By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee 

The 30th anniversary exhibition of the Arok Traditional Folk Painting Preservation Society (CEO Jeong Kui-ja), titled "Bringing style and dreams to old paintings," which gathers the precious history and brilliant vision of folk paintings, will be held at Insa Art Plaza Gallery 2, 3, and 4F in Insa-dong, Seoul from March 13 to 19, 2024.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Seoul Intangible Cultural Property Education Center, Gahoe Folk Painting Museum, Diplomatic Journal, UN Journal, K-Culture to showcase the tradition and beauty of folk paintings that have been passed down through the generations.

Folk paintings have been an important part of Korea's traditional painting style, which has captured the ideas of the common people and the truth of life without lies in the paintings rather than in their outward appearance, as they are works that express the emotions of the people's life and style, satire and humor, based on wishes for an ideal life, wishes for wealth, honor, peace, and lessons.

This exhibition is especially meaningful because it is accompanied by a tribute exhibition to artist Kim Man-hee, who laid the foundation for Korean folk painting. The late painter Kim Man-hee (1931-2018) paved the way for the development and promotion of Korean folk paintings, and with his innate artistic inspiration and awareness of folk culture, he played a major role in internationalizing folk paintings and introducing their unique beauty to the world through the establishment of the Folk Painting Research Institute.

In the exhibition of works by members of the Arok Traditional Folk Painting Preservation Society, Ondo Society, Hwadam Society, Damin Society and the Korean Society of Traditional Artists as well as 105 professional folk painters participating in a large-scale special exhibition, Arok Jeong Kui-ja, the holder of the 18th Seoul Intangible Culture Festival, said that our unique traditional culture should be revived and folk culture should be preserved, researched, and inherited as a valuable heritage, and that we can see the development of modern folk paintings that are moving forward in line with traditional values and modern times.

Through the importance and value of folk paintings that have always been in our lives, this is a valuable exhibition that allows us to aesthetically examine the beauty of precious traditional art and the values of the times.