The contemporary Korean art exhibition The Dialogue With Nature touring internationally is now in Nepal. Viewers have been thronging the show that opened on 20 June after delays. Korean paintings come from a traditional background that draws on the precision of Chinese calligraphic paintings. The paintings on show display, through their modern media, the influence traditional Korean painting. Lyric Scenery by Lee Suk-Ju seems, at first glance, as if it is the product of traditional technique, with the most minute detail painted. But it isn't.

The artist is helped by printing technology to retain the verisimilitude of traditional paintings. A shirt used to frame the view of a train chugging along and the smoke from the train floating up in the distance is a print, cut out and pasted, with touches of acrylic applied to make it appear drawn. The same can be said of a painting by Ji Seok-Cheol, The Story of Nonexistence.

The paintings of artists like Park Hang-Rul, Kim Young-Chul, Kim Kyong-In are realistic, but hardly hyper-realistic as a critic in the catalogue suggests. Kim Kyong-In naturescapes in muted colors are soothing and bear an uncanny resemblance to the work of Nepali artist Sarita Dangol.

There are other, more abstract paintings including impressive pieces by Kim Jong-Hak and Suk Rai-Hi. Kim Jong-Hak's Weed (mixed media) black over unevenly white painted panel, evokes tactile sensory perception. Suk Rai-Hai's Nature done predominantly in blue is a pure visual delight. A touch or two of smoke gray and green are applied on blue picture plane, perhaps, to break the monotony of blue monochrome and to create the depth through which you are keep looking into an eternal distance.

The Korean artists have used a myriad of media-colored paper, very textured canvas, acrylic bars, metal granules, panel, etc. But the use of an interesting is not the only thing that makes a work of art interesting. The medium used must be subservient to the theme of a painting. Nepali painters tend to focus too much on medium, but in the case of this show they need to keep in mind that the Korean artists have used their many media as a means of expressing their emotion and driving home their point, rather than as an end in themselves.

The bottom line on the show: The stylistic differences of the artists are clear in the exhibition, and this suggests that care has been taken to give us a show that represents different facets of Korean contemporary art. But the show disappoints by not providing insight into the socio-cultural situation the art was created in.