Hong Seung-hye is an artist who continuously expands her artistic horizons. Twenty-six years after discovering the artistic potential of computer pixels, she has transcended to a new dimension in her craft, inviting others to explore the captivating world of her latest creations. Hong named the exhibition “Over the Layers II” at the Kukje Gallery, reminiscing about the song “Over the Rainbow” from the film “The Wizard of Oz.” The latest show is the second iter

Korean contemporary art master Park Seo-bo has revealed that he was recently diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, showing perseverance as a painter at the same time in saying he is full of passion and wants to focus on painting for the rest of his life. “I try to walk and exercise a lot. This is not to live longer, rather, to paint more. I have lived enough, but I still have things that I wish to paint. I want to spend this time more meaningfully,” Park wrote on social media on Th

A feast for the eyes Lovers of Jinro soju and its Jinro Toad mascots will descend onto the streets of Seoul’s bustling Gangnam neighborhood. Just a two-minute walk from Gangnam Station Exit No. 11, you can see the sky blue and pink Dookkeop Arcade pop-up store. Many people flock to distiller HiteJinro’s megasized iconic mascots -- blue and pink Jinro Toads -- at the store’s entrance. After a quick ID check to verify visitors are of the legal drinking age, guests can freely brow

Hwang Dal-sung, president of Keumsan Gallery, was reelected as president of the Galleries Association of Korea on Thursday, renewing his position for another two years, defeating rival candidate Do Hyung-teh, president of Gallery Hyundai, by only one vote, according to the association. The two-way election, conducted Thursday afternoon at the Westin Josun Seoul, turned out to be so competitive that Hwang barely maintained his position, earning 69 votes against Doh's 68. The association re

Artist Lee Hae-eun has produced a variety of bags and shoes using "hanji," traditional Korean paper made from mulberry bark. Delving into the world of traditional paper, she quickly learned how unique hanji is compared to paper from other Asian countries. “Hanji is durable, preservable and has good ventilation compared to ‘hwaji,’ Japanese mulberry paper or ‘seonji,’ Chinese mulberry paper, which have their own characteristics,” Lee said at a forum o

Soon after regaining its sovereignty following 35 years of Japanese colonial rule, Korea was faced with yet another tragedy – a war between the two Koreas in 1950. The war, which broke out as North Korea invaded the South, came to a halt with the Armistice Agreement signed on July 27, 1953. The cease-fire included a 238-kilometer-long military demarcation line with a 2-kilometer-wide buffer zone on each side along the entire length, known as the Demilitarized Zone. The DMZ remains intact,

Seoul-based gallery Barakat Contemporary will participate in Art Dubai 2023 next month, showing leading artists the gallery represents from home and abroad. The five-day event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which launches on March 1, will display works of art from more than 400 artists in 40 countries across four sections: Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba -- meaning "gateway" in Arabic -- and Digital. It is open to the public from March 3 to 5. Among the 72 galleries participating in the

Gallery Hyundai presents a solo exhibition of Korean painter Chung Zu-young, unveiling the artist’s new painting series inspired by mountains and meteorology. The artist had long been enamored by mountains, but now turns her eye higher to the sky. “Last summer the weather changed dramatically, and it was extremely hot and rainy. I saw a big storm cloud, or maybe a pillar of clouds after it stop raining. It just seemed like a symbolic huge storm cloud with a unique form. I wanted to

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea and Buk-Seoul Museum of Art have reopened their art libraries after renovating and expanding their facilities to invite museum-goers to stay and enjoy the reading spaces. MMCA Gwachon in Gyeonggi Province has run its art library since 1986 with over 6,000 books and archival sources. Resuming its operation on Feb. 13, the museum’s library now holds some 52,800 books and documents on art, with the aim of growing as a library special

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art has announced South Korean singer-songwriter Eric Nam will take the stage as the headline performer at the museum’s centennial celebration in May. The museum was established in 1923 with an initial collection by its founder Charles Lang Freer, of which the collection has grown to some 46,000 artworks. The museum became the first fine art museum to be part of a Smithsonian institution in Washington, DC in 1923. In celebration of the museu

