong Kwang). More than 200 pieces, in a variety of media appear in beautiful, full-color photographs. While a number of works exhibit a distinctively "Asian" provenance (images of Buddha, manga/manhwa themes and chibi-like characters, inscriptions in hangul, etc.), the majority defy easy categorization and create their own beautiful sense of logic and place. As Kim observes in his introductory essay, many of these gifted artists create as a means of expressing their hopes and dreams for a better future. The late recognition of Art Brut and "outsider art" in South Korea bears painful testimony to the severe stigma associated with mental illness in Korean society, a situation underscored by the heartbreaking statistics regarding the treatment of the mentally disabled (including involuntary hospitalizations) enumerated in the book's introduction. Tong Won Kim, professor of Social Welfare Studies at Sunkyunkwan University in Seoul, founded the non-profit Art Brut Korea in 2008 both as a showcase for the art of the mentally disabled and as a passionate vehicle to advocate for the dignity of its creators. "Korea Art Brut" provides numerous moments of discovery: from Youngae Joo's wall-sized renderings of faceless fashionistas (her work is featured on the cover), and Jungmyung Kim's surrealist sketches, to Yongan Kim's glowering Buddhas, and Sejoon Park's joyous, Day-Glo pictures of tigers and bucolic village scenes. Tong Won Kim's labor of love succeeds in being both an exciting encounter with a previously undocumented local variant of Art Brut while making a compassionate and compelling case for both the art and the well-being of the artists.