Let us, because this is about North Korea, immediately begin discussing the painting

Let us, because this is about North Korea, immediately begin discussing the painting 'Happiness'. This is to see one of the 140 works from April 3 at the exhibition 'The Kim Utopia har "in the Drents Museum in Assen. We, Western viewers see an impossibly sweet scene that still is most reminiscent of a picture from a poetry album. Girl is sleeping with a gift in her arms, smile on her lips, eyes closed carefree. Gift But North Korean viewers see anything else. Not that we can ask them that, but in their place is dr. Koen De Ceuster available. As a teacher Korea studies at the University of Leiden and connoisseur of Korean art, he is co-curator of the exhibition. "The North Koreans see a blessed child who has received a gift from the Great Leader. har Who else? That alone makes it worth to show it. She got that, so suggests the musical instrument that is on the table, after . an act for the leader and now she can not on its luck This teaches us again that we only have one parent who really cares for us. The Great Leader ". The Ceuster four times visited North Korea recognizes that this painting aesthetically is "no masterpiece, but adds directly to it that the only question is whether North Korean art purely aesthetic criteria assessed needs be, while specifically intended as an ideological medium. "What we see here, this heavenly state in pastel shades, is a utopia. And the audience knows that. Just as in socialist realism from the Soviet Union is the contradiction between reality har and image exactly where it is. The future is already manifest in reality, that is the message The same happens in North Korean films, and from the West calls that sometimes the question:. how is that working people can see that the reality is completely har different from what is on the screen? displayed? But the North Koreans know very well, there it is fiction. However, that fiction always reflects the ideology. har That is why I call it utopian realism. " Identity And who, except for the Great Leader, is the creator of "Happiness"? Who is the painter? The Ceuster consult the data, there is no further data and concludes that the artist is unknown. Not uncommon when it comes to North Korean art, and not surprising: the identity of the creator does not matter, har all that matters is the message. What we see above is not the expression of the individual artist; the individual artist is in fact no - his signature can be seen, literally or figuratively, but which is otherwise of no importance.
Westerners accustomed artists seen by definition as a creative individuals, can be quite confused when they go on a visit to Pyongyang in one of the art factories or studios, where hundreds of artists working on paintings, ink drawings, ceramics, carvings and complete statues not only for the North Korean har leaders, including foreign heads of state who like to see themselves immortalized - an important export product. Your reporter visited last fall with a number of European journalists the Mansudae art complex and saw among others har the painter Mun Jong Ung, working on a huge canvas: mountain landscape with waterfall. Between har Mun and foreign guests broke quickly from a confusion when asked what his work Zoal yielded. As a servant of the people will just pay Mun as every worker in North Korea, the market value of his paintings - tens of thousands of euros, said the Mansudae guide - has no meaning for his own wallet. har Mun, bearer of the high distinction "Artist of the People ', said to work for his country and for his leadership, and kept it in there. More he did not report about his artistic ethos. Stamp dealer The works in Assen shown - 100 paintings, 40 works on paper - not from Mansudae or one of the other studios, har but from across the country gathered together on behalf of two Dutch entrepreneurs, Willem van der Bijl and Ronald the Green. They knew each other from the stamp trade; Van der Bijl in 2011 would make the news as the "stamp dealer from Utrecht 'who caught fortnight sit in North Korea. From 2000, Van der Bijl and The Green worked together, but after the arrest of Van der Bijl in the past with doing business with North Korea, har and recently The Green his partner bought out, so that the whole collection har of North Korean art are now owned is. "I collect art, realistic art. Mondriaan I understand, and I can also appreciate har Apple, but the invention of conceptual art tell me anything. Such Damien Hirst people buy just because har of his name, as an investment. In the late nineties I Van der Bijl asked if he