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Artist Choi Sun wins inaugural Lee Seung-teak Art Award

Published: 15 Dec. 2025, 17:37 Updated: 16 Dec. 2025, 18:40

LIM JEONG-WON
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Participants of the Lee Seung-teak Arts Award, including artist Lee Seung-teak, third from left in the front row, pose for a photo during the award ceremony at a venue in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Dec. 13. [UNBOUND ART FOUNDATION]

Artist Choi Sun has been named the first recipient of the Lee Seung-teak Art Award, a new prize created by the Unbound Art Foundation to honor artists who embody the experimental spirit of Lee Seung-teak, the foundation said.

The foundation presented the award in Yeonnam-dong, Mapo District, Western Seoul, on Saturday. The prize recognizes artists who continue Lee's legacy in Korean avant-garde and conceptual art and was established this year after the foundation launched in December 2024.

The award honors one artist whose practice reflects Lee’s “nonsculpture” and “nonmaterial” approaches, which he developed over a 70-year career spanning sculpture, performance art and photography.

Lee challenged conventional sculpting by using everyday materials including clay, plastic and glass, as well as immaterial forces such as wind, fire and smoke, the foundation said. His work has been exhibited at and collected by institutions including New York's Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim and Tate Modern.

Choi, the winner of the inaugural award, was born in 1973 and trained in painting at Hongik University. He held his first exhibit at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago in 2003 and has since held solo and group shows in Korea, the United States and France, including exhibitions at SongEun ArtSpace in Seoul, the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York and Galerie Dohyang Lee in Paris.

The selection committee said Choi’s work resonates with Lee’s experimental ethos by interrogating material boundaries and expanding sculptural traditions within a contemporary framework.

The awards ceremony drew figures from the arts, academia and sciences, including Lee and KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung.

“The Lee Seung-teak Art Award is not only a recognition of artistic achievement but also a platform for ongoing research, exhibitions and publications aimed at advancing discourse on Korean experimental art,” the foundation’s awards organizers said.

The Unbound Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting experimental artistic practices and fostering international engagement with Korean contemporary art.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]