words Alexa Wang
Art is something of a universal language, as it exists all over the world and manages to portray themes that are both universal and specific to a particular space at the same time. All people deal with things such as love, loss, fear, joy, disappointment, and hope, but there are also things that are unique to a specific cultural space or ethnic group. Military conflicts, regime changes, revolutions, world’s fairs, and social concerns are some of the specifics that can impact communities for several generations and for better or for worse.
If you’re a passionate collector, you are much more likely to want to do your research into the different types of art out there and how the artist’s culture and background are likely to inform their opinions of what art should look like. When you’re looking through an extensive collection of paintings for sale, you’ll likely come across watercolors, oil, and acrylic works from a multitude of artists. If you want to go more in-depth and would like your art collection to be more diverse, you can be proactive about it and look into the works of artists from all over the world.
South Korea
South Korea is one of the world’s cultural powerhouses, with its most famous exports, K-pop and dramas, being increasingly popular among fans from all over the world. One of the lesser-known things about the country is that it is also a growing art hub. The traditional ink wash paintings typically found in East Asia are well-recognized for their artistic merits, but the country’s artistic developments and innovations have definitely not stopped there. Suki Seokyeong Kang is one of the best-known contemporary artists in South Korea, known for her work, which combines painting with sculptures, performances, and installations. Her work explores themes such as individuality and freedom and draws inspiration from classical Korean literary works and dances.
Park Seo-bo was a leading Dansaekhwa artist, an art movement focused on the basic constituent elements that make up a painting, as well as the space between them. His Écriture series, which lasted between 1967 and 2023, features canvases layered with gesso and lines going from top to bottom. The artist spent decades experimenting with the method, and the first time he chose to display some of the works was in 1973. Recently, his artworks served as the inspiration for a luxury fashion collection released by French house Louis Vuitton.
Artist Hyun-Sook Song lives and works in Hamburg, and regards painting as both a creative and meditative act that requires a particular state of mind from the painter. The deliberate lines of her paintings allude to classic Korean calligraphy, and the use of egg tempera is another nod to the ancient past of painting.
France
Even those who are not well-versed in art history can name a few iconic French artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Matisse, Manet, and Renoir. There is no denying the importance of these artists, but it’s also important to remember that there are many who have created artworks closer to our present day and who continue to make new works on a daily basis. Art lovers should support their endeavors so that the art world can remain vibrant and dynamic. Louise Bourgeois is one of the most recognizable names in French art, and despite being best-known for her large-scale sculptures and installation art, she was also a prolific painter. Nevertheless, she was never directly affiliated with any artistic movement. The central themes of her work revolve around domestic life and the household, as well as the relationships that make up these spaces and their often dysfunctional nature.
Jules de Balincourt is a French-born artist based in Brooklyn whose work is characterized by abstractions and saturated colors. While the settings are typically inspired by real life, the way in which they are presented has fantastical undertones. The work of Jean-Marc Bustamante is focused on deconstructed landscapes and panoramas, which serve as larger metaphors for life itself.
South Africa
William Kentridge is a South African artist known not only for his paintings and drawings but also for hand-drawn animated films. He is known for engaging in the social landscape of his country and has produced numerous works that explore the realities of social conflict and strife, colonial oppression, and the nature of cultural memory, especially in relation to personal memory. Marlene Dumas hails from Cape Town but is currently based in the Netherlands. She started painting in 1973, and her art dealt with themes such as politics and her identity as a white woman of Afrikaans descent in South Africa.
While her art has been regarded as portraiture before, with the subjects ranging from noteworthy political figures to her own friends, the paintings mostly represent different feelings and emotions rather than unique individuals. Some of the more current themes of her art include sexuality, guilt, violence, tenderness, and innocence, with her preferred mediums being ink on paper and oil on canvas.
International reach
There are so many artists out there, it can require a bit of effort to discover them all. Julie Mehretu is a canonized Ethiopian American painter. Her layered artworks are meant to depict urban landscapes in the context of sociopolitical changes, and her 2001 piece “Untitled” sold for $9.32 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Michael Armitage is a British artist born in Kenya who grew up in the country until the age of sixteen. In 2022, it was announced that he would design the new £1 coin, set to enter circulation one year later. During the pandemic, he began painting outdoors.
In 2014, he began painting on Ugandan ficus tree bark cloth, replacing the standard canvas. One of the first paintings he made on lubugo is titled “Kampala Suburb” and depicts two men kissing. The piece was inspired by the experience of one of his sister’s friends, who is a gay man living in Kenya, where being gay is still illegal. The artwork’s style draws inspiration from the styles of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The art world is incredibly diverse, and there are talented artists all over the world. Missing out on their work is a pity and means that you will not experience some incredibly rich cultural aspects. Broadening your horizons is a must in the art world and a never-ending endeavor.
