Busan Biennale
The Busan Biennale is a biannual international contemporary art show that integrated three different art events held in the city in 1998: the Busan Youth Biennale, the first biennale of Korea that was voluntarily organized by local artists in 1981; the Sea Art Festival, an environmental art festival launched in 1987 with the sea serving as a backdrop; and the Busan International Outdoor Sculpture Symposium that was first held in 1991. The biennale was previously called the Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival (PICAF) before it launched.
The biennale has its own unique attribute in that it was formed not out of any political logic or need but rather the pure force of local Busan artists’ will and their voluntary participation. Even to this day their interest in Busan's culture and its experimental nature has been the key foundation for shaping the biennale’s identity.
This biennale is the only one like it in the world that was established through an integration of three types of art events such as a Contemporary Art Exhibition, Sculpture Symposium, and Sea Art Festival. The Sculpture Symposium in particular was deemed to be a successful public art event, the results of which were installed throughout the city and dedicated to revitalizing cultural communication with citizens. The networks formed through the event have assumed a crucial role in introducing and expanding domestic art overseas and leading the development of local culture for globalized cultural communication. Founded 38 years ago, the biennale aims to popularize contemporary art and achieve art in everyday life by providing a platform for interchanging experimental contemporary art.
Doowon Lee
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BB2024 2024-11-29 16:32
Chinese Character Bird in Flower Garden, 2021, mixed media on camel wool cloth, 160x123cm.
Painter Doowon Plus a Hedgehog in Egg-plant Field, 2022, mixed media and stone object on cotton cloth, 146x124cm.
Crows Eating Lunch, 2013, beads, Korean ink and mixed media on Indian cotton, 141x92.5cm.
A Gun Seller Peacock, 2023, gesso, oil paint, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, gouache on Khadi cotton cloth, 112x140cm.
A Yellow Submarine in Pakistani Truck Art Style, 2023, paint, oil pastel, Korean ink, acrylic, gouache on Khadi cotton cloth, 112x198cm.
Buddha+Refrigerator, 2015, wool thread stitching and mixed media on cotton cloth woven by Doowon’s grandmother 80 years ago, 69x33cm.
Pumpkin Field Pumpkin Head Painter, 2020, ink, gouache, acrylic, oil on cotton cloth 168x91.5cm.
The Cunning Nerve Warfare of a Fox and a Bug, 2013, Korean ink, mixed media on bamboo cloth, 126.5x114cm.
My Truck Running on the Himalayan Flower Road, 2023, gesso, oil paint, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, gouache on Khadi cotton cloth, 114x182cm.
Doowon Lee believes that ‘materials have no rank,’ and therefore uses locally sourced wool, hemp, cashmere, nettle, linen, paper, and the backside of carpets to paint the world as he sees it with materials such as yarn, objects, and ink. The artist states, “I don’t use pencil and eraser, and I don’t sketch. The energies of nature, experience, and a forest of materials as myriad as the stars activate the ‘picture theatre’ inside me. When images pass through my head like a movie, I enjoy the scene and try to express it like a poem. In the contemporary art scene, where there are many art theorists and art scientists, I am a painter like a wild dog who simply paints”. Starting from a monistic worldview that humans, animals, nature, and the universe are all one, Lee’s work is amusing and touching at the same time, derived from his unique sense of humour.
