The Sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

109 Commissions for APT6 From the start, it was considered imperative that chosunhua should be included in APT6. Oil painting and mosaic are also included, as they reflect the important position these practices occupy in the broader artistic vocabulary of contemporary DPRK art. The mosaic takes the form of the chuchehua , and it is the only work in this suite of commissions to be developed in this way. The overarching subject for the seven commissions in the main display was developed around the theme of work and the everyday. In this sense, the revolutionary subject is a genuine one; it encompasses an aspect of the everyday for Koreans, as well as the mundane work of the foundry. The five two-metre-square brush-and-ink paintings are rare undertakings, demonstrating a willingness to experiment with both form and content. The unusual square format in this scale tested the usual bounds of chosunhua paintings. Each work observes different aspects of the everyday, from the workplace to home, from young workers to the aged. These inks are a meditation on interior and exterior lives, humble illustrations of a familiar scenario expressed in an unpretentious manner. Im Hyok, the painter of Breaktime 2009, describes the process of arriving at the composition, and his thoughts about making the work in this way: I was working from a photograph that Mr Kim Dong Hwan (head of the Korean painting section) had taken from another steelworks a year previously. There are many problems working from a photograph. The photo is small so it is only a small reference. So I used my site visits to Kangson Steelworks to complete the picture. But also it was so important to meet the workers and get an understanding of their life . . . a photograph is after all only this thin [demonstrates with the tiny gap between his fingers] so it is important to get behind the eyes of the subject. 2 He explains how he envisaged the audience’s thoughts on encountering such a portrait: When people see this painting I want them to first of all ask [the] question, ‘Why is he drawing this face so big?’ Secondly I want them to see the details and see the skill. I hope to give the feeling of this man to whoever is looking at my painting but any point of view is acceptable — it is up to you to take from it what you want. Perhaps in Australia people should be surprised as they know only their own life — and they are thinking they have come to a gallery to observe art, but it is in fact a shock for them to be observed by a Korean worker. 3 Rim Ho Chol — who painted On the way to work 2009, showing a scene of factory workers as they stream into work in the morning — discusses his work: Most people would concentrate on the factory but I went outside — for in art it is important to take different viewpoints and perspectives and many artists tend to concentrate just on the inside. For some artists they see life too directly in that they go straight for the subject but I think in