Yeol Society to present Korean beauty at ornament exhibition in Sept

Yeol Korean Heritage Preservation Society, a private organization founded to promote Korean beauty and cultural heritage, will host its first exhibition of the year, presenting the beauty of Korean craft art from 12 promising artists. The exhibition, “Ornament,” will be held from Sept. 1 to 28 at Yeol Bukchonga in central Seoul, showcasing a variety of ornaments and scarves that feature Korean traditional beauty from nine craft artists and three textile artists. The artists includ

Aug. 23, 2020

[Photo News] Exhibition offers artists’ view of pandemic

The Daegu Culture & Arts Center in Dalseo, Daegu, is hosting an exhibition titled “Pandemic & Daegu.” The event kicked off Wednesday and will run until Aug. 30. The exhibition presents a range of mask-inspired artworks created by members of the Daegu Contemporary Artists Association and many foreign artists, including eight from France. (Photos: Yonhap) By Lee Sae-byul (nstelle@heraldcorp.com)

Aug. 22, 2020

Seoul Auction collaborates with Artsy as pandemic jeopardizes HK auctions

Seoul Auction is holding an online auction in conjunction with Artsy, a global art sale platform, featuring artworks by Korean masters as well as international artists, such as Damien Hirst and KAWS. South Korea’s largest auction firm is running a preview until Sept. 1 at the Seoul Auction Gangnam Center. The “Artsy x Seoul Auction: Splash! Splash!” will show around 80 art pieces by artists from 11 countries. The total value of the pieces estimated at around $780,000. It

Aug. 22, 2020

[Herald Interview] Osgemeos invites visitors to their dream, ‘You Are My Guest’

Meaning “The Twins” in Portuguese, Osgemeos is a Brazilian artist duo and brothers, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, whose graffiti works are internationally renowned. Having started out as graffiti artists, their art world of fantasies and dreams now encompasses paintings, video art and sculptures. At the pair’s first solo exhibition in Korea, “Osgemeos: You Are My Guest,” the artist duo invites visitors to their world dream. Upon entering the exhibition hall, &ld

Aug. 17, 2020

[67th Anniversary Special] Pandemic changes paradigm for museums, galleries

If you are an art lover, you might have been overwhelmed by the recent flood of online content that museums and galleries have posted on their websites or social media platforms. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, almost all museums were forced to close temporarily. Thus began their efforts to enhance online content, offering virtual exhibitions, online streaming services and online access to material from their archives about their collection and research. “Museums, museum profes

Aug. 16, 2020

Asia Culture Center prepares to light up the night with 5-month exhibition

The Asia Culture Center, an international arts and cultural exchange organization based in Gwangju, announced Friday that it will be hosting a multimedia art project titled the Hall of Night Light, designed to illuminate the night sky through a range of light shows and interactive art installations from August 15 to December 31. Throughout the event, the center will transform into a colorful playground packed full of interactive multimedia art pieces, and feature dazzling light shows which w

Aug. 14, 2020

D’strict expands into art industry with collective art unit

Design company d’strict, which gained global attention in May with its immersive video art installation “Wave” at Coex K-pop Square, has launched a media artist unit “a-strict,” and is showcasing its first exhibition at Kukje Gallery, a commercial gallery in central Seoul. The commercial design company’s a’strict is a loose group of artistic creators from both inside and outside the company. The members are freely formed based on an art project, said

Aug. 14, 2020

Choi Kwang-ho shows New York highlights from 30 years ago

Photographer Choi Kwang-ho’s solo exhibition brings you back to New York 30 years ago through more than 400 of his photographs. The ongoing exhibition at Gallery Ryugaheon in central Seoul -- a space dedicated solely to documentary photography -- showcases a variety of peoples’ lives in New York between 1988 and 1994, when the city was much rougher than it is now. Choi, 65, remembers those five years in New York as a passionate and precious time for him, living as a young and fea

Aug. 11, 2020

Amorepacific Museum of Art unveils its antique art collection for first time

The Amorepacific Museum of Art -- a museum run by Korea’s cosmetics giant Amorepacific Group -- has unveiled its collection of antique art for the first time since its opening in 2018. The exhibition, “APMA, Chapter Two,” showcases a total of 1,500 artworks spanning from paintings, folding screens, ceramics, ornaments and clothing to wooden furniture from the prehistoric era to the modern times. The exhibition aims to shed light on the beauty of Korean traditional art throug

Aug. 10, 2020

[Herald Interview] Emographic artist Huh Hwe-tae moves on to ‘emosculpture’

The fragrance of Indian ink and old mulberry paper fills the studio of emographic artist Huh Hwe-tae in central Seoul. In the corner of his studio, sculptural works that he has been pursuing in recent years are laid aside. In the mid and late 2000s, Huh attracted global attention for his “emography” – a portmanteau of emotion and calligraphy. The term was coined by Ryu Byoung-hak -- an art critic and independent curator based in Seoul and Germany who also directed the Busa

