South Korean art master Park Seo-bo confirmed that he would not allow his works to be produced as NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, stressing that digital art belongs to a new generation. Park made his stance known on social media Thursday amid growing attention to the digital art trend, saying people had asked him whether he was interested in tokenizing his works. Park’s paintings are highly popular in the market, and some of his 1.3-meter-by-1.6-meter works have sold for more than 400 mil

Arts & Design Nov. 12, 2021

Nearly all of the artworks bequeathed by the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee will be housed together at the “Lee Kun-hee Donation Hall,” which is to open in Songhyeon-dong, Seoul, in 2027. The announcement was made during a ceremony Wednesday to seal the agreement between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Seoul Metropolitan Government on building the new institution in Songhyeong-dong after considering two candidate sites in Seoul. Confusion about the i

Arts & Design Nov. 10, 2021

Kansong Art Museum is mulling opening the museum temporarily next year before the renovation of Bohwagak, the museum building, gets underway. The museum has been closed for seven years. The country’s first private museum, Bohwagak, as it was initially named, was founded in 1938 by Jeon Hyung-pil, a wealthy collector of Korean cultural artifacts during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule to prevent the national treasures from being removed from the country. The name of the museum was c

Arts & Design Nov. 9, 2021

The Ho-Am Art Museum in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, has returned with the new exhibition “Metallurgy: Great Wisdom” and its formal garden, Hee Won, in its full autumnal glory. The museum run by the Samsung Foundation of Culture was founded in 1982 to house traditional Korean art collected by Lee Byung-chull, founder of Samsung Group. Named for Lee’s pseudonym, Hoam, the museum boasts a garden by Korea’s first-generation landscape architect Jung Young-sun inspired by tr

Arts & Design Nov. 8, 2021

The winners of the Isang Yun Competition 2021 in the violin discipline were announced late Saturday after four finalists competed for the prizes at the Tongyeong Concert Hall in South Gyeongsang Province. The first prize went to Karisa Chiu from the US, who performed J. Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 77. The second and third prizes were awarded to Jeong Ju-eun and Kang Na-kyung from South Korea. Lim Dong-min received the Isang Yun Special Prize. The awardees were announced on the

Performance Nov. 7, 2021

Online fuss continues after a billboard intended to win the affections of Blackpink’s Jennie was erected near the artist’s agency, YG Entertainment, in Seoul. The ad was put up by Filipino businessman Christian Albert Gaza, who proclaims himself as Jennie’s No. 1 fan. Gaza had the two-panel ad -- with one side in English and the other in Korean -- installed atop a five-story building a few kilometers from the agency in Yongsan, Seoul. The billboard ad reads: “Kim Jennie

K-pop Nov. 7, 2021

It was around three years ago in Japan that Moon Dong-sun stumbled upon natural wine. He was blown away by the unique taste and colors. Upon returning to Korea, he drew up a plan to open a natural wine bar, introducing the new experience of wine to Seoulites. Early this year, Moon opened a natural wine bar in the trendy Hannam-dong in Seoul. Moon said that natural wine has rapidly become popular, and specialized bars have been emerging across the city. “The natural wine market is gr

Food Nov. 6, 2021

French architect Donique Perrault has been advocating for more important roles for architects over the past several years. As the general director of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021, he brought together 190 architects and artists from across the world under the theme of the “Crossroads, Building the Resilient City.” “In my opinion, many people consider architects less important today, while they demand engineers, landscape experts and environmentalists

Arts & Design Nov. 3, 2021

Korean abstract artist Choi Wook-kyung pioneered an abstract art of her own from the 1960s to the 1980s when female artists did not receive much attention in Korea. Traveling back and forth between Korea and the US, Choi established her own painting style without being involved in any of the art movements of the times. Born in 1940, Choi studied painting at Seoul National University and went to the US in 1963 in pursuit of expanding her art world.  The exhibition “Wook-kyung Cho

Arts & Design Nov. 1, 2021

Korean art collectors are turning their eyes to Daegu, a two-hour KTX trip from Seoul, for the upcoming Daegu Art Fair 2021 as local art fairs continue to ride the unexpected wave of popularity in the art market. Daegu Art Fair 2021, considered the third major art fair in the country along with KIAF Seoul and Art Busan, kicks off on Nov. 4 at Exco. Galleries Association of Daegu, who has hosted the fair since 2008, is jointly organizing this year’s edition with the Galleries Association

Arts & Design Oct. 30, 2021

The Gwangju International Art Fair 2021 opened Thursday featuring artists based in the city, including a metaverse exhibition, to help them promote artworks virtually and in person amid growing public interest in art. With 70 galleries from home and abroad taking part, the city’s major art fair will run until Sunday at the Kimdaejung Convention Center, showcasing works from 535 artists. With growing attention to the art market, the annual art fair is presenting special booths to intro

Arts & Design Oct. 30, 2021

Halloween is just around the corner. For anyone looking for a fun way to celebrate Halloween, a spooky art fair in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, offers art with a Halloween vibe. The fair welcomes visitors in Halloween costumes. The Halloween Art Market in Sinjang-dong, Pyeongtaek, a neighborhood near the Osan Air Base, has kicked off in three cultural spaces -- Hanchigak, Another Space 3 and Duchigak, near the Songtan Shopping Center. Some of the exhibition spaces will be turned into haunt

Culture Oct. 28, 2021

Ulsan Museum of Art will open early next year as the first major art museum in the eighth-largest city in South Korea. The museum will specialize in digital media art, encompassing the fast-evolving digital art genre. The museum, which is now in the final stage of construction, will open on Jan. 6 with five inaugural exhibitions. They include an exhibition of the museum’s permanent collection and the thematic exhibition “Post Nature.” Seventy artists from 14 countries will b

Arts & Design Oct. 27, 2021

Patrick Lee, executive director of Gallery Hyundai in Seoul, will step down from his post and direct the art fair Frieze Seoul starting in November, according to the gallery. Frieze Seoul will be held in early September 2022 at Coex in southern Seoul, alongside KIAF Seoul, South Korea’s largest international art fair. As director of Frieze Seoul, Lee will take charge of organizing the event. Seoul is the first Asian city to host a Frieze art fair. Lee, who previously led One and J. Ga

Arts & Design Oct. 27, 2021

Renaissance art flourished in 14th-century Florence on the back of powerful patrons, and art patronage by businesses continues to play a pivotal role in Italian art. The exhibition “We Love Art. Vision and Creativity Made in Italy” organized by the Italian Institute of Culture and the Embassy of Italy in Seoul on Wednesday, aims to show how businesses’ art patronage functions today. The exhibition of eight works by emerging Italian artists supported by the country’s cor

Arts & Design Oct. 25, 2021