2009. 11. 17 MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
GALLERY JINSUN, Palpan-dongTo Monday: “Industrial Starlight Series.”
Artist Lee Won-chul shows the most recent pieces in his “Starlight Series.”
The artist’s focus is on how modern society is based on the industrial wastelands that have been built in pursuit of human convenience.
The pieces present images of an industrial complex and combine both natural and unnatural elements. Lee does this by mixing the man-made lights of the factories with the natural lights of the stars.
Lee is one of the few artists selected for the 2009 Seoul Museum of Art’s program that funds exhibitions by emerging artists.
Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1
www.jinsunart.com
GALLERY HYUNDAI, Sagan-dong
To Dec. 6: “Chung Sang-hwa.”
Chung is one of Korea’s pioneers in abstract art and was very active in the Korean art scene in the 50s and 60s. During the 70s, he was known for his monochromatic art in Japan.
Chung follows a minimalist aesthetic in his work, with simple color schemes and small square mosaic patterns. The process he goes through to achieve this sense of simplicity is not that simple. Chung layers the canvas with one color in thicknesses of four millimeters (0.16 inch). Then he folds the canvas to make the checkered patterns that add texture to the surface. In between the squares, the artist fills the creases with other paint and this process is repeated several times.
This puts the artist into a meditative state, and he is able to “display and fill” the canvas in a continuous fashion. Chung tries to connect this with the everyday lives of modern people. This is why he feels no need to give titles to any of his works. Instead, the pieces are identified by the date on which they were finished.
Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1
www.galleryhyundai.com
GALLERY K.O.N.G., Palpan-dong
To Dec. 6: “Unstable Beauty.”
Artist Min Jung-yeon, who is based in Paris, has been called one of the blue-chip artists of Asia.
The exhibition focuses on the dilemmas people face and the emotions that arise as they confront the negativity of today’s capitalist society.
The piece “A walk II” portrays a man on a walk with his dog. While it seems that there are peaceful clouds in the sky, we gradually come to realize that it is actually air pollution coming from a nearby factory.
Min typically takes over three months to finish one piece, which allows her to bring out the details and originality of the scene she is trying to create. She has shown her work in Switzerland, Germany, the U.S. and France. She trained at Hongik University and L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts.
Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1
www.gallerykong.com
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, Sogyeok-dong
To Dec. 6: “Beginning of New Era.”
The National Museum of Contemporary Art has a new home in the former Defense Security Command headquarters, a?k?a. KIMUSA. To celebrate the big move, the museum filled the buildings with 300 artworks by 58 artists for its first exhibition.
Two-thirds of the works presented are by artists whose works are part of the museum’s permanent collection. These artists created new pieces by combining their existing works with other works in the museum’s permanent collection.
The KIMUSA site itself is part of the exhibition as well. It shows the remainders of the old military facility and its deep roots in Korea’s contemporary history which was sealed off to the public until now.
Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1
http://seoul.moca.go.kr
ANDY’S GALLERY, Cheongdam-dong
To Dec. 9: “Transmigration, IN-.”
Artist Namgoong Whan will have an exhibition at the newly opened Andy’s Gallery. The exhibition is titled “Transmigration, IN-.”
Namgoong is an abstract artist who has a very strong sense of style. Since graduating from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-arts de Paris, Namgoong has focused on the concept of the continuous wheel of life in Buddhism, the afterlife and the transportation of spirits, which has informed his “Transmigration” series over the last 10 years.
The most recent “Transmigration, IN-” series shows a different perspective than the previous “Transmigration, EX-“ pieces. While “Transmigration, EX-“ used black ink to show an energy field that was aggressively pushing the ink outward, “Transmigration, IN-“ does the opposite, showing a field that pushes the ink inward.
Also, in the piece “Chambre du Souffle ? Transmigration 2009,” the artist mixes ink, acrylic paint and fluorescent pigment, resulting in a piece that is transformed according to the brightness of the light.
Cheongdam Station, line No. 7, exit 9
www.andysgallery.com
Information is culled from the galleries and other online sources.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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