Non-Koreans can Learn Much from Korean Culture

“Korean art and culture is so profound and beautiful that the rest of the world will benefit from learning about it.” That was my thought when I decided to start the Korean Art Society in 2008.

As a traveling musician, I had visited the museums and galleries, met the people, tasted the food, and enjoyed musical and theatrical performances in every country I visited on every continent. But Korea was where I fell in love, on my first visit in 1995. It was not a person I fell in love with; it was an entire country.

I was not expecting this. I thought I would simply enjoy my week-long stay and continue on to the next country. Beautiful art, fine food, and kind people existed in every nation where I traveled. I did not know that at the end of my first visit to Korea, I would be asking myself, “What was that I just experienced? Why did Korea give me a feeling like I have never had from any other country I have visited? Why do I miss it already and want to go back as soon as possible?”

So I did go back, on a two-week vacation just a couple months later. I was determined to understand this Korean-fever I had. I would satisfy the fever’s hunger with this second visit where all my questions would be answered. But at the end of those two weeks, my hunger had grown even stronger and the question even deeper: “What is unique about the culture and art of Korea that moves me so powerfully and compels me to keep learning more?” After thirty years and twenty visits to Korea, my pursuit of answers to this question still provides me with endless joy.

I wanted to share this joy. But there were only a few people in America who knew much about Korean art and culture, and no organization focused on improving that. So in 2008, I founded the Korean Art Society.

We started with guided group visits to museums in New York. We developed this to visiting the storage rooms of museums where we could view rarely-seen treasures. These events have expanded to museums across the country. We organize shows of Korean performing arts, poetry readings, and other events, including Korean cuisine tastings. And I have curated exhibitions of Korean art. We advise museums on their collections, and I have solicited donations of Korean art from private collectors to museums.

My most recent success with this was when a pair of our members donated the only known work by Ahn Jung-geun in the US (valued at $2 million) to the Brooklyn Museum just last week, after I had introduced them to the museum’s Asian art curator at an earlier event. They have now donated over 200 Korean objects to the museum.

I contacted the CEO of the US distribution company for the film about Ahn Jung-geun, Harbin, which opened in LA theaters on December 25^th and will open in theaters across the country on January 3^rd. I made the CEO of Well Go USA aware of the only Ahn Jung-geun work in the US at the Brooklyn Museum. She was excited to receive this news and enthusiastic about sharing it with her distribution company’s marketing department.

I hope this will be an example of how we can be creative in our efforts to promote Korean art and culture to the rest of the world. Because I am driven by this mission, I do not charge any money for Korean Art Society membership or events. Everything is free. I fund the society entirely myself. This is because I feel indebted to Korea for the fulfillment and to Koreans for the friendship. And it’s because I want others to enjoy having their souls touched by Korean art and culture.

Non-Koreans especially can gain much from an appreciation of Korean culture and art. Korean art is honest and not artificial. We can all learn from the bountiful sincerity in the art. Likewise, there is much to learn from the deep respect in the culture. And in sharing and discussing this, we all learn from each other.

I have completed a memoir, Inktown, that includes a chapter about Korea. My agent, Lara Love Hardin, and I are currently working on a book proposal to present to publishers. Ms. Hardin has written several New York Times bestsellers and was twice selected by Oprah for her book club. So I am confident she has the connections to get me a publisher who will help me tell the world about Korea. I am also co-producing a film largely based on my research for the book. The director of our film, Leslie Small, has directed several Kevin Hart films and television shows, and the screenwriter, Marcia McKenna, has won multiple Emmys.

Please email me (robert@koreanartsociety.com) for a free Korean Art Society membership and to tell me what you love about Korean art and culture. I look forward to sharing with you our mutual love of my adopted country, Korea. Thank you for so generously sharing Korea and all its amazing wonders with the world.

Columnist
Robert Turley