So far I’ve probably spent seven hours over the course of five visits trying to figure out the massive installation in the Tate Modern by 37 year old Sung Hwan Kim (김성환). I haven’t succeeded yet, and indeed I’m not at all sure it’s possible fully to resolve the into a coherent whole the many … [Read More]
Category: Exhibition reviews and comment (page 14)
Kkokdu – a cortege’s colourful attendants
Accompanying the KCC’s exhibition of Korean funerary figures, Charlotte Horlyck gave a helpful lecture providing some historical background and context to these colourful wooden characters. The talk was particularly valuable as the introduction provided by the director of the Kkokdu Museum a few weeks previously had lacked much content. While generally admitting that not much … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Kim Beom’s School of Inversion
Kim Beom is known for his videos of very serious Korean TV newsreaders, their newscasts chopped into a thousand pieces and spliced back together word by word to create nonsense stories. Londoners were introduced to his work back in 2006 as part of the Asia House group show Through the Looking Glass and Untitled (News) … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Fragility and Francesca Cho’s creative process
Francesca Cho’s latest solo show is at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, a venue which is linked in my mind with Sunday afternoon film double bills. But on visiting Cho’s exhibition (several times – as it’s easily accessible on my walking route home) I find that it has a smart bar cum restaurant and a … [Read More]
Michael Karikis captures the other-wordly sound of the haenyo
Mikhail Karikis’s Sea Women project, installed in the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station for six weeks up to 7 July, comprised two separate but connected works. The less remarkable part was some video footage of the haenyo at work. In subject matter this was nothing that has not been seen before in other documentary films – … [Read More]
Yeondoo Jung in Irrepressible Seoul: Contemporary Korean Video Art
It was refreshing to have a drink while watching video art at the Hackney Picturehouse. Yeondoo Jung’s ‘Handmade memories’ in particular caught my eye. I saw it in an exhibition setting at a gallery space in South Korea but this time it became a different work. When I went to his exhibition in the gallery, … [Read More]
A little memory of Korea for your walls – lovely woodblock prints at Mokspace
With their current exhibition, Underneath the Gam Tree, MokSpace continues its recent form of putting on exhibitions of work which is both affordable and desirable. Hyun Jeung’s woodblock prints will remind you perhaps of William Morris or Charles Voysey: gingko, peony, persimmon, jasmine and apple (reflecting her childhood origins in Daegu) in delicate interweaving patterns. … [Read More]
South Bank workshop disappoints
Not sure we’ll be getting a write-up of Haegue Yang’s day at the South Bank. I got this from someone who was going to write it up: “Haegue’s workshop yesterday was so disappointing… I made two simple origami figures and knitting without anything related to Haegue’s work really. I don’t have anything to write about … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Dae Hun Kwon — Chalna, at Rachmaninoff’s Smith/Arnatt
When I entered the gallery from the busy street in Hackney I found another world where time just paused and all noise stopped. Several human figures were frozen still. The only warmth I could feel was from the sunlight coming through the opaque gallery windows. The rough, old, wooden floor added to the untouched and … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Park Seungmo — A Present Moment at HADA Contemporary, Vyner Street
Park Seungmo : A Present Moment at HADA CONTEMPORARY, Vyner Street A review by Eunjung Shin Vyner Street is one of London’s must-visit places for contemporary art and has recently added Korean contemporary gallery, HADA CONTEMPORARY to its list of galleries. (The quiet street was very different from the one I remebered from the first … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary 13: Jeon Hyuck-lim, Magician of Colours
Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, Wednesday 28 March 2012. It’s my last morning in Tongyeong, and like the previous two days, the air is crisp, the sky clear and the sea calm. I wish I could stay longer. There is an inviting jogging track, starting at the Chungmu Marina Resort, which takes you some of the way along the … [Read More]
Quiet Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden — an appreciation of the Chelsea gold medal-winner
It was the first decent day of the month. Although it had started grey and cold, the forecasters promised sun and heat, and they were spot on. Quite a good day then, after all the hard preparation by Hwang Jihae’s team, to be awarded a coveted Chelsea gold medal, for the second year runnning. Was … [Read More]
Shinwook Kim: Korean Folk Painting in Photography at Mokspace
The current exhibition at Mokspace, which runs till 28 May, is an interesting take on Korean folk painting, blending contemporary techniques and technology with traditional materials. Shinwook Kim’s theme is Photographic Images of Fish and Shellfish in Korean Classical Painting. He aims to recreate the traditional folk-painting genre of Eo Hae Do (어해도, 魚蟹圖) which … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Place Not Found – Korean Art Now, at the Smokehouse Gallery
By Kuo Chun Hsuan Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery in Hackney Wick presents Place Not Found: Korean Art Now until 3 June. The location inspired curator Eunjung Shin to put it together. It’s the closest art gallery overlooking Olympic Park. Like many of the artists, I had never been to this area before. ‘The gallery space inspired … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary 2: Suh Do-ho “Home within Home” at the Leeum
Seoul, Saturday 24 March 2012. The Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, a short walk from Hangangjin subway station (Line 6), is currently hosting what is claimed to be their first ever solo show there by a living Korean artist. Suh Do-ho has been a prominent international artist for over 10 years – since appearing for … [Read More]
2012 Travel Diary 1: Dansaekhwa – Korean Monochrome Painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do, Saturday 24 March 2012. Whenever I come to Seoul I always try to get to Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon to visit the National Museum of Contemporary Art. Even if there isn’t a particularly interesting special exhibition on (and that’s rare), their permanent collection is always worth a browse. This time, the special … [Read More]