Explore Seoul's vibe with immersive media What's your image of Seoul when you think of the city? A media art exhibition “Seoul Vibe” at Gallery Gwanghwa, located near Gwanghwamun Square, offers a new interactive and immersive experience of the city we know through digital media technology. Ten different sections of the exhibition shed new light on the image of Seoul. When you first enter the space, 12 zodiac animals on the screen will greet you. Scan the barcode of the ti

Christie’s and Seoul Auction will put up prominent Korean works for auction, unveiling them to the public during the preview session in February at the auctioneers’ spaces in Seoul. The British auctioneer will present a white porcelain moon jar from the 18th century Joseon era, owned by a Japanese collector. The porcelain is expected to sell for between $1 million to $2 million. A moon jar is known as the representative type of porcelain from the Joseon era, made from two separate pi

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London will present “Meet again The More, The Better,” an interactive display that walks visitors through how Korea-born video art pioneer Paik Nam-June created the giant video tower “The More, The Better." The interactive display will be offered at a drop-in event held from Wednesday to Friday at the museum as well as on the official website of the museum. The interactive artwork “Meet again The More, The Better” was created

What is interesting about art is that a piece can be interpreted in a multitude of different ways that depend on the viewer. Whistle, an emerging gallery in Yongsan, Seoul, has opened the show “Approximation,” presenting three Korean female artists -- sculptor Hwang Sue-yon, painter Kim Ji-pyeong and painter Yang Ja-zoo -- whose works provoke interesting ideas. “As viewers, we have our own sense of interpreting artworks, which never perfectly aligns with the artist’s idea

Korean contemporary art will be showcased at 10 overseas institutes in six countries, promoted by the Korea Foundation, including some in Europe and US that will present Korean contemporary art for the first time. The Guggenheim Museum in New York will shed light on South Korean experimental art from the 1960s to the 1970s in September in collaboration with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. Known as “silheom misul” in Korea, experimental art started to emer

The 14th Gwangju Biennale, scheduled to begin April 17 under the theme of "Soft and weak like water," will be joined by 79 artists from across the world. More than 40 works were commissioned for Asia's oldest contemporary art biennale. The 94-day biennale will take place at the Gwangju Biennale Exhibition Hall in Gwangju, the main exhibition space of the biennale, as well as at venues throughout the city including Gwangju National Museum, Horanggasy Artpolygon, Mugaksa and Artsp

Canal Projects, a nonprofit contemporary art institution in New York, has opened the show “Seung-Taek Lee: Things Unstable" to celebrate the pioneering South Korean avant-garde artist. Lee has been a representative figure in Korean avant-garde art since the 1960s, contributing to the introduction of conceptual art to the local art scene decades ago. The Canal Projects show presents 17 works by Lee, focusing on the artist’s signature concepts of “non-material,” &ldquo

American artist Maya Lin wears many hats. She is an installation artist, sculptor, architect and sometimes an environmental activist. Visually beautiful, her works engage in dialogue and hold value in nature. Recent works by the globally acclaimed artist were unveiled at Pace Gallery in Seoul's “Nature Knows No Boundaries” exhibition, running through March 11, inviting viewers to reflect on the history of the Korean Peninsula as well as how climate change is eroding the globe. F

Korea Foundation and the ASEAN Foundation are inviting five contemporary Korean artists to take part in the inaugural "Konnect ASEAN – Chiang Mai Print Residency for Korean artists," which will take place in northern Thailand's Chiang Mai. The monthlong program that will start in July is to provide access to print studios, public programs and other promotional activities for print artists while they work in the city. The residency program will promote collaboration and netwo

South Korea’s landmark illuminated billboard in southern Seoul will present “Youth” by acclaimed German artist Anne Imhof every day at 8:23 p.m. throughout the month, inspiring young people to hold out hope despite frustrating situations. The presentation is scheduled to kick off at 8:23 p.m. on Friday at Coex K-Pop Square in Gangnam, Seoul, which is the largest light-emitting diode billboard in the country. The work will also be shown at 8:23 p.m. in Hong Kong, London, Berlin,