2011.6.11 MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

HAM JIN

PKM Gallery, Yulgongno

To June 15: The solo show of the emerging artist Ham Jin (b. 1978) includes sculptures made of black clay as well as two-dimensional pieces.

The artist, who gained widespread recognition when he participated in the Korean Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005, is best known for tableaus composed of miniature figures barely a centimeter high. While his previous works had clearly articulated thematic contexts and were composed of characters suited to them, the new works in this exhibition intertwine forms and figures, evoking “the lines of Surrealist automatic drawing,” according to the gallery. The new works hover between figurative and abstract styles.

The gallery is open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and is closed on weekends.
Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1
(02) 734-9467, www.pkmgallery.com

FRANCOIS MORELLET

Gallery Hyundai, Sagan-dong

To June 26: This is a solo exhibition of French artist Francois Morellet, who uses geometric forms to create abstract, minimal works.

The title of the exhibition, “Senile Lines,” is a palindrome. For Morellet, the senility of lines represents the idea that his final lines are, in his own words, apparently no longer in line with his usual logic.

Morellet began using geometric shapes as part of his artwork in 1952; since then, the works have developed in form and structure.

In these works, Morellet exploits the contrast of two opposing components, the line and the stripe.

The general title of these works is “Strip-teasing,” simultaneously implying the removal of clothing and the teasing of the stripes in his pieces.

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays.
Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1
(02) 519-0800, www.galleryhyundai.com

KIM CHONG-HAK RETROSPECTIVE

National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, Makgye-dong

To June 26: This retrospective of artist Kim Chong-hak will show 90 landscape paintings by the artist, ranging from experimental works done in the ’50s to works about Mount Seorak from the late ’70s and more recent works.

Kim, who began working as an artist in the 1950s, is known as an artist who advocated for representational painting amidst the fever for abstract painting after the establishment of contemporary art in Korea.

For three decades since 1979, the artist has lived in a secluded part of Mount Seorak in order to capture the environment at its best.

The artist, inspired by the vitality of nature, paints subjects like flowers, grass, birds and butterflies.

Through his rapid, bold brushwork, he imbues the canvas with intrepid energy.

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Friday and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Seoul Grand Park Station, line No. 4, exit 4
(02) 2188-6000, www.moca.go.kr

DEFERRED JUDGEMENT

Artsonje Center, Sogyeok-dong

To July 31: This is a solo exhibition by Korean artist Back Seung-woo, who is known for contrasting reality and cyberspace through his work, in which photography is the main medium.

The artist does not offer answers but rather questions the elements that constitute a picture - whether in the form of a photograph, image or concept - and the way these elements are all brought together to portray the world.

The works, both recent and unpublished photographs, do not aim to capture the reality as it is. Rather, they capture the gap between the real and the imaginary and the visible and the invisible via modifications and reconstructions.

And in one project on view, the artist combines his photographic series “Utopia” into a single, large photograph that will be divided into 13 pieces and sent to 13 different countries, where it will be printed and assembled again.

Back received a master of arts in fine arts and theory from Middlesex University in 2005. The artist has participated in group exhibitions in both England and Seoul since 2000, and was nominated for the Prix Pictet Award in 2009.

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays.
Anguk Station, line No. 3, exit 1
(02) 733-8945, www.artsonje.org

*Information is culled from the galleries and other online sources.