On the basis of rapid economic growth after World War II, American art achieved eminence in world art through a new style called “abstract expressionism.” In this era, the mainstream of international art shifted to America. Many passionate American artists who confronted the restless contemporary art world(regime) with endless challenges were the driving force of this shift. With selected collections of representative artists from abstract expressionism, pop art to postmodernism, the exhibition highlights each phase of American art. To give a vivid picture of each phase, works of crafts and photography are also exhibited with the paintings.

<Made in America> represents both the glittering facet of american life which media and technology, deeply embedded in our lives, has accomplished through mass production and consumption, and the dark side of it hidden behind mass culture which is constantly reproduced and consumed.

Painting
Included here are works of Sam Francis, a representative artist of abstract expressionism who lead the significant transition in modern art, from the late 70’s and Robert Rauschenberg, who presented various visions of contemporary art with his explosive energy. Also included are the representative american pop artists who borrowed various aspects of popular images to their art subject such as Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and Tom Wesselmann and artists such as Jim Dine and Nancy Graves who were influenced by pop art and strong colors of expressionism as well. In this exhibition, one can grasp the general direction of american contemporary paintings through the works of Julian Schnabel, a representative artist of american postmodernism, who is widely known for his ‘plate painting’ and the large-scale paintings of David Salle whose works induce a discordance between images in dichotomized canvases.

Photography
Nan Goldin, an American female-photographer, chronicles her society through photographs. Her works honestly and daringly disclose the existence of the minority and the marginalized, with their desires deeply suppressed behind the splendor and exuberance of American society. She invites us to her personal life as by allowing a peak into her diary. On other occasions, she narrates the existence of underground sub-cultural symbols such as gays, lesbians, drug addicts and HIV positives, alienated from the fruits of industrialization in snapshots without embellishment or exaggeration. Sandy Skoglund, who sets up a realistic scene with surreal objets in vivid colors, takes photography as a rather ironical medium to express the visionary impression of reaching another world through the real world.

Glass
Sparkling like jewelries, Dale Chihuly’s glass works are made by his creative and unique technique, glass blowing. After his return from Italy, where he learned glass craft techniques, Chihuly deviated from the tradition of small-scale artcraft and strived to produce various shapes and strong color works, thus, expanding his works to environment and installation. Requiring immense patience in the production process, Toots Zynsky works in her unique way. She adjusts brightness and color tone while sensuously putting the numerous glass threads on a gypsum support, and flexibly curves the glass threads along the cast in hot kiln. Under the proper lighting, her layered glass fiber works that resemble exquisite works of tapestry create a tranquil silhouette as if it was illuminated from the inside.