Hong Ra-hee, the director of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, has been named the most influential figure in the Korean art circle, according to a survey.

The survey of 3,368 visitors to art museums, galleries and fairs was conducted by the Korea Art Price Appraise Association during last year.

According to the art evaluation agency, Hong was also voted as the most influential figure every year between 2005 and 2009. Hong’s museum attracted more than 260,000 visitors in 2012 with major exhibitions such as Suh Do-ho’s “Home within Home,” the Anish Kapoor exhibition and Art Spectrum.

Park Myong-ja of Gallery Hyundai ranked second after Hong, followed by Pyo Gallery director Pyo Mi-sun, who also serves as the chairperson of Galleries Association of Korea, director of Kukje Gallery Lee Hyun-suk and former chairman of Arts Council Korea Oh Gwang-su. 

The survey also selected the internationally acclaimed installation artist Suh Do-ho as the most important living artist that represents today’s Korean art. Suh attracted the largest number of visitors to Leeum where his solo exhibition was held last year. Suh is the youngest in the list of the great living artists by the survey. Other artists on the list include Lee U-fan came who came in second place, Chon Kyung-ja, Kim Chang-yeol and Kim Heung-su.

Leeum was chosen as the most popular museum that people wished to visit, followed by Hangaram Museum of Seoul Arts Center, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea Gwancheon Museum and Doeksugung Museum.

In the category of art galleries, Gallery Hyundai was selected as the most famous art gallery, followed by Kukje Gallery and Gana Art Gallery.

This year, renowned Korean artists are expected to show their works at internationally prestigious art events.

Installation artist Kim Sooja has been invited to hold a solo exhibition at the Korean Pavilion of Venice Biennale 2013 from June to November. Kim Gu-rim’s photography work is displayed at a group exhibition at Tate Modern in London until April 1 along with works by renowned artists including David Hockney, Jackson Pollock and Yayoi Kusama.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)