Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Gallery, artist seek healthy relations through exclusive contract
Artist Kim Yun-soo's works are featured on the online art platform Manifold run by the Korea Arts Management Service. Captured from Manifold
By Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
An ideal relationship between an artist and a gallery can be complementary when the artist provides quality works and the gallery promotes and sells them. However, it can easily go sour when there is miscommunication or one side does not fulfill their responsibility.
The Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS) is offering the “Grant for Artist Management” for three years with the aim of nurturing healthy gallery-artist relationships.
Keum Hye-won is the director of Gallery Soso, which she founded in Paju, Gyeonggi Province in 2007.
"My husband is an architect who worked under the late architect Kim Swoo-geun. As we saw exhibitions and performances at SPACE Love, a small theater inside the SPACE group building, we had this vague dream of establishing a cultural enterprise when we could afford it," Keum said in an interview with The Korea Times. "It was a passing remark, but became true eventually."
Though Gallery Soso has held exhibitions of renowned Korean artists who shaped Korea's contemporary art such as Choi Byung-so, Park Chan-kyong and Kim Taek-sang, the gallery signed exclusive contracts with artists for the first time through the KAMS' Grant for Artist Management.
"We have faith in the artists we work with and try to hold their exhibitions steadily, but this is the first time for us to have an exclusive contract thanks to the KAMS grant," Keum said. "Soso is not a very commercial gallery, sometimes even mistaken as an alternative exhibition space. So it was difficult for us to manage artists exclusively, but the funding from KAMS propelled us to strengthen our relationship with the artists."
Gallery Soso in Paju, Gyeonggi Province is introduced on the online art platform Manifold run by the Korea Arts Management Service. Captured from Manifold
As the contract runs for at least three years, Gallery Soso tried to find the right artists to work with. Currently, it represents three artists on exclusive contracts ― Lee Haiminsun, Song Min-gyu and Kim Yun-soo.
"The contract states each party's rights and obligations clearly. Abiding by the contract is the top priority in maintaining a good relationship," Keum said. "Kim Yun-soo is now one of the major artists represented by Gallery Soso. She creates PVC sculptures inspired by natural phenomenon such as the wind and waves.”
"Basically, we have to host exhibitions of exclusive artists regularly. I think that is the beginning of trust. Kim Yun-soo held her first exhibition with us in 2011, but we have known her since around 2007. We need time to get to know each other and the relationship led us to show her works at our gallery. Everything gets much easier based on mutual trust."
Kim said it is difficult for an artist to find the right place to show their work.
"It is beyond the width and depth of the space ― it is more about how the space connects inside and outside and how the artwork organically fits in with the space. Gallery Soso's space resonates with the movement of light and air," Kim said.
"My works use trivial materials such as paper and vinyl and the installations tend to be contemplative, so typical Korean commercial galleries would not respond to my works. However, Soso respected my way of working, and has shown distinct characteristics in their curation of artists and exhibitions."
Kim also picked trust as the most important element for the gallery and artist to grow together.
"As the artist pursues their own perspective unwaveringly, the gallery should set its direction, not restricted by traditional practice nor rapidly changing situations," the artist said.
Keum said Kim's works were recognized by international collectors first. “Her work was chosen as the main promotional image of Art Paris Art Fair 2016 and we were able to sell her works there. While Korean collectors tend to avoid artwork with material that is difficult to preserve, collectors from Paris were more interested in the message of the piece,” the director said.
The KAMS' Grant for Artist Management offers an exhibition for artists receiving the grant each year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year's exhibit was shifted to the online art platform Manifold, which provides images as well as Korean and English text about the artists.
"(The online platform) signals the beginning of how we should respond to the new, unexpected contact-free era. We haven't found what Manifold can provide yet, but it is a meaningful attempt to deal with the situation," Keum said.
Kim agreed on the positive effect of the online art platform in the pandemic situation.
"I think it is impossible to replace the multi-sensory experience of seeing an artwork in a physical space with online viewing. However, online platforms are effective in promoting artwork and the artist as it reflects the curator's intention more clearly," Kim said.
"Manifold has the possibility to expand indefinitely as it consists of individual virtual exhibitions of diverse artists. With Korean and English versions, it could provide a better chance of promoting the artist overseas."