By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee
The Venice Biennale is the most prestigious and influential biennale in the world of art since its inception in 1895, and it is called the mother of biennales.
The Venice Biennale, which consists of the main exhibition, national pavilions, and collaborative events, is called the Art Olympics because only a small number of artists selected by each country's ministry of culture are allowed to participate. As such, the artists who participate in the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art_ Venice Biennale are recognized as among the best in the world.
This year, the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale, which debuted in 1895, is being organized under the general direction of Roberto Cicutto and Adriano Pedrosa under the theme "atranieri Ovunque-Foreigners Everywhere.
It means that foreigners are everywhere, but the theme highlights the prevalence of racism and xenophobia today and calls attention to the exclusionary era of protectionist economic policies and seeks to create harmonious relationships based on respect for diversity and embracing differences.
The 2024 Venice Biennale is expected to have a higher participation rate of Korean artists than ever before, highlighting Korea's status in the world.
The exhibition in the Main Pavilion will include the artist Jang Woo-sung, as well as artists Kim Yoon-shin and Lee Kang-seung. Koo Jung-ah was selected as the sole artist for the Korea Pavilion. Through the overseas pavilions, artists Cho Do-joong and Oh Ji-yoon will officially participate.
In addition to the exhibitions in the main building and the national pavilions, the Colleteral event collaboration exhibition will be officially held. The Korean art foundations and artists selected for the Colleteral event collaboration exhibition are as follows -- Gwangju Biennale Foundation, Yoo Young-gook, Lee Sung-ja, Lee Bae, Paik Nam-joon, and five others. One of the most notable artists is Oh Ji-yoon.
Italian art historian Beatrice cordano published the Contemporary Art Explorer3 to introduce Oh Ji-yoon, saying that her works are rich in metaphor and reflection, like visual poetry, and that Korean art stands out from Western art in that it emphasizes more on the craftsmanship of materials.
Painter Oh Ji-yoon, whose monochromatic paintings are characteristic of Korean art, will be an official invited artist at the 60th Venice Biennale 2024 (April 18-November 24), the world's leading art exhibition.
Following in the footsteps of Korean monochromatic paintings, Oh has exhibited at various famous exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, including the top-ranked Kiaf. In June 2023, she exhibited her work at the Rome Expo, and Natalia Gryniuk, the curator of the Venice Biennale, was impressed by the Korean craftsmanship and monastic practice in her paintings, and invited her to participate as an official invited artist in the Venice Biennale.
Oh's paintings differ in sound, color, and texture according to the metaphysical connection between nature and man, above the sea and below the sea.
She reinterprets the vibrancy of the sea as various emotions of human life. Through layered reliefs and overlapping colors, she reflects on the unequal struggles of human life through a simple and repetitive technique.
The irregular texture of the reliefs was inspired by a temple invitational exhibition in the middle of winter many years ago, when the artist felt compassion for a young child sweeping garden at dawn in the cold, and sculpted them into waves like human life.
The artist incorporates this compassion and concern for human life into her work, using materials such as pure gold, diamonds, and pearl powder. This is the hope of quantum joy within the artist and the resistance of unequal human life. (From the artist's notes) When the works of top Korean artists go abroad, they represent the country.
When art historians and curators in Europe look at the works of Cho Do-joong and Oh Ji-yoon, they look for characteristics that represent Korea in the works.
In this respect, the case of Cho and Oh is significant because unlike the case of the artists who were selected and participated in the Venice Biennale by their respective ministries of culture as an art-related foundation through the Colleteral event, the case of Cho and Oh is a case where they were already praised by European curators locally and naturally led to the Venice Biennale.
Artist Oh surprised European audiences at the Rome Art Expo in October 2023, her first exhibition in Italy, where she exhibited one of her signature works, “The Sea Where the Sun Never Sets.”
Natalia Renoniuk, Miss Universe First Lady 2023, sent us a photo of herself posing in front of one of her works, and an official from the Italian art association Musainternational sent us a photo of herself posing in front of a specific artist's work.
Faster than anyone could have imagined, she became an official participant in the Venice Biennale, recognized as the highest pinnacle of world art.
Her work attracted the most audience attention in the exhibition, which was attributed to the fact that the artist's works stimulated the senses of sight, touch, and mind, making the audience more immersive.
Now artist Oh Ji-yoon has the full support of the Italian art association Musa international, and since Musa's deputy director Pisna Odarka herself is a top-level artist who participated in the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Musa is able to judge artists of a higher level than any other art organization and welcomes their participation.
The official participation of the artist Oh in the Venice Biennale will be curated by Viviana Vannucci under the supervision of Commissioner Liaquat Ali lucky, General Director of the Venice Biennale shilpakala Academy.
