BUSAN – Art Busan, the second largest art fair in South Korea, hit yet another record-breaking sales figure this year, attracting established collectors and younger generations of collectors. South Korea’s thriving art market turned its focus to the southwestern port city over the past few days, as Art Busan 2022 kicked off Thursday with a VIP opening session and ran through Sunday. “As of Sunday morning, we are expecting to see around 60 billion won ($50 million) in sale

Arts & Design May 15, 2022

BUSAN -- South Korea’s thriving art market has turned its focus to the southwest, as Art Busan 2022 held VIP opening sessions on Thursday and Friday, attracting people from across the country. “It seems the collecting culture is maturing,” said an official from Gallery Hyundai. “I saw people hesitating before choosing works last year, but now it seems many collectors know what they want.” At the entrance to the booth of the gallery -- which is one of the oldest

Arts & Design May 13, 2022

Artist Yang Soon-yeal‘s two sculptures called “Mother Ottogi” have been donated to the Embassy of Ukraine in Seoul, as a wish for peace and an expression of respect to motherhood in war-torn Ukraine. The newly created works, funded by D.K.KIM Foundation, show "indomitable and fearless" mothers in Korea and Ukraine, according to the artist who has explored motherhood, which she believes to be a fundamental value of humanity. “I heard about a Ukraine mother

Arts & Design May 10, 2022

Art Busan, one of South Korea’s major art fairs, will kick off on Thursday with its VVIP opening featuring conversations with leading art professionals and exhibitions of works from world-renowned artists. The art fair will run through Sunday at the Bexco Exhibition Center in Busan. The four-day event will include works of 133 galleries in 21 countries including Gray -- a gallery based in Chicago and New York that represents David Hockney, Alex Katz and Jaume Plensa -- and is among the

Arts & Design May 9, 2022

“Digital Era NFT Art 101,“ an exhibition that aims to bring emerging nonfungible token projects to the public, is being held through May 29 at Gangdong Arts Center in Seoul. Some 70 artists are participating in the exhibition, alongside conferences and educational programs on NFT art that are being held. The NFT art exhibition is co-organized by Gangdong Arts Center, which is run by the Gangdong Cultural Foundation, and ArtToken, a Seoul-based digital art platform. The show spans

Arts & Design May 8, 2022

Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival will be held in person this summer as the country takes steps to return to normalcy after more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rock festival will be held from Aug. 5 to 7, with performances from some 50 musicians and collectives from home and abroad at Songdo Moonlight Festival Park in Incheon. While the music festival mainly covers rock and electronic music, musicians who perform other genres such as alternative pop bands, indie bands and K-pop

Performance May 5, 2022

One of the most influential artists today, German artist Hito Steyerl transcends boundaries – as a visual artist, filmmaker, writer and philosopher. The artist questions where humans fit in an increasingly threatening world, where ever-evolving digital technology and capitalism has expanded to cryptocurrency. She is also a writer who has published academic journals and books such as “Duty Free Art -- Art in the Age of Planetary Civil Wars” and “The Wretched of the Scree

Arts & Design May 4, 2022

VENICE, Italy -- Park Seo-bo -- the pioneer of Korean abstract art, also known as the master of dansaekhwa -- has unveiled a new Ecriture painting in Venice, Italy. The painting, which took nearly three years to complete, is the result of the 92-year-old artist’s ceaseless devotion to his art. The 2.6-meter-wide painting, titled “Ecriture No 190512-21,” features pastel colors in his early pencil Ecriture style. Each gap between blocks of pencil shading seems like a breathing

Arts & Design May 2, 2022

The 14th Gwangju Biennale, taking place from April 7 to July 9 in Gwangju, will be held under the theme of “Soft and weak like water” as a metaphor for art that permeates deep into individuals, letting us embrace and understand the complexities of the world. The country’s largest biennale will be curated by Lee Sook-kyung, senior curator of International Art at Tate Modern, who will examine the so-called “Gwangju Spirit” -- an expression that connotes the city&r

Arts & Design April 29, 2022

Artist Kim Ki-ra is part of a generation of glass artists in South Korea to have pursued glass art over the past 40 years. The exhibition “The Stairs into My Memory” at Gallery Sklo in central Seoul showcases 30 new glass works inspired by homes. “Glass is a two-faced material. It can last long like a phoenix, but it is easily broken to pieces once it is hit by an impact. Glass is transparent, but it can be obscure,” Kim told The Korea Herald on Wednesday. With

Arts & Design April 29, 2022

When late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and his family donated the late tycoon’s collection last April to the country’s national museums, the art circle was surprised at the unprecedented donation of art in Korea. Included among the approximately 23,000 donated works are national treasures and rarely seen Korean artworks. To mark the first anniversary of the donation, the two national museums -- The National Museum of Korea and The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Kore

Arts & Design April 27, 2022

VENICE, Italy -- The sound of a heartbeat reverberates inside a dark room where a large hanji sculpture sits. Sitting near the sculpture, you will notice that heartbeat is irregular, leading you to wonder if your own heart is healthy. Chun Kwang-young has stubbornly pursued his art with hanji over the past 30 years. His perseverance as an artist is being recognized at a collateral exhibition of the 59th Venice Biennale titled “Chun Kwang Young: Times Reimagined” at Palazzo Contari

Arts & Design April 27, 2022

VENICE, Italy -- Taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has become a turning point for many people, the 59th edition of Venice Biennale feels special, forcing us to think differently about life and things that we have taken for granted. This year’s international art exhibition, titled “The Milk of Dreams,” was curated by Cecilia Alemani and features works by 213 artists from 58 countries. The artists’ new works are presented at the biennale’s two main ven

Arts & Design April 25, 2022

VENICE, Italy – Coinciding with the Venice Biennale 2022, a retrospective of Korean contemporary artist Ha Chong-hyun is on display at Palazzetto Tito, a historical palace located in Dorsoduro, southeastern Venice. The exhibit includes rarely-seen early paintings with creative experimentation from the renowned 86-year-old artist. The retrospective is a collateral event of the 59th Venice Biennale and is held jointly by La Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, the Seoul-based Kukje Gallery and

Arts & Design April 25, 2022

VENICE, Italy -- As the 59th Venice Biennale kicked off Wednesday, 80 national pavilions unveiled their shows at the Giardini, a waterfront park located on the eastern edge of Venice, bringing art that resonates with the world today. The opening of the international art exhibition, which was delayed a year due to the pandemic, drew art-craving crowds waiting in long lines to enter the park. Entering the Giardini, one may notice a huge change at the 59th edition of the art exhibition -- an e

Arts & Design April 21, 2022