'Black Rubber Shoes Without Black Rubber Shoes'... Memorial Exhibition for Late Writer Lee Woo-young Held

Held from the 3rd to 10th at Bucheon Motgeurin Art Museum
9 Cartoonists Including Yang Jaehyun and Yang Youngsoon Participate

A memorial exhibition for the late Lee Woo-young, the creator of 'Gomjeong Gomu-shin,' who passed away last year, will be held.

Exhibition work by artist Yang Jae-hyun in memory of the late artist Lee Woo-young
[Photo by Lee Woo-young Artist Incident Countermeasures Committee]

On the 3rd, the Lee Woo-young Artist Incident Countermeasure Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Countermeasure Committee) announced that the memorial exhibition for the artist, titled 'Gomjeong Gomu-shin without Gomjeong Gomu-shin,' will be held at the Motgeurin Art Museum in Wonmi-gu, Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.

The exhibition features nine artists, including Yang Jae-hyun, creator of the comic 'Yulhyeol Gangho,' Yang Young-soon of 'Denma,' Hong Bichira of 'Jungjung Trauma Center: Golden Hour,' Kim Dong-hoon of 'Veritas,' Seok Jeong-hyun, Lee Ri-geon, Lee Woo-jin, Seo Jae-ui, and Lee Hye-gang.

However, the exhibition venue did not use characters from 'Gomjeong Gomu-shin' to emphasize that ongoing legal disputes over the copyright of 'Gomjeong Gomu-shin' are still in progress and that using the characters is currently impossible. The Countermeasure Committee explained that this is why the exhibition was titled 'Gomjeong Gomu-shin without Gomjeong Gomu-shin.'

A memorial work by artist Yang Young-soon.
[Photo by Lee Woo-young, Artist Incident Countermeasures Committee]

Kim Dong-hoon, chairman of the Countermeasure Committee, said, "We pondered whether the absence of 'Gomjeong Gomu-shin' could paradoxically highlight 'Gomjeong Gomu-shin' more strongly," adding, "The goal of this exhibition is to realize in reality the contradictory situation where the normal can only be expressed through absence."

The artist had been engaged in a copyright dispute with Hyeongseol & Co. for over three years and passed away on March 11 last year. Since then, there has been an outcry against unfair contracts, leading to discussions on system reforms. However, the bereaved family is still continuing the lawsuit against Hyeongseol & Co., and works or businesses using the characters are currently impossible.

Some of the memorial works unveiled in this exhibition will be given originality as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and traded in the art market. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the bereaved family, and another portion will be paid as fair compensation to the creators.

The exhibition runs until the 10th.

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