By UN Journal Kayla Lee

The 2025 Diplomatic and Reunification K-Folk Painting Contest, featuring works that reinterpret symbols and motifs from traditional folk paintings with modern colors and designs, was held at the Korea Art Museum in Insa-dong, Seoul, organized by the monthly K-Folk Painting and the Korea Masters Association. The exhibition is on display until March 17, and has attracted great interest and response due to the high quality of the works submitted.

The contest was organized under the theme of 'K-Folk Paintings, Coloring the Global Community' to showcase the beauty of traditional folk paintings to the world, and through this, to convey the great value of diplomacy and unification.

A total of 135 artists from all over the country submitted 285 works, showing various attempts to reinterpret the spirit of traditional folk paintings in a modern way.

Lee Jon-young, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Diplomatic and Reunification K-Folk Painting Contest, said, “K-Folk Painting is a new artistic genre that reinterprets traditional folk paintings with a modern sensibility. It plays an important role in creating future values of Korean culture through the harmony of tradition and modernity.”

Prof. Yoon Sung-kyung of Myongji University's Graduate School of Education and chair of the jury, said, “We conducted a fair and rigorous judgment based on creativity, workmanship, originality, and technical perfection. In particular, the works that inherited the form and technique of traditional folk paintings while reflecting a modern sense of color and composition stood out, and those that reinterpreted patented or traditional materials were also noteworthy.” However, 42 works by 30 artists did not meet the judging criteria and were unfortunately not selected.

The overall grand prize went to Artist Gong Jae-wan's Baeksubaekbokdo, a large-scale folding screen work, and the category winners were Yoo Seong-man's Chekgado, Kim Young-joo's Manbyeonghwajodo, Kim Eun-hwa's Goeseokmorando, Kim Jin's Hwajodo, Park Gyu-rim's Yeonhwado, and Lim Doo-ri's Bongwhangdo.

The overall grand prize winner received a cash prize of 3 million won and a certificate, and the grand prize winners in each category received a cash prize of 1 million won and a certificate.

Professor Lee Mi-hyung, head of the K-Folk Painting Research Center, who organized the contest, said, “This contest is more than just a competition, it is a harmonious blend of tradition and modernity, and it plays a big role in the inheritance and development of folk paintings. We will continue to spare no effort in research and support so that K-Folk paintings can shine more brightly in the world.”

The contest has become an important stepping stone for the modern succession and globalization of traditional folk paintings, and it is expected that K-folk paintings will become a representative art genre of Korea in the future.