[Gallery Walk] Whether the Champagne Goes Flat or Not

Jo Young-nam Still Dreams of a Festival-like Life, Acquitted After 5 Years of Legal Battle
Exhibition 'Art, Heart, Hwatu, and Jo Young-nam' in Cheongdam-dong Until November
"I Am a Contemporary Art Enthusiast... The State Raised Me as a Painter with a Story"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] "Usually, champagne is popped one bottle at a time. But I popped 13 bottles of champagne simultaneously. Because I dream of a life like a festival."

Is there any phrase that describes him better than this sentence covering an entire wall inside the exhibition hall? A person who must pop as many bottles as he wants, regardless of whether the other 12 bottles go flat or not. Even in his mid-70s, Jo Young-nam (75) is still a rascal. The reason there are 13 bottles of champagne seems to be because he is a fan of the poet Yi Sang (1910?1937). In 'Five Thieves,' aren't there 13 kids racing down the road?

The exhibition "Art, Heart, Hwatu, and Jo Young-nam" is being held at the Pica Project in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, until November 30. About 50 paintings by Jo Young-nam from the 1960s are on display. This is his first exhibition in Seoul in five years.

He was embroiled in a lawsuit over the past five years due to allegations of painting forgery. In June 2016, he was indicted without detention on fraud charges. In the first trial on October 2017, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a two-year probation. People around him told him to accept the probation, but he could not. "If I did, I would be a fraud for the rest of my life. I thought this was not right, so I fought." In August 2018, he was acquitted in the second trial. And in June this year, the Supreme Court confirmed his innocence. He said, "I thought my thoughts were accepted."

Jo Young-nam 'Hwatu Baduk Variation (Oriental Chess and Card Variation)', 2008, Mixed media, 120x95 cm
Photo by Pica Project

The Hwatu series paintings that sparked the forgery controversy are also on display this time. "I was very busy with many exhibitions back then. The Hwatu paintings require a lot of work. I would come up with ideas like jars and flowers, instruct on the form, and have assistants copy them. Friends like Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons don’t even do the final touches; their assistants just produce them factory-style, but I at least did the final touches myself. The prosecutors, lawyers, and judges seem not to understand art."

Perhaps because of that, he wrote a book about contemporary art while going through the lawsuit. Titled "This Damn Contemporary Art," it was published last July. He also published a book in 2009 titled "Contemporary Art Even Modern People Can't Understand" through Hangilsa. "I wrote that book too difficultly. I thought I should write it again more simply."

He compared the five years of litigation to exile. "Adults often write many books during exile. I wrote two books during my exile." The other book to be published soon is about the poet Yi Sang.

He stated that he will continue painting in the future. "What I like is painting. I was the school art representative since elementary school and the art club president in high school. I have been painting all along, so I will keep painting." He also added, "If you pay attention to others' words, you can't achieve great things."

Jo Young-nam described himself as a contemporary art enthusiast and an amateur painter. However, through the five years of litigation, he said, "I think the state raised me as a painter with a story."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.