At the Lost & Found exhibition at Rokeby Gallery, curator Jiyoon Lee has invited six Korean artists to exhibit works that juxtapose classical Asian art with elements of global contemporary life.

The artists reconceptualise classical values that were lost when Korea embraced western Modernism in the post-war years of the mid-20th century by fusing old-school traditions with contemporary ideas and aesthetics.

The exhibition warmly welcomes visitors with Yee Sookyung’s The Very Best Statue. This life-size figure is inspired by depictions of classical divinity explored in Asian sculpture. Think asian temple icon crossed with a Smurf.  

Both Sookyung and Hong Young In like to embrace details; Young In's patchy and colourful mixed media works (Ladies I Met In London and Daejeon and Beautiful Men I Met in Incheon, London, Barcelona and Liverpool) have imagery overlapped and cut and pasted together from diverse cultures and customs. Like an embroidered collage, the works appear like memories and fragments of the artist's experiences while travelling. Even though the artists use different techniques and materials to express themselves, the clash between classic traditions and contemporary modernity is common to both.

Lee Lee Nam’s Digitalized-Cochungdo and The Kumgang Mountains are digital screens that initially appear to be traditional prints but they transform into intriguing moving animations. He takes classical Asian landscapes and iconography and brings them to ‘contemporary life’ with his subtle interventions.

Jeon Kyung’s paintings Pushing Down and Girls Run Away frame characters inspired from Korean children’s books and fairytales. There is a lot happening in these watercolour brainstorms painted on traditional Korean rice paper. Both Lee Nam and Kyung experiment with environments that reflect a traditional Korea while the characteristic "stories" refer to the contemporary.

The videos of Han Keryoon play with attitudes to nudity. The whirling effects in the videos of A Study on the Embarrassment of Nudity attract attention in a mind-twisting and eye-catching way. The stories appear like silent fantasies. The videos play with the relationship between model, artist and viewer and similarly to Lee Nam, Keryoon uses digital techniques to alter classic perspectives.

Lee Gil Woo’s portrait series Irrelevant Answer - Ronald on Tour portrays Ronald McDonald in conference with characters from classical Korean scenes. Ronald is immersed in these pop-art confluences between the modern west and the traditional east on Korean paper. Woo’s work alludes to the globalising nature of multi-national commercialism while also referencing Seurat’s pointillism.

Lost & Found is a thought provoking and incredibly interesting insight into contemporary Korean art. Well worth a visit. Head down to the Rokeby before 7 Feb to check it out.