From propaganda painter to refugee: pictures of a faceless person in Wolfratshausen

Created: 01/05/2023 11:46 am

By: Dominik Stallein

The art tower on Obermarkt in Wolfratshausen shows pictures of “Sun Mu”.

© Organizer

The Isar-Loisach cultural association shows works by "Sun Mu" in the art tower at Schwankl-Eck.

The anonymous North Korean addresses propaganda and politics.

Wolfratshausen – The Isar-Loisach cultural association shows international works in the art tower at Schwankl Eck in Wolfratshausen.

Pictures of Sun Mu, born in North Korea, are presented at the exhibition "Limitless".

Wolfratshausen: exhibition in the art tower with pictures by a North Korean artist

Sun Mu was trained in the North Korean army as a propaganda painter.

He later studied in the north at an art school, as the organizer explains in a press release.

During the severe famine of the 1990s, he fled to China and later to South Korea via Thailand and Laos.

Since then he has been living and working as a painter in Seoul.

There, in the capital of South Korea, he studied visual arts.

North Korea and South Korea: Propaganda and political images are the motifs of an exhibition in Wolfratshausen

In his work he deals intensively with the representation and presentation of both Korean states.

"In his paintings, he places propaganda and political images, which are created by the two different systems, in surprising relationships." That's why he's been censored several times in South Korea.

His paintings were even removed from the exhibition spaces of the 2008 Busan Biennale, a prestigious art exhibition, legitimized by the National Security Law.

You can read all the news from Wolfratshausen here.

"Sun Mu" remains anonymous - out of consideration for his family

Sun Mu is not the artist's real name.

He only appears publicly under this pseudonym and does not allow pictures of his face.

According to the Isar-Loisach cultural association, he does this out of consideration for his family, who still lives in North Korea.

His stage name means "without borders" - for him a symbol for the reunification of the two countries.

The exhibition "Grenzenlos" with pictures by Sun Mu in the art tower at Schwankl-Eck runs from January 7th to 29th.

It is always open on Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The grand opening is on Friday, January 6th.

It starts at 7 p.m.

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