Lee Kun-hee collection show goes on nationwide tour

Art from the Lee Kun-hee collection is scheduled to embark on a nationwide tour next month, the Culture Ministry said Monday. The traveling exhibition will make stops at national museums and art museums in major cities in the Jeolla, Gyeongsang and Chungcheong Provinces through 2024, starting with Gwangju in October. Regional museums will showcase exhibitions highlighting region-specific features, based on the previous exhibition “A Collector’s Invitation” that was held at the

Sept. 26, 2022

[Herald Interview] Busan Biennale artistic director believes in powerful impact of biennale

BUSAN -- When Kim Hae-ju was inaugurated as the artistic director of Busan Biennale, she set about conducting thorough research about the port city, which is also her hometown. She was attracted to the history of migration and how the city is being formed even to this day. “I wanted to stress the historic narrative of how the port city has evolved to be open to migrants. It is not confined to international migration but also includes Koreans, particularly during the Korean War and industr

Sept. 25, 2022

[Weekender] Unseen sides of Busan shown at Busan Biennale 2022

BUSAN -- When you think of Busan, what comes to mind? While many would think of beaches in the port city, only a few would think of the hillside roads that connect villages and people from its surrounding regions. Sambok Road, a mountainside road in Choryang village that overlooks coastal areas, is one the venues of the Busan Biennale 2022. “I think what really defines Busan is this kind of winding mountainside road which is found across the city and little-known to people outside of Busan

Sept. 24, 2022

Park Dae-sung's ink-and-wash paintings on show in US

An overseas exhibition on Korea’s ink-and-wash paintings is set to highlight the dramatic yet tranquil power that exists in the medium of ink. “Park Dae-sung: Ink Reimagined” is scheduled to open at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, from Saturday to March 19, 2023. A total of 23 ink-and-wash painting and calligraphy pieces will be on display, many of which are being shown for the first time in the US. The contemporary Korean ink-and-wash ar

Sept. 22, 2022

Herald Artday, Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation promote young artists

Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation and Herald Artday are hosting “Discoveries 2022,” an exhibition introducing 15 emerging artists, at Summit Gallery in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. The exhibition shows some 60 works by five artists based in Gyeonggi Province who have been selected by Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation and 10 artists chosen by Herald Artday, a subsidiary of Herald Corp. The five young artists based in Gyeonggi Province are Jung Eun-bin, Jeong Joo-hee, Jo Jung-eun, Choi Jeong-s

Sept. 21, 2022

[Herald Interview] Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, see Seoul as another art hub in Asia

  The inaugural Frieze Seoul swept through the local art world just as Seoul was beginning to get attention in the global art world. Now, whether Seoul has a potential to become Asia’s art hub remains to be seen. The world’s two leading galleries -- Hauser ＆ Wirth and Gagosian -- shared their views on the art market here in recent interviews with The Korea Herald when they were in Seoul in early September. 'Asia will continue to be an engine for the art market' Founded by Ame

Sept. 19, 2022

[Visual History of Korea] 'Sehando,' painting by a literati

Evergreen, pine and cypress trees symbolize unyielding principles and faithful devotion in Korean culture. Korea's most famous painting of pine and cypress trees is named Sehando, which literally means "Age old freeze painting." It is designated as Korea's National Treasure No. 180. Ironically Sehando was painted not by a painter but rather by a seonbi named Kim Jeonng-hui (1786 - 1856) during the Joseon Kingdom period. Seonbi were the intellectual elite of Korea. Kim Jeonng-

Sept. 17, 2022

Paik Nam-june’s 'The More, The Better' open to public after long hiatus

Korea-born video art pioneer Paik Nam-june’s masterpiece, “The More, The Better” -- an 18.6-meter-tall video tower -- was unveiled on Thursday after completing a three-year restoration. The reincarnation of the artist’s largest work is celebrated with the archive exhibition held by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. The national museum celebrated the reoperation of “The More, The Better,” on Thursday at the museum’s Gwacheon venu

Sept. 17, 2022

[Herald Design Forum] Architect Vincent Callebaut seeks symbiosis between humans, nature

Paris-based Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has pushed the boundaries of architecture as an ecological architect. He has advocated eco-responsible architecture and taking inspiration from all living things, employing shapes and structures found in ecosystems, also known as biomimicry. “Dealing with ecological and social issues is not an option in an architectural project. This is the basis of our professional commitment. Our role is to imagine eco-responsible lifestyles and then to de

Sept. 14, 2022

[Feature] ‘Frieze storm’ shakes up Korean art market

Frieze Seoul was a storm. The inaugural event was not just about the art fair; it brought a new culture to the city, creating a platform for talking about art. Parties and exhibitions at galleries and museums in Seoul‘s art districts were full of people late into the night. “It has been a fabulous week. I visited a lot of parties and events that took place alongside Frieze Seoul and got to meet many collectors there. It has been kind of an exclusive culture to talk about collectin

