2018.9.13 Museums & Galleries
Seoul National University Museum of Art, Gwanak District
To Sunday: The exhibition features works by eight Korean artists of different generations who studied art in the United States and reflected on the impacts or experiences they went through while living there in works that are diverse in style and medium.
The exhibition celebrates the 60th anniversary of an exchange exhibition between Seoul National University and the University of Minnesota in 1957-58.
The artists on display range from abstract painter Chun Sung-woo (1934-2018), who went to the United States in the 1950s, to Kyungwoo Han, 39, who studied in the country in the 2000s and is well known for installation and video works that play with perspectives and optical illusions.
Admission is 3,000 won ($2.70) for adults. Go to Seoul National University Station, line No. 2, exit 3, and take bus Nos. 5511 or 5513.
(02) 880-9504, www.snumoa.org
DEAR MY WEDDING DRESS
Seoul Museum, Jongno District
To Sunday: Rather than just putting on a display of beautiful dresses and fancy wedding ceremonies, this exhibition highlights the many perspectives people have when it comes to the institution of marriage.
The exhibition is divided into two parts. First, “The Stories of 12 Brides” in which each of the 12 sections revolves around a fictional bride and her story with contemporary artworks.
And second, “Show Must Go On,” a retrospective of Korea’s first male fashion designer, Andre Kim (1935-2010).
Admission is 11,000 won ($9.75) for adults and includes admission to Seokpajeong, the summer residence of King Gojong’s father, which is located behind the museum.
Take buses No. 1020, 1711, 7016, 7018, 7022 or 7212 to the Jahamun Tunnel stop.
(02) 395-0100, www.seoulmuseum.org
Insa Art Center, Jongno District
To Monday: This exhibition features 50 paintings by eight important contemporary artists from Myanmar.
The participating artists are Min Wae Aung, San Minn, Lu Min, Tin Win, Aung Myint, Moat Thone, Moe Nyo amd Tin Htay Aung. They present figurative paintings that symbolically depict the traditions of Myanmar or satire contemporary society in the country.
It is hosted by Hansae Yes24 Foundation, a Korean cultural foundation that has held Korea-ASEAN exchange programs, and is curated by famed Korean art critic Sim Sang-yong.
Admission is free. Go to Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 6 and walk for five minutes.
(02) 3779-0900
NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE: WORKS FROM THE MASUDA COLLECTION
Hangaram Art Museum in the Seoul Arts Center, Seocho District
To Sept. 25: The large-scale retrospective of Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), a French artist famous for a series of boldly colorful, half-abstract sculptures of plump women called “Nana,” features 127 works including sculptures, paintings, illustrated letters and furniture designs. They are from Japan’s Masuda Collection founded by Yoko Masuda, a fan and patron of de Saint Phalle.
The exhibition helps viewers reconstruct de Saint Phalle’s dramatic life with her works arranged in chronological order, as well as showing the friendship between the two.
Admission is 14,000 won ($12.41) for adults. To get to the Seoul Arts Center, get off at Nambu Bus Terminal Station, line No. 3, exit 4-2 or 5.
(02) 580-1300, www.sacticket.co.kr
YOO YOUNGKUK: COLORS FROM NATURE
Kukje Gallery K2 and K3 spaces
To Oct. 7: Yoo Youngkuk (1916-2002) is regarded as one of the most important pioneers in Korean abstract art along with Kim Whanki. This solo exhibition features 31 pieces of Yoo’s paintings that span his entire oeuvre. The paintings are characterized by rich primary colors bearing light and geometric shapes reminiscent of nature, in particular mountains and the sun rising or sinking beyond the mountains.
For details, visit www.kukjegallery.com or call (02) 735-8449.
Gallery Hyundai, Jongno District
To Oct. 14: Lee Kang-so, 75, is famous for his abstract paintings and almost-abstract paintings of ducks floating on water. However, he initially shocked the Korean art world with experimental performances and installations in the early 1970s. This solo exhibition focuses on these his works.
It features re-creations of these works including “Void” (1971), an installation of reeds covered with plaster, and “Disappearance” (1973), a makgeolli bar created inside the gallery by the artist that viewers can sit in. There is also a re-creation of a sensational performance art piece “Untitled 75031,” which Lee first presented in the 1975 Paris Biennale. A live hen stayed in the gallery for a few days and was later returned to its farm. Now, the viewers will see only traces of the hen on plaster powder spread on the floor.
Admission is free. The gallery is closed on Monday. Go to Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1, and walk for 10 minutes.
(02) 2287-3500, www.galleryhyundai.com
Hakgojae Gallery, Jongno District
To Oct. 14: Yun Suknam, 79, often dubbed “the godmother of Korean feminist art,” is best known for colored wooden sculptures that depict her own mother and women in history who were belittled or forgotten.
She gained international fame for dealing with women’s stories from a feminist perspective in the still-patriarchal society of East Asia and for the unique forms of her works, which are partly flat and partly three-dimensional - in between paintings and sculptures.
But the artist herself isn’t satisfied with the medium that brought her fame and, in this solo show, presents self-portraits done in the Korean traditional color painting style, which she learned in her 70s. It also includes an installation of colored sculptures in Yun’s signature style, which depict the artist with her mother and sisters under the title “We Are a Matrilineal Family.”
There is also a spectacular installation titled “Pink Room V,” which symbolizes “the anxiety and nervousness” she went through when she was a housewife before she started painting around the age of 40.
Admission is free. Go to Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 2, and walk 10 minutes.
(02) 720-1524~6, www.hakgojae.com
MMCA Deoksugung, Jung District
To Oct. 14: What now stands as MMCA Deoksugung was built in 1938, as the nation’s first fine arts museum called “Yi Royal Family Museum of Art.” To celebrate the museum’s 20th year as the MMCA’s Deoksu Palace branch, and 80th year since the birth of the building, MMCA holds “Birth of the Modern Art Museum.”
The exhibition, taking place across five sections, features not only works by Korean modern masters but also archives about the history of the building itself through original blueprints from the year of the building’s construction.
Admission is 2,000 won ($1.77). City Hall Station, lines No. 1 and 2, exit 10.
(02) 2022-0600, www.mmca.go.kr
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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