Young-Whan Bae

b. 1967, born and based in Seoul, Korea.

Bae studied Oriental Painting at Hongik University. Bae is an artist who follows the style of Korean Minjungmisool(people’s art) of the 80’s from the realm of young people’s underground culture. Recalling the fact that people became too tired of moral and ethical didactism of Minjungmisool, Bae complements the art of his seniors with pure and caring mind.

His series, Pop Song 3 takes the form of a music video in which the documentary footages of 4.19 Citizen’s Uprising, Gwangju Citizen’s Uprising and other student democratic movements are played along with Korean popular songs. As the series go on, he developed his formal languages onto two dimensional works, objects, and paintings. On the Street, a small booklet listing all information for the homeless to survive in Seoul, is the piece that highlights Bae as next generation artist of political art. The project was started from his literally living with the homeless on the street and based on the researches he grabbed on the street.

- Young-Whan Bae, Pop Song 1: House of Doves, 1997, mixed media

- Young-Whan Bae, Pop Song 2: Youth, 1999, mixed media

- Young-Whan Bae, Pop Song 3: Gwangju Sangmudae, video installation, 2002