Lee Young-chul to lead Korean Pavilion at upcoming Venice Biennale

Arts Council Korea on Tuesday announced that Lee Young-chul would serve as the artistic director of the Korean Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. Lee is currently an art professor at Kaywon University of Art and Design. Born in 1957, Lee became the inaugural director of the Nam June Paik Art Center in 2008 and the chief curator of the second Gwangju Biennale in 1996. Arko also announced that media artist Kim Yun-chul had been chosen to work on the Korean Pavilion’s theme for the up

Aug. 18, 2021

MMCA collaborates with regional museums for upcoming exhibits

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea will present exhibitions in collaboration with regional museums in Suwon, Jeongeup and Jeju Island to allow more people to appreciate the art to strengthen research with regional institutes. The exhibition “Before the Wind” will kick off Thursday at the Suwon Museum of Art in Gyeonggi Province. It will present social participatory art through 189 works by 41 artists who touch on themes dealing with conflict between the two

Aug. 18, 2021

Kwon Ji-an presents ‘Just a Cake – Piece of Hope’ at Saatchi Gallery

Kwon Ji-an -- an artist and K-pop musician who is better known as Solbi in South Korea -- is presenting her painting series “Just a Cake – Piece of Hope” at Focus Art Fair London 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The show opened Friday at the Saatchi Gallery and will travel to London’s Fold Gallery and Fitzrovia Gallery, running through Sept. 4. The international art fair was launched in 2019 by the Paris-based art agency HongLee Company to introduce emerging an

Aug. 15, 2021

[Herald Interview] DMZ reimagined as ‘ecotopia’ in new media art

A beautiful green landscape unfolds for three minutes at 8:21 p.m. every day on the country’s largest LED billboard, at Coex K-Pop Square in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. Whether they are waiting for a bus or walking down the street, people look up at the display and see the dense, lush forest appear in the city’s concrete jungle. The landscape is the Demilitarized Zone, a 250-kilometer strip of land that serves as a border between the two Koreas. The land has become an “ec

Aug. 15, 2021

Beauty of Korean craft to be presented at Milan Design Week 2021

The beauty of Korean craftsmanship will be showcased during the Milan Design Week 2021, the world’s largest design and craftwork fair, which will take place from Sept. 5 to 10 across Milan, Italy. The Korean exhibition will be held under the theme of “All About Attitude,” directed by Kang Jae-young, presenting 126 craftwork pieces by 21 Korean artisans. The craftwork will encompass those created with glass, metals, ceramics, wood, and Korean lacquer.  The theme explore

Aug. 11, 2021

National museum to livestream show featuring Lee Kun-hee’s art collection

The late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s art collection, now on display at the National Museum of Korea, will be the subject of a Naver TV livestream Thursday at 7 p.m. The museum decided to stream its exhibition “A Great Cultural Legacy: Masterpieces From the Bequest of the Late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee” because the pandemic situation in Seoul has made it difficult for people to visit in person over the past month. As soon as the exhibition opened July 21, the public s

Aug. 11, 2021

‘Holiday Memories,’ exhibition of works by Spanish photographer Yosigo, brings beaches to Seoul

In yet another summer of COVID-19, many people are longing for the beautiful sight of the ocean, trips to the beach and a chance to swim in the sea. The scenery that so many of us miss can be found in Seoul in the work of Spanish photographer Yosigo. The exhibition “Photographs by Yosigo: Holiday Memories” has become one of the most popular exhibitions in Seoul since it opened in June, having gone viral among young people who can’t go to the beach. The exhibition is so popula

Aug. 10, 2021

Art Center Nabi, Kansong Foundation launches heritage NFT project

Art Center Nabi has launched a project combining cultural heritage and NFTs -- “me.Duck” -- with the Kansong Art and Culture Foundation in efforts to expand NFTs to the cultural heritage realm. “We will initiate the NFT-based cultural project with an aim to preserve the value of cultural heritage and to show respect to Kansong Jeon Hyeong-pil, the founder of the Kansong Art and Culture Foundation,” the art center said in a press release. The Kansong Art and Culture Fo

Aug. 7, 2021

Three Paik Nam-june masterpieces to find new home in Ulsan

Three masterpieces by video art pioneer Paik Nam-june -- “Turtle,” “Sistine Chapel” and “Forest of Cage-Revolution of the Forest” -- will find a new home at the Ulsan Museum of Art in the southeastern port city. The three pieces will become part of the core collection at the museum, which is under construction and will open to the public in December. “The masterpieces are from different owners. They will be showcased at the museum’s inaugural e

Aug. 7, 2021

[Feature] ‘Just a piece of a masterpiece’ is a new trend

Jeong Han-gyo, a 29-year-old resident in Seoul, began to turn his eye to collecting art after making some money in stocks and cryptocurrency. As a novice collector with little knowledge of the art market and not enough money to buy masterpieces by renowned artists, he found an interesting way to purchase works of art -- a group purchase that would purportedly give him fractional ownership of a work. Over the past two months, Jeong has purchased some 15 works of art through fractional ownersh

