Gwangju means, “City of Light.” The brilliance implied by its name is intensified by the artistic aura that pervades the city and the natural beauty of the hills that surround it. All around the city breathes the spirit of artists who have earned Gwangju the title, “home of the arts” : artists like Huh Baek-ryun, master of Korean painting; Im Bang-ul, the great pansori singer; and lyric poet Pak Young-cheol. With the Gwangju Biennale, a world arts festival held every two years, Gwangju is taking its place as the home of the arts in the world at large. Let’s bend our steps towards the dazzling light of Gwangju.

The face of the city of Gwangju presents to us was not its original, but rather has been transformed by the people who lived and who still live in the city. The first thing about Gwangju that comes to mind is the “home of the arts,” an image created by Gwangju’s artists. The people who have remained on the land and have not left despite many historical hardships are the ones that created today’s Gwangju.

A living witness to Gwangju’s history is Kim Bong-ho, a local resident who has written is diary every single day for the last 53 years. His diary is not just a record of his own daily life but also an important piece of Gwangju’s history and society. Through residents like Kim Bong-ho who have anonymously preserved their hometown, Gwangju has been able to maintain its frame as a home of the arts.

In speaking of Gwangju as a home of the arts, there are certain names that must be mentioned. Names like Huh Baek-tyun (artistic name Ui-jae), master of Korean painting; O Ji-ho, who gave Western impressionism a Korean flavor; and Im Bang-ul, the great singer of pansori narratives. In some cases, the artistic spirit that raised Gwangju’s arts to a peak was passed on to the next generation. O Ji-ho had a son named O Syng-yoon who has remained in Gwangju as a Western-style painter like his father. In the beautiful thatched house that his father left him, O Syng-yoon paints natural Korean landscapes that form an oeuvre of his own quite distinct from his father’s. He depicts Korea’s mountains and seas using the “five directional colors” of the Korean tradition: red, blue, yellow, white, and black.

If O Syng-yoon is a leader among the established artists of Gwangju, an up-and-coming young artist is Kang Un. His canvases are devoted to a single theme: clouds. He says it was an indolent disposition that led him to restrict himself to clouds, in which all things in the world were contained; but as the “Un” character is his name means, “cloud”; painting clouds perhaps his destiny. He is constantly striving to express his feeling trough new perspectives and techniques, and today, once again he is painting the beautiful sky of Jeollanam-do Province.

The arts of Gwangju also include handicrafts using metal, paper, and textiles. Non Eun-hee is a mixed –media artist who creates her works from Korean paper colored with ink, ocher, and other traditional Korean dyes. Her themes are traditional with multicolored children’s clothing, wrapping cloths, lotuses, cranes, and deer, which she transforms through a sophisticated sense of color and form. She says it gives her a special pride to present oversees Korean works made of Korean materials.

Gwangju is also famous as a home of traditional music and pansori songs. Sung Sim-on, a designated preserver of Intangible Cultural Property No. 23, Gayageum Sanjo in the style mof Kim Juk-pa, performs intimate feminine melodies on the twelve-string zither gayageum. With its body made of paulownia and chestnut wood and its string of wound silk, the gayageum produces the subtle tine color of an instrument made of natural materials. Sung brings out the delicate vibrato of the gayageum to enrich the city of Gwangju with beautiful light and sound.

The fragrance of art pervades the city

Huh Baek-ryun, master of southern-style literati painting, played a major role in making Gwangju the flourishing home of the arts that it is today. He settled in Gwangju in 1938, living on the slope of Mt Mudeungsan where he painted many masterpieces. The Uijae Art Museum, located at the entrance to the Jeungsimsa Valley on Mt. Mudeungsan, is where you can retrace Huh Baek-ryun’s footsteps. You can see the building named Chunseolheon that was his studio for 30 years, the Gwangpungdae he used as a meeting place, the tea garden that he loved and decorated, and the museum where his original works are on display. Walking in the steps of Hun Baek-ryun, we can see the gentle form and living landscape of Mt. Mudeungsan, and understand why he chose to retire here, devoted to painting.

After exploring the history of Gwangju art at the Uijae Art Museum, it’s time to check out Gwangju’s current artistic scene at Art Avenue. Located in the Gung-dong district, it is often compared to Seoul’s Insa-dong with galleries large and small, antique shops, tea set retailers, and handcraft stores. Every Saturday, the alley outside Jungang Elementary School nearby holds a flea market offering antiques, old books, and paintings, where you can become lost in things from the past.

The story of traditional music in Gwangju can be seen at the Bitgoeul Training Center for Korean Traditional Music. Here traditional instruments such as the daegeum (bamboo flute), geomungo (fretted zither) are gathered together, not in a museum, but in the open space of the training center. While trying the instruments themselves, you can loose yourself in the charm of traditional Korean music.

A global art festival: Gwangju Biennale

Gwangju’s fame as the home of the arts began to spread out to the world the introduction of the Gwangju Biennale in 1995. The Gwangju Biennale 2004 will take place from Septrember 10 to November 13at various locations in the Jungoe Park Culture and Art Belt, the subway system, and the May 18 Liberty Park. It provides an opportunity to encounter current social and cultural trends through the diverse forms and media of contemporary art.

The thematic exhibitions of the Gwangju Biennale 2004 are grouped under four headings. Dust, uses a grain of dust as a metaphor for progress that produces new life instead of death. Water, visually expresses the idea of a drop of water as a medium for both cleansing and communication, makes possible the creation of life trough the combination of inorganic substances. Dust+Water, depicts the power of nature to return to its original order. The Club, is an aesthetic recreation space for all to enjoy.

There are also on-the-spot exhibitions and events. The Biennale forecourt has been made into a footstep theme park, while the Korea Express presents the true face of Korean art, and the May 18 Liberty Park is seen in a new light as, And others. The subway system has been made into a cultural space, and an EcoMetro, encouraging public participation opened one month before the Biennale. The Gwangju Biennale 2004 is set to transform Gwangju’s artistic tradition into a new cultural hub of the world.

Yoon Hyun-young is a guest editor for ASIANA (culture), Lee Dong-chun is a photographer concentrating on the beauties of Korea.