Aug. 5, 2020

Geometric abstraction pioneer remembered 30 years after his death

When South Korea was in political turmoil in the 1960s, after the Korean War and during the early days of the democracy movement, painter Lee Seung-jio (1941-1990) was at the center of the country’s avant-garde art scene. He introduced geometric abstraction painting with his “Nucleus” series, which he worked on for more than 20 years. The “Nucleus” paintings -- which looked like arrangements of pipes and were first showcased in 1967 -- came as a shock to Korea&rs

Aug. 3, 2020

[Herald Interview] Wild flowers the love of 94-year-old painter

Painter Shin Kum-rye is attracted by wild flowers -- blooms that persist despite a hostile environment. Of them, thistles are her favorite. “The leaves of thistles, they look quite defiant, which is really attractive to me. I feel like painting when I see this type of flowers,” Shin told The Korea Herald on Tuesday at Whanki Museum. The 94-year-old artist, who is based in Seoul, is holding a solo exhibition, “The Spirit of Painting” at the museum in central Seoul, s

July 30, 2020

MMCA Seoul hosts film screening to remember Korean War

In remembrance of the Korean War that resulted in the killing of several million civilians and the division of the Korean Peninsula, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea will screen films about the Korean War to mark the 70th anniversary this year at the Seoul venue in Jongno, central Seoul. The “Unflattening Screening Series” will begin on Wednesday and run through Sept. 20, with 20 films being screened from Wednesdays to Sundays at MMCA Film and Video, the t

July 28, 2020

Western chinaware used in Joseon royal court on show

  The National Palace Museum of Korea on Wednesday opens an exhibition titled “New Era of The Royal Ceramics - Embracing the Western-Style Porcelain in the Joseon Royal Court,” which will run until Oct. 4. “This is an interesting exhibition where visitors can see how the conservative country challenged itself to become a modern country and also how it embraced ceramics in the process,” head of CHA Chung Jae-suk said during a press conference held at the National

July 28, 2020

Three solo contemporary art exhibitions at one place

Art Sonje Center -- a private art museum in Seoul recognized for experimental contemporary art exhibitions -- is showcasing three solo exhibitions by different artists. Bringing different displays to the museum, the three artists -- Camille Henrot, Lee Mi-re and Don Sun-pil -- guide visitors through diverse aspects of contemporary art. At the exhibition “Saturday, Tuesday,” French artist Henrot brings light to social issues in connection with the seven days of the week. “Tue

July 26, 2020

Kim Whan-ki as a poet who paints

Korean modern art master Kim Whan-ki is widely known at home and abroad for his signature dot paintings. But it is little known that the artist was actually a poet as well, having penned a number of poems as “Suhwa,” and that he sought poetic features in his paintings. “What I have felt since arriving here is a poetic spirit. Art, I think, should contain songs,” Kim wrote in his journal in January 1957 while staying in Paris. “There are powerful songs in the wor

July 25, 2020

2020 Museum Week in August to highlight diversity, inclusion

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that 2020 Museum Week will take place in August. Organized jointly with the Cultural Foundation of the National Museum of Korea, the week will feature diverse events highlighting diversity and inclusion. The week runs Aug. 14 to 23 and will involve online and offline events at 15 museums and art galleries. An exhibition and related educational programs at the Lee Art Museum in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, will focus on the five sens

July 25, 2020

Three teams win 2020 Korea Young Architect Award

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced five people from three teams as winners of the 2020 Korea Young Architect Award on Friday. The award program is led by the ministry and organized jointly by the Korea Architects Institute, Korean Institute of Architects and the Korean Institute of Female Architects. For this year, B.U.S Architecture (Woo Seung-jin, Park Ji-hyun and Cho Sung-hak), JIYO Architects (Kim Se-jin) and On Architect (Jung Woong-sik) received the awards out of the

July 24, 2020

[Eye Interview] With court battle over, singer-artist ready for limelight

“I am 75. I am past the age for singing. The state has now said that I should make a living painting,” says Cho Young-nam during an interview with The Korea Herald on July 13 at his apartment in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, overlooking the Han River and Yeongdong Bridge. He is speaking about the recent Supreme Court decision that found the singer and painter not guilty of fraud. In 2016, Cho was sued by a buyer who accused him of fraud. He was alleged to have hired another artist to pain

July 24, 2020

MMCA Gwacheon unveils its largest ever exhibition for kids

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea is showcasing the largest-ever exhibition for kids at its Gwacheon venue after reopening on Wednesday. The exhibition, “Driving into the Color,” is held at the circular gallery -- a 2,645 square-meter exhibition hall – and is dedicated exclusively to children. The exhibition consists of “The Exhibition Zone,” “Activity Zone,” and “Learning Zone.” At the exhibition zone, a total

July 22, 2020