Description:
young woman in Korean uniform, arms crossed with squirt guns in her hands flanked by two young boys with jeans, suspenders and red neckerchiefs each pointing a squirt gun at the viewer, Korean text in yellow on red behind them
Label Text:
Kim Il Soon, a North Korean Socialist Realist painter, is the performance persona/alter ego of Mina Cheon, who created this painting. Born in South Korea, Cheon is a new media artist, scholar, and writer, who currently teaches on the faculty of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Kim Il Soon’s first American appearance took place in May 2013 at the Pulse Art Fair in New York, where Sons of Joseon: Squirt Water Not Bullets was displayed in Ethan Cohen Fine Arts’ booth and purchased by the Smith College Museum of Art. Dressed in a North Korean military uniform, as she appears in the painting, the artist interacted with fair-goers, inviting them to “squirt water, not bullets” as part of her campaign to promote global world peace.
The young boy represented in the painting is a doubled portrait of Kim Il Soon's son, Kim Siun (the performance persona's alias for Cheon's son). The doubling is meant to signify the divided countries of North and South Korea. Kim Il Soon has vowed to continue her artistic practice until the reunification of Korea is achieved. The title of this work, “Sons of Joseon” refers to North Korea, whose official name is the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (colloquially referred to by North Koreans as “Joseon”).
Cheon coined the term “Polipop” (Political Pop Art) for her work, which samples the internet and other electronic sources as a means for conveying and understanding world events, intersecting politics and popular culture in provocative ways. SCMA’s painting belongs to her series on North Korea, known as DPRK Polipop.
Artist's Statement:
In 2012, Mina Cheon launched a new artistic persona and avatar named Kim Il Soon, who is a North Korean social realist painter. This is a deliberate political move by the artist to bring awareness about North Korea. Her name, Kim Il Soon, meaning eternal purity, was bequeathed to her by the supposed Dear Leader. She is a nationally recognized painter of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as well as a Lieutenant Colonel Naval Commander, scholar, devout citizen, hardworking farmer, a mother of two, and most importantly, a human being. She will continue painting until Korean reunification.
Kim Il Soon appeared publicly for the first time during the Pulse Art Fair in New York in 2013 with Ethan Cohen New York, and the painting Sons of Joseon: Squirt Water Not Bullets was exhibited alongside her performance, as she passed out political and peace buttons “Squirt Water Not Bullets, Make Art Not Missiles.” North Koreans call their nation “Joseon” but they do not directly relate themselves with or acknowledge the history of the Joseon Dynasty. The two boys in the painting represent her son Kim Siun; the doubling of his appearance signifies the twin effect, a country split into two. Sons of Joseon was acquired by the Smith College Museum of Art in 2013.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2013.29 |
