Two Korean master artists revisited
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Paik Nam-june’s 1994 video installation “W3” consists of 64 monitors. It is currently on display at Hakgojae Gallery in downtown Seoul. / Courtesy of Hakgojae Gallery
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The year 2015 started with art exhibitions shedding new light on the late Korean masters Paik Nam-june (1932-2006) and Lee Jung-seob (1916-1956) who blazed a trail in art history.
Father of video art
The late Korean-born media artist Paik was a pioneer of video art. Some of his works are open to the public here for the first time at the "Nam June Paik Solo Exhibition: W3" at Hakgojae Gallery in downtown Seoul.
The exhibit features 12 artworks displayed at Hakgojae Gallery Shanghai and SanShang Contemporary Art Museum in Hangzhou last year.
The highlight will be "W3," a 1994 video installation consisting of 64 monitors. The title refers to "World Wide Web," as Paik predicted the rise of the Internet in the 1970s.
"W3" was first conceived in 1974 as Paik wanted to create an artwork portraying how the world communicates through technology and media. The artist referred to it as the "electronic super highway" in his 1974 proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation. However, the video art was completed in 1994, 20 years after the idea was born.
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Lee Jung-seob’s foil painting “People Reading the Newspaper, Number 84” Courtesy of MoM
In this piece installed in a dark room inside the gallery, 64 monitors play a 25-minute video. Each monitor plays five frames ― equivalent to one-sixth of a second ― and passes over the sequence to the next monitor.
"Paik's highest goal was to catch the viewer's attention in front of his work for three minutes. W3 is for pure visual pleasure, as it was what Paik wanted to achieve," Lee Jung-sung, director of Artmaster, said.
Lee is a technician and long-time collaborator of Paik, who helped him realize his ideas and maintains the videos.
"It looks simple now, but it was nearly impossible some 20 years ago, when the invention of a 64MB NAND flash memory hit the headlines. Now it has advanced to 1TB," Lee said.
Lee also revealed that Ken Paik Hakuta, Paik's nephew and executor of the Nam June Paik Estate, signed with the international