Beccy Kennedy muses on an unnoticed exhibition at the Korean Cultural Centre: Korean Folk Painting on White Porcelain : Kim So Sun (30 January – 28 March 2008) There is another exhibition on at the new Korean Cultural Centre at the moment and it doesn’t involve vociferous video installations by trans-cultural 20th century big wigs. … [Read More]
Category: Exhibition reviews and comment (page 20)
A visit to the Whanki Museum (환기 미술관)
The Korea Tourist Office website advises us that Kim Hwan-gi (1913-1974) (known internationally as Kim Whanki — and he signs his paintings just plain “Whanki”) “was Korea’s top artist of modernism”. It is therefore frustrating that when you go into the Tourist Information Offices in Insadong no-one has heard of him, still less of the … [Read More]
Two flower painters at I-MYU
FORGET ME NOT: Works by Yeon Soo Ha and Bon-A Koo 1 February — 2 March 2008, I-MYU Gallery, 23 Charlotte Road EC2A 3PB Tuesday-Saturday 12-6pm or by appointment The work of Ha Yeonsoo and Koo Bona currently on show at I-MYU both have nature as their subject, but almost could not be further apart … [Read More]
We look forward to lunchtime
An assessment of “Good Morning, Mr Paik Nam June” Korean Cultural Centre, UK, 1 Feb – 2 Mar, Mon-Fri 9:30 – 5:30 It must be a very attractive prospect to be offered the job of curating a prestigious exhibition at the high-profile launch of a cultural centre. Having a blank canvas to work on certainly … [Read More]
Choi Young-rim at the Deoksu palace
In the grounds of the Deoksugung in downtown Seoul is an outpost of the National Museum of Contemporary Art. Maybe your average sightseer interested in palace architecture is not interested in popping in to see some paintings. But the exhibition currently showing is well worth a visit. The exhibition showcases two artists — one Japanese, … [Read More]
Toy Stories at the Korea Society
Having looked in on the New York Korean Cultural Center last time I paid a visit to visit my co-workers at Head Office, I though that this time I’d use my lunch break to visit the competition: the Korea Society. I’ve always been a little bit puzzled as to why there should be two competing … [Read More]
From East to East: Time Space Extension
Arcadia A group exhibition with Korean and British artists: Dae Hun Kwon, Victoria Hall and Jin Kim 22 Novemeber 2007 – 12 January 2008 I-MYU Projects, 23 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PB Review by Beccy Kennedy Globalisation theory uses the term “time-space compression”1 to elucidate the concept of a new world without distinct nations, where … [Read More]
Hanbok by Lee Rhee-Za
Hanbok by Lee Rhee-Za: an exhibition in the seminar rooms of the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore SW7 2EU. Review by Peter Corbishley In fact this is three, or perhaps, at least at the opening event, three and a half, exhibitions rolled into one. The first was a display of copies of garments typically … [Read More]
A Biennale footnote
As an appendix to my other two posts on Korean involvement in the 2007 Venice Biennale it is worth noting two other London Korean links. Firstly, in an interesting Anglo-Korean-US partnership, London gallery Haunch of Venison and Seoul’s Kukje Gallery (plus New York’s James Cohan Gallery) united to bring video artist Bill Viola’s work Ocean … [Read More]
The Minimalist Fringe: Lee Ufan’s Biennale collateral show
Lee Ufan: Resonance Palazzo Palumbo Fossati Collateral Event in the 52nd Venice Biennale, 10 June – 21 November 2007 The Venice Biennale “Collateral Events” programme (Fringe, to you and me) is crammed with free exhibitions funded by generous sponsors. For example, while Tracy Emin flew the flag for Britain in the official British pavilion, there … [Read More]
Pseudo-scientist inventing reality: a visit to Lee Hyung-koo’s work at the Venice Biennale 2007
Lee Hyungkoo: The Homo Species Korean Pavillion, 52nd Venice Biennale, 10 June – 21 November 2007 In a Biennale dominated by the theme of war, AIDS, destruction and desolation, it was comforting to find some of the country pavillions conforming to national stereotypes. The French pavillion dissected a love letter written by a rather callous … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: To the furthest verge
I-MYU’s new gallery space was launched last week with a show by two Korean and one Korean-American artist. The gallery itself is situated in the slightly unfashionable north-east fringes of the City. Unfashionable at least from the perspective of us City types, but if your eyes stray slightly northwards on the map from I-MYU’s street … [Read More]
Moon jars old and new
There were moon jars a-plenty at the British Museum on Saturday: old and new, whole and smashed, real and fake and, as is the nature of these objects, none of them perfectly spherical. In pride of place in Room 3, just as you enter the museum, is one of the prized items in the British … [Read More]
Paekho’s architectural art on show at the DPRK Embassy
I happened to arrive at the DPRK embassy at the tail end of the afternoon, after the reception which welcomed numerous dignitaries to the exhibition of work produced by the Korea Paekho Trading Corporation. I therefore had the works to myself: it was just me, Pak Chang Sop (People’s Artist and president of the corporation), … [Read More]
Rags in the Wind – some photos
Here are some photos from Rags in the Wind – a group show in the Graz Botanical gardens, on now. It’s featured here because it includes the work of London-based, Korean-born artist Francesca Cho. Her “Floating Soul 1” is below: View a slideshow of the complete set here. The set includes a couple of shots … [Read More]
Jung at Heart – a review of the Korean exhibition Eo Ulim
Beccy Kennedy reviews an exhibition of Korean artists in Finchley, North London, September 2007, and interviews two of the artists. Work by Jung-mi Bae, Chul-won Kwak and Sang-yoon Yoon. [Read More]