Sept. 8, 2022

LACMA to hold first-ever exhibition of Korean modern art in US

Works of modern art from Korea have traveled to Los Angeles, where they will be shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in an exhibition titled “The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art.” The exhibition shedding light on the development of Korea’s modern art from 1897 to 1965 opens Sunday and runs through Feb. 19, 2023. It is the first show focusing on the history of Korea's modern art to held in a museum in the West. Bringing together some 130 artworks by 8

Sept. 8, 2022

Frieze Seoul, Kiaf Seoul see success at first joint fair

The inaugural Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul together attracted more than 70,000 visitors from home and abroad. Frieze Seoul took place from Friday to Monday at Coex southern Seoul while Kiaf Seoul, also at Coex, ran through Tuesday, bringing together some 350 galleries from across the world. While the two fairs did not disclose the sales record, the transactions from the two fairs will reportedly raise the size of the country’s art market to over one trillion won this year. “We used

Sept. 7, 2022

[Herald Design Forum 2022] Alfredo Brillembourg envisions Seoul as ‘endless city’

  The recent record-breaking downpour in Gangnam, which is generally recognized as a wealthy neighborhood, led to flooded roads and paralyzed urban infrastructure and brought attention to Seoul’s “banjiha” basement apartments. Alfredo Brillembourg, a New York-based architect who founded Urban-Think Tank (U-TT), an architecture design firm, in 1998, shared his views on Seoul’s urban design and sustainability. “The banjiha units … would be defined as &lsqu

Sept. 7, 2022

[Herald Interview] 'We bring Korean art to another level':President of Christie’s Asia Pacific

When Korean contemporary artist Kim Whan-ki’s masterpiece “05-IV-71#200 (Universe)” fetched 13.2 billion won ($9.6 million) as a highlight of the Christie’s autumn auction season in 2019, it became the highest-ever price for a Korean artwork sold at an auction house. The record remains unbeaten. The record sale has attracted attention to the late artist from home and abroad. Kim is a pioneer of Korean abstract paintings that feature lines and dots with colors reminisce

Sept. 7, 2022

Lacquerware exhibition dazzles Paris

An exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris will shed light on traditional Korean mother-of-pearl arts and lacquerware. “Najeon, the Korean Mother of Pearl Artworks -- Meeting with the Timeless Shine,” which opened Monday, focuses on artistry and the history of Korean lacquer craftsmanship. Commonly called “najeonchilgi,” the handicrafts are a type of traditional Korean lacquerware or woodwork inlaid with mother-of-pearl. A total of 63 pieces are on display, includi

Sept. 5, 2022

[Herald Interview] Pinault Collection, forward-looking, finds Korean artists impressive

The Pinault Collection, French billionaire Francois Pinault’s collection of contemporary art, holds more than 10,000 works of art by the world’s established artists. The internationally influential art entity, founded in 1999, runs three museums in Europe. “When it comes to the ultimate goal of collecting art, for Francois Pinault, it is really to share. As an entrepreneur, he always goes further, and he is curious about the younger generation,” said Caroline Bourgeois,

Sept. 4, 2022

[From the Scene] Frieze, Kiaf bring local, international art scenes together in Seoul

As 2 p.m. neared, people stood in a line wrapping down the hall on Friday at Coex in Seoul to enter the inaugural Frieze Seoul, with great anticipation for which works would be brought to the first art fair by Frieze in Asia and how its collaboration with the local art fair would turn out over the four-day event. The first edition of Frieze Seoul kicked off at the same time as Kiaf Seoul, a local art fair held since 2002, for its VIP opening. Their first collaboration has attracted some 350 ga

Sept. 2, 2022

[From the Scene] Global galleries light up Hannam-dong celebrating Frieze Seoul

Ahead of the inaugural Frieze Seoul, Hannam-dong in northern Seoul -- an art cluster for international galleries, popularly known as a “hip neighborhood” among young generation -- was full of energy on Thursday night with art lovers from home and abroad who flocked to the town to enjoy the eve of the art fair as part of “Hannam Night.” Galleries stayed late open welcoming guests to showcase exhibitions by artists they represent with music and cocktails; some of galleries

Sept. 2, 2022

[Korean Artists of Note] Artist Kim Sung-hwan's layered works expand organically

   This is the last in a six-part series highlighting the next generation of Korean artists active in the international art scene.-- Ed. Clicking through artist Kim Sung-hwan’s website is like searching through an archive of materials that seem somehow relevant to each other, only their connections are not quite apparent. Each click yields yet another interesting material -- a shot of a paragraph from a book, a black-and-white photo that captures a historical moment, the arti

Sept. 2, 2022

[Well-curated] Feast your eyes on art around town

Commemorating the inaugural Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul that kicks off on Friday, the capital is in a festive mood with a flood of art events such as exhibitions, artist talks and parties well into the night. Sept. 1 to 11 has been designated as the week of art, naming it “Dive into Korean Art,” coinciding with Frieze and Kiaf Seoul. Two art clusters in Seoul, Samcheong and Hannam neighborhoods in northern Seoul, are must-visits this weekend if you are a fan of art. Of course, there

Sept. 2, 2022