감귤박물관

2024  Citrus Art Exhibition 

Colored in Citrus Hues and Extended into Art

As autumn moves into winter, almost everywhere you look around the island is saturated in fantastic citrus colors, orchards along the roads and alleys loaded with delicious fruit. Combined with sparkling green foliage, a fantastic Jeju landscape unfolds that is dominated by beautiful golden orange and yellows. Sweet-and-sour citruses are a representative winter fruit loved by all ages, but for the Jeju residents their history contains both joys and sorrows.

The first record of Jeju citrus appears in History of Goryeo, but it is assumed they were cultivated much earlier. During the Joseon Dynasty, these precious fruits were offered to the king, and the government directly managed orchards. However, it was difficult to meet the required amounts of citrus tributes, so officials forced tribute from residents, even plundering the citrus trees in private homes. Residents called them “trees of pain” and would kill them with boiling water. The Jeju citrus industry took off in earnest during the 1960s, and as prices rose the number of farms increased rapidly. Profitability was so high that two trees could send a child through college, earning them the nickname “university trees.” In this way, citrus fruits contain various stories of the islanders’ joys and sorrows.

Stories are an extremely important element in art. Both genres are powerful tools for conveying emotions and sharing the human experience. Artworks convey emotions more deeply and richly through stories, and stories can be expressed more vividly through art. Stories may be born as a new art form, or a story can be renewed with the embellishment of artistic imagination. This exhibition, a meeting of citrus story and art, goes beyond the simple pursuit of visual beauty to shed new light on the meaning and historical stories, and presents Jeju citrus reinterpreted through various perspectives and formative languages of artists.

The 2024 “Colored in Citrus Hues and Extended into Art” exhibition will present works by five Jeju-based artists that express through art, not only citrus itself but also the everyday life surrounding it. We hope this special exhibition will provide an opportunity for the citrus industry to add the inherent value of art and develop into a cultural industry.

Kim Hea-sook ∣ Women of Jeju – From Haenyeo to women in Citrus Orchards

Kim Hea-sook moved to Jeju when she was young and majored in sculpture at Jeju National University’s Department of Fine Arts, as well as ceramic design at the same school’s Department of Industrial Design. In the beginning she mainly dealt with fired-clay terracotta, but now she creates the forms from stone powder clay, made from finely ground stone powder, lets them dry naturally, and paints them with acrylics to add color and detail.

For a long time, the author kept with haenyeo and motorbikes as the main subjects of her works. Jeju is called Samdado (island of three abundances) because of its much wind, ubiquitous rocks, and a women. Here, women are an important cultural symbol. In particular, the haenyeo have come to represent the women of Jeju Island. They are generally depicted as strong ladies who fight against the rough sea and take responsibility for their families’ livelihoods; meanwhile the hardships of labor tend to show clearly on their faces. However, haenyeo in this author’s works appear as lovely women with cheerful smiles, and this comprises the author’s warm gaze toward the ladies of the sea. She expresses not only the strength of haenyeo but their vitality and cheerfulness, as well.

In this exhibition, the main character of the work is the artist’s mother as mother, rather than her existence as a female diver. She worked in citrus orchards her entire life, and to the artist she was such a very special person. Kim Hea-sook reflects upon the day her mom came home with a pretty folded handkerchief as a headband, and she remembers her as looking so cute and lovely. The characters in this work are people who wear colorful work clothes like her mother did, and head out to the orchard every day. Their bright smiles and waving hands make the viewer smile, and the smiles on each face within these works contain the artist’s warm heart and the hope that we all live in brightness.

Yang Hye-yeon ∣ The source of creativity discovered in Jeju's nature

Yang Hye-yeon was born on Jeju but lived on the mainland for a long time before returning. Jeju was her hometown to which she had returned after so many years, but then it felt strange. To resolve her awkward feelings, the author took steps into the embrace of nature, where she was free to go at any time. The rich variety of Jeju flora she encountered would captivate her eye as she walked along the trails, their unique shapes and colors becoming the source of her creations.

An artist drawing a plant does not stop at simply reproducing the subject. She goes through a process of reinterpreting the emotions and impressions she felt at the moment she encountered each plant. Therefore, these works can be said to be an expression of the vivid sensations of the moment and a creative reconstruction that reveals Yang Hye-yeon’s communication with nature. She appropriately utilizes basic elements of form such as points, lines and planes, and carefully crafts them to incorporate the vitality of the plant.

“Now, Here” is the title of these works, important keywords for understanding the artist’s world and working methods. Botanical depictions are typically titled with the name of the plant or the place, but these offerings are titled with numbers like a series, indicating an order or progression. Now and here both emphasize the present. ‘Now’ is an adverb with temporal properties meaning “the very moment of speaking,” and ‘here’ is a noun that indicates present location. Both words refer to the present time and space, indicating that the artist is emphasizing the experience and emotions of the moment. Her world of works captures the emotions of the moment and expresses them on canvas, and reflects the process of realizing the preciousness of every moment we live and achieving inner growth through communion with nature.

Lee Gang-in ∣ Jeju Record – Landscapes and Stories in Citruses

Lee Gang-in is from Jeju and records Jeju Island through calligraphy and drawings. The Jeju scenery in her works is expressed simply and concisely as scenes encountered in everyday life. Fresh green trees form packets of woods, and round orange citrus fruits hang in clusters under a clear, spotless sky. A peaceful and innocent nature that you cannot help but cherish, this is a landscape unique to Jeju.

“Citrus Time” consists of four series, and the process of ripening fruit is expressed in the artist’s characteristically concise drawing style. These works liken the process of maturing citrus, to time. “Citrus Time 2” shows the summer season through green citrus, and depicts its being tended with care throughout blazing hot sun, or rain, and, of course, the Jeju winds. “Citrus Time 3” depicts workers heading out to harvest fruit in the darkness of dawn. Lee Gang-in emphasizes the underlying fact: citruses are not simply delicious edible fruits, but the fruits of the sweat and tears of Jeju people who worked the orchards and lovingly cared for the precious trees, day after day after day.

Depicted in “Orange Garden,” Jeju in November transforms into an island-wide garden bursting with brilliant shades of orange. At this point Jeju is filled with the sight and scent of citrus. One hears the resonance of lively voices of harvesters, and the entire island is packed with life. Such a beautiful landscape is the result of Jeju people’s diligence, and years of dedication and sincerity; they have long been working the stony, barren land, struggling against the changes of nature. This is what has culminated in our orange landscape, ant the author records these Jeju vistas in order not to forget their tremendous efforts.