SOAF @ COEX

The Seoul Open Art Fair is happening at Coex Mall in Gangnam this weekend. Perhaps to distinguish itself from the myriad of other art fairs, perhaps as an ever-too-predictable form of Korean celebrity worship, the fourth annual SOAF had significant floor/ wall space reserved for "celebrity" artists. That alone would seem good enough reason to skip (writing about) the event completely.

Upon entering the hall, a couple prints of Damien Hirst's diamond skulls glittered like McDonald's signs (they are the golden arches of the art world these days) and the rest of the fair exhibited many of the predictable heavy-hitters of the Korean contemporary art scene: Chun Kwangyoung, Kim Tschang (Chang)-Yeul. However, besides these more predictable staples (and the celeb-art), there is always something new to be discovered.


One such artist for me was Kim Hee Jin. His work is currently being exhibited at Keumsan Gallery in Paju (north of Seoul). A small work of his was selling for 600,000 won (US$450), believe it or not. A minuscule amount in this market, which (for some reason) has showed little signs of slowing.

The Great Hands at Gallery Hyundai

Sequins, staples, nails, wood, granite, Legos: these are just some of the materials that obsessive (and Hyundai would claim "great") hands have arranged into very interesting art. It's easily the most fun and accessible exhibition going. Where else will you find a pair of jeans stitched entirely out of Levi tags? 

Gone are all other art questions like What does it mean?, replaced instead  by a marvel of technique. Tom Stoppard wrote, "Imagination without skill gives us contemporary art." The exact opposite seems to be true sometimes in Korea. While some of "The Great Hands" artists seem to lack imagination (ie. a glass-bead rendition of James Dean), there is no dearth of skill. In fact, it is the same single-minded and unyielding work ethic that has driven the Korean economy for the last 20 years. And it's great to see it manifest in more creative ways. 

Some of the artists are already quite well-known. Chun Kwangyoung's lunar landscapes made from Korean mulberry paper seem to be everywhere, for instance. One work varies very little from another from what I've witnessed. I would say Yoon Jongseok's acrylic dots of folded pajamas are pretty predictable too. Maybe an exhibition of just one of these artists would lose its charm fairly quickly. Credit the curators at Gallery Hyundai for combining an eclectic group and creating quite a show. 

Hong Ji Yeun at Sun Gallery

Wandering through Kawashima Hideaki

Tokyo-based artist Kawashima Hideaki possesses quite the pedigree, having studied with Neo-Pop icon Nara Yoshitomo and exhibited in New York with Takashi Murakami. Walking through Kawashima's Wandering exhibition at Kukje Gallery in Insadong, however, one senses something missing. While Kawakshima employs the Manga and animation influences of his forebears, the pop and counter-cultural references that a friend once said, "Make a Westerner feel at home in Asia," are completely absent from Kawashima's work, replaced instead by more organic forms (like vegetables and deep sea creatures).

After dulling to the exhibit's array of colors and the slightly varied contexts for Kawashima's decapitated little-girl-heads, one can survey any room at Kukje and notice one thing: eyes. Everything else seems to blur into the background. Kawashima's large, expressive sets of eyes contrast the pale faces of his subjects and their abyss-like surroundings.

If you would like these eyes on your own wall... say, imposed onto a white egg (below), it will cost you 13 million won (US $10,000). And that's Kawashima's smallest canvas (33.3 x 33.3cm)

If you'd prefer to just visit the gallery and leave with the memories, the exhibition continues through March 29th.

Yim Man-Hyeok at DOSI Gallery, Busan

While at the BEXCO Art Fair in Busan this weekend, I stopped by DOSI Gallery in the Gwangalli Beach neighborhood. An exhibition of Yim Man-Hyeok will be showing until April 10, 2009. If you are in the area at any point after, however, I would still recommend checking out the DOSI Gallery space. The arched doorways and stuccoed walls and ceilings give the impression that one is in a cave dwelling or mud hut. Although it's much darker than most exhibition spaces, the unique atmosphere enhances the viewing experience.  (The pictures can't quite do it justice.) Yim Man-Hyeok's work is also available for sale through Park Ryu Sook Gallery.

Busan Bexco Art Fair

The Korea Galleries Art Fair happened this weekend (March 19-23) at the BEXCO Convention Center in Busan. Here's the official website: http://www.seoulartfair.net/.

What impressed me most was the ample amount of wall space reserved for emerging artists. 5o artists under 35 were recommended by the participating galleries; these works were all priced under 2 million won (US $1,440), with some as low as 700,000 won (US $500), giving much needed exposure to the struggling artists while simultaneously making original art affordable to a larger audience.  

One standout among several was Park Sung-Soo, a 28-year-old who synthesizes global trends in contemporary art with Korean tradition. Park continues the work of 1980s ink revivalists with his innovative use of Korean ink on paper. Long time ink painter Song Soo-nam (1938-), once said that he sees the act of painting as the rhythm of human disposition confronting nature. At 130 x 162cm, Park's saturated Bear painting forces the viewer to confront nature and all her strange beauty and terror. The curious yet menacing stance of the bear combined with the ink drips evokes the work of British graffiti artist Banksy while the lichen-green colored fur has the concurrent effect of a harmless, rooted hedgerow sculpture. Park Sung-Soo's Bear sold on the first day of the fair for 2 million won (US $1,440). If you are interested in his work contact Seoshin Gallery. 

Pioneers of Oil: Ko Hui-Dong

"Western-style artists like Ko [Hui-dong]were scorned by the average person, who thought of Western art as some sort of trick. Ko relates the following anecdote: 'When I came back to this country, sometimes I would tie up my sketch box and go outside the city. All those who saw me thought I was selling taffy or cigarettes. Some friends argued with me for having spent all my money to go suffer in a foreign land [Japan], only to learn something disrespectable that looks like bitter medicine or shit'"

Kim, Yong-na from Modern And Contemporary Art in Korea