By Kayla Lee
 
The opening ceremony of the 26th World Peace Art Exhibition was held. The World Peace Art Exhibition (Chairman Lee Jon-young) opened with diversity and harmonious open values that are raising the status of "K-ART" around the world, which can be freely unfolded regardless of existing institutional, aesthetic, and artistic concepts.

 

The art exhibition, which marks its 26th anniversary this year, is a unique art event that can flexibly develop discourse on the environment, ecology, life, civilization, society, science, and ideas based on its unique environment. You can enjoy the entire prize-winning works of the 26th World Peace Art Exhibition.

 

 

Chairman's greetings;

 

Around the 26th World Peace Art Exhibition...

I would like to congratulate the artists who have participated in the dedicated event for promoting world peace, as well as the steering committee members and judges who have loved and participated in the World Peace Art Exhibition for the past 26 years.

 

The World Peace Art Exhibition, which we all participate in, can be regarded as a great asset to promote world peace anywhere and encourages people to actively participate in peace activities in the realm of life by participating in the exhibition of their own creative works.

Many NGOs have begun to praise the World Peace Art Exhibition. In addition, they began to encourage a significant number of young people to participate in these global peace events.

We should try to develop the World Peace Art Exhibition in each school in every country. As stated in the preface to UNESCO, "War begins in the human mind, so the defense of peace must be built in the human mind."
I also hold an annual event with the aim of introducing excellent artists through media groups and contributing to world peace and international cultural exchanges through culture and arts through many reports.

This year, we are preparing to hold a grand invitation exhibition for leaders of the World Peace Art Exhibition, which will be held at the Seoul Arts Center from Nov. 1 to Nov. 9.

Through the works of Korea's leading master artists and veteran artists who have cooperated and joined us for this competition, we would like to once again move forward with a sustainable step toward world peace centered on art.

Finally, I would like to thank all the artists who participated in the event and the management of the event once again.

 

Permission No. 370 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Organizing Committee of the World Peace Art Exhibition

Chairman Lee Jon-young

 

 

 

 

Congratulatory speech

 

How are you? Artists in Korea and around the world!

There have been many worries and concerns as the pandemic has depressed our art world.

Also, this summer seems to have been a year when Korea and the world suffered from abnormal weather such as heat and heavy rain.

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Chairman Lee Jon-young and his staff members for their efforts to hold the 26th World Peace Art Exhibition despite these difficulties.

The "World Peace Art Exhibition" began to promote our art culture to the world and to realize peaceful unification of the two Koreas and world peace through art.

In the future, the World Peace Art Exhibition, which is blowing a new wind into the "Center of the World K-Art," will provide opportunities for anyone to easily access to good works, strengthen the art ecosystem with the works of competent artists representing art, and develop exhibition programs with art lovers.

In particular, this year's "World Peace Art Exhibition" is expected to remain more meaningful than any other year due to the Ukrainian war and the ever-increasing conflict between the U.S. and China, and between the East and West camps.

This art exhibition will be a venue for the festival where not only the winners of the honor but also all the artists who participated will be honored for world peace, and everyone who participated will be the main characters.

I would like to thank all the artists who participated for their development and victory. As one of the artists, I am also happy to hold the World Peace Art Exhibition and I am honored to enjoy the festival.
Thank you.

Chairman of the Steering Committee of the World Peace Art Exhibition

Park Cheol-gyu

 

 

 

 

 

Opening speech

 

Holding the World Peace Art Exhibition of Korea, a cultural power...

I would like to express my sincere congratulations to the artists who prepared and submitted their artworks to the 26th World Peace Art Exhibition.

 

Once again, I would like to congratulate the artists who have discovered competent new artists with artistic creative skills for the development of the art world for 26 years and raised the status of a cultural prosperity country.

 

Human beings can only enjoy true happiness based on world peace, and the noble spirit and infinite possibilities given to humans should contribute to peace and welfare.

Human history has progressively developed for creation and prosperity through the wisdom and efforts of those who seek truth and good.

The World Peace Art Exhibition has been the foundation for the development of art culture in Korea and has discovered numerous winners for 26 years.

It can be said that spreading world peace through culture and the arts is a very effective means of achieving progress, stability and peace.

All participants in the World Peace Art Exhibition, which inspires everyone, should be congratulated, and we should regard them as great messengers of peace. They absolutely deserve our respect and appreciation. I think it is fortunate that more and more people are willing to participate in this large international event every year.
We're going to realize that everyone is a loser and no one is a winner in a war. On the other hand, in peace, everyone is a winner and no one is a loser. By appreciating art, we can find peace through diversity. By doing so, we can create a new world characterized by harmonious, progressive, and stable human relationships.

Finally, the artists who participated in this art exhibition should make efforts to actively promote international exchanges so that they can show their new capabilities on the world stage in the future.

President of the 26th World Peace Art Exhibition

Lee Jae-wha

 

 

 

Congratulatory speech

The World Peace Art Exhibition, a festival of artists from all over the world, is celebrating its 26th anniversary.
We live in an era where the power of culture becomes national power.

 

Culture is the source of protecting the nation and the people and the ultimate value that mankind aims for. In particular, cultural and artistic activities not only enrich human life, but also foster various perspectives on the world and breathe life into society. It has great power to change the world.

This year, the World Peace Art Exhibition will be divided into two parts and will be more fruitful.

I hope you will also pay a lot of attention and support to the invitation exhibition of leaders of the World Peace Art Exhibition to be held at the Hangaram Art Museum of the Seoul Arts Center in November.

Based on the unique environment of the World Peace Art Exhibition, which can be freely unfolded regardless of existing institutional, aesthetic, and artistic concepts, it is a unique art event that allows flexible discussions on environment, ecology, life, civilization, society, science, and thought.

The World Peace Art Exhibition, which will bring a new wave to the center of the world, will provide an opportunity for anyone to easily access to good works, strengthen the art ecosystem with the works of talented artists representing art, and hold exhibition programs to share the value of culture and art with art lovers.

I would like to thank the artists around the world for actively participating in this exhibition with fresh ideas from various materials this year, and Chairman Lee Jon-young and Chairman Park Cheol-gyu for creating a rich event.

We hope that great joy will be delivered to visitors who will share the sincerity and value of art together in this exhibition. Thank you.

Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the World Peace Art Exhibition
Jeon Deuk-joon

 

 

Judge’s review 

 

The 26th World Peace Art Exhibition in 2023 was conducted with strict evaluation by prestigious judges in each field.

Various genres of works were submitted from all over the world, making it difficult to compare and evaluate because the types of works were not limited to Western and Korean paintings, but were composed of contemporary art such as sculpture, craft, photography, folk painting, literary painting, and calligraphy.

 

The evaluation method of the submitted works was conducted in a fair way that prioritized respecting the individual evaluation of the judges and combined with the relative evaluation method.

 

Originally, the evaluation of artworks is the basis for understanding art along with various concepts of art creation and artist's originality, but due to the nature of the contest, it is not easy to strictly apply such standards.
The World Peace Art Exhibition is held to share artists' artistic talents and achievements from all over the world, and I think there is a representative art style that can reveal openness and dynamism.

 

The judges agreed to select "IRIS II" by Jung Ji-ah, who captivated the canvas with grandeur and the neatness of lyricism and color, for this year’s grand prize.

 

For grand prize by part, Artist Lee Sang-deok's "Relationship" in the Western painting concept, Chu Dae-sik's "Cover" in the non-figuratif part, and Kang Kyung-hee's "Senjangsaeng (the 10 traditional symbols of longevity)" in the folk painting part were selected.

judged works, along with artists from all over the world who submitted good works despite difficult conditions.

 

I hope that there will be more development and honor in the future as artists of all the exhibitors, and that the World Peace Art Exhibition will be further developed into a representative competition in Korea.

 

Chairman of the jury

Lee Yeon-sook