Aug. 4, 2021

Japanese shadow painting master delivers hope, delight in Seoul

Fairy tale illustrations of shadow and light are on exhibition at “Fantasy of Light and Shadow” being held at the Hangaram Arts Center Museum in southern Seoul, offering visitors an extraordinary experience. This art genre, “Kage-e,” which literally means shadow painting in Japanese, was pioneered by Japanese artist Seiji Fujishiro, who began honing the craft since 1948. The exhibition is the Kage-e master’s largest solo exhibition in Seoul, introducing some 160

Aug. 3, 2021

Asia’s largest contemporary urban art fair to kick off in Seoul

Urban Break 2021 -- Asia’s largest art fair focused on contemporary urban art -- will kick off Thursday at Coex in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul showcasing a variety of urban artworks and programs that feature VR. Some 300 artists from around the world are presenting about 25,000 creations at this year’s annual fair. Following the VIP opening Wednesday, the event will open to the general public Thursday and run through Sunday. Participating artists include a New York-based doodle a

July 28, 2021

[Feature] 'Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall' to come, but details still unknown

When online reservations for the exhibitions of art donated by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee at the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea opened last week, the slots filled up quickly, reflecting the public’s keen interest in the single-largest art donation ever in Korea. The family of the late Lee donated more than 23,000 works of art in April that Lee had collected, most of them going to the National Museum of Korea and Na

July 28, 2021

Sculptor Kwon Jin-kyu’s works donated to SeMA

A large quantity of pioneering sculptor Kwon Jin-kyu’s artworks has been donated to the Seoul Museum of Art after the artist’s bereaved family had struggled for decades to find a place to house his sculptures. The donated 141 artworks consist of the 96 sculptures, 10 paintings, six drawings and 29 sketch books, as well as five artworks produced by Kwon’s wife, Kasai Tomo. Kwon’s family has founded Kwon Jin Kyu Commemoration Foundation to manage the artist’s work

July 23, 2021

Kansong Art and Culture Foundation to tokenize national treasure as NFT

Kansong Art and Culture Foundation plans to tokenize Hunminjeongeum Haerye, National Treasure No. 70, in an effort to raise funds to operate the foundation. If realized as an NFT, the book will become the first national treasure to be traded on a blockchain platform. The 33-page book from the Joseon era details the promulgation of Hangeul, the Korean writing system, and usages of the letters.   An NFT, or nonfungible token, is a unit of data on the blockchain that represents ownership

July 22, 2021

Late Samsung Chairman's vast art trove open for public view

Two national museums simultaneously kicked off exhibitions highlighting works from late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee's massive art collection Wednesday, allowing the public to take a peek at Korean masterpieces of various eras and formats. "A Great Cultural Legacy: Masterpieces from the Bequest of the Late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee" and "Lee Kun-hee Collection: Masterpieces of Korean Art," taking place respectively at the National Museum of Korea (NMK) and the Seoul galle

July 21, 2021

Gems of Korean art through the ages unveiled at highly anticipated exhibitions of Lee family donation

Some of the artworks from the collection of highly prized art donated by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee and his family in late April were unveiled to the press Tuesday in a special exhibition preview. A total of 135 masterpieces, including a number of National Treasures, are being shown in exhibitions at two state-run museums in Seoul from Wednesday. “A Great Cultural Legacy: Masterpieces from the Bequest of the Late Samsung Chairman Lee, Kun-hee” will be held at th

July 20, 2021

Masterpieces of Korean modern art on show at MMCA

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea is showcasing a total of 54 modern art masterpieces in its Gallery 1. The masterpieces by 34 artists were selected based on their significance to modern art, according to the museum. Among the 1,488 artworks donated to the MMCA, around 60 percent are Korean modern artworks. Although what constitutes as Korea’s modern art period still remains controversial, the exhibition focuses on modern artists who were born in the 1930s or ear

July 20, 2021

LEE KUN-HEE'S BEQUEST EXHIBITION

Members of the press look at the 19th century “Ten-panel Folding Screen with the Ten Longevity Symbols” during a press preview of the exhibition “A Great Cultural Legacy: Masterpieces from the Bequest of the Late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee” at the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

July 20, 2021

NMK exhibition shows creme de la creme of ‘Lee Kun-hee collection’

  The title “A Great Cultural Legacy: Masterpieces from the Bequest of the Late Samsung Chairman Lee, Kun-hee” is befitting of the massive trove on display at the National Museum of Korea which opens to the public Wednesday. The collection by the late business tycoon appears to show he had much appetite for amassing art as he had for growing his conglomerate group. “We selected items that have artistic and historic value for this exhibition,” NMK curator Lee So

July 20, 2021