By Honorary Reporter Safae Lagdani from Italy 

Photo = Safae Lagdani

ARCOI is an association in Italy that represents Korean artists there in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in Rome. The association hosts annual exhibitions throughout Italy and this year, it held one in Florence from Oct. 17 to 29.

The following are excerpts of a Sept. 24 interview with Moon Sun-Hee, who is both an artist and ARCOI's advertising manager.

What is ARCOI?
ARCOI is an association founded in 2015 by the KCC in Rome at a time when Korea started to gain recognition abroad for its culture and traditions. As Italy is the cultural and artistic center of Europe, it was the right place to open the organization.
When we started, we were only a few and from very different places. But more artists started to join the association and now, more collaboration is possible with new artistic genres. We're trying to promote Korea's artistic vision not only in Italy but also throughout the world. Hopefully we can eventually be part of the Korean Pavilion of the annual Venice Biennale representing our country.

(From left to right) Sculptor Kim Jae-kyeong, KCC in Rome Director Oh Choong-suk and painter Moon Sun-hee pose for a photo at the 2019 KoreArt exhibition of ARCOI in the Italian capital.

How would you describe the artists of ARCOI?
We all came from different backgrounds. As for me, I majored in architecture in Brazil and later moved to Italy, but others studied in either Italy or elsewhere in Europe. What's important, however, is that we still retain Korean culture and include this little piece to our work, making it more versatile. For example, some of our artists use Hanji (traditional paper) with an avant-garde key.

What about your personal work?
After gaining much experience in art, I now specialize in portraits. I love them since I always want to convey what's beyond the person whom I'm going to paint. I always ask him or her tons of questions to bring out more than just the simple image of a person.

My ultimate goal is to change the artistic vision of the individual. We live in an artistic world where well-known artists are predominantly male. They differentiate feminine and masculine figures from mostly a male perspective. So I painted a set of male characters from different backgrounds from a female perspective.

Artist Moon Sun-hee stands next to four of her portraits.

Through my art, I always try to be different from the conventional. With the film "Parasite," the Korean entertainment industry provided a wake-up call in highlighting mistreatment and harassment in modern society. ARCOI artists want to join this movement and help people know more about the dark side of not only our field but that of society in general. 

enny0611@korea.kr


*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.