::corngrowth

gallery

In Goes, a town in Zeeland, The Netherlands, at the end of August 2017 an exhibition was held, showing more than fifty North Korean paintings, made between 1960 and 2007 by professional North Korean painters. All paintings were made on behalf of the North Korean state and are originally intended for domestic use in public buildings and hotels.

Art in North Korea is not free of obligation and is always in the service of the leader, who benefits from an idealized image of North Korea. The regime uses this well-painted socialist-realistic art to create and maintain an utopian North Korea. Essentially it's the glorification of the system by means of paintings with subjects like 'family', 'agriculture and industry', 'war and confrontation', with enemies like the US and Japan: propaganda wrapped as art, very useful in the past and for this nowadays regime as well!

I got the opportunity to capture all the exhibited paintings, so this one is the ninth one of a series of the by me selected images for uploading to Caedes. Although the last exhibited painting was made in 2007, think that this series will still show you an unique look at the closed/isolated North Korea.

Some details/description of the ninth one in this series:

Artist: Hyong Man

Title: without title. Painted: 1995.

Oil paint on canvas, 117.5 x 69cm.

This painting shows how the Koreans suffered from the Japanese colonial regime.

A rich Japanese in his seat, surrounded by Koreans who are forced to give a part of their harvest. A subordinate assistant takes care of the administration. An example of a scene in which the people of Korea are suffering their fate. The painting was probably an 'attempt' to 'brainwash' the Korean people for having a continued hate to Japan (please notice e.g. the dogs consuming fish).