Visualizing Buddhism Today: The Works of Jeong Hwa Choi, Kimsooja, and Do Ho Suh

Abstract

Since Buddhism appeared around the fifth century BCE, it has established itself as a discipline that gives philosophical teachings to many people beyond religion. After the twentieth century, Buddhism has gone beyond being a representative ideology of the East and continues to be a social and cultural inspiration for many people worldwide. By focusing on the artworks of three Korean artists, Jeong Hwa Choi, Kimsooja, and Do Ho Suh, this study explores in detail how Buddhism inspires artists to visualize self-reflection and transnational identity and how traditional Buddhism contributes to the universalization, conceptualization, and communication of contemporary art. It also discusses how Buddhism is being reinterpreted and visualized by contemporary artists today, becoming a work of art for the public, not art for the few. Their artworks, inspired by Buddhism, show how contemporary art shows humanist, participatory, empathic, diverse, and global aspects and conveys multilayered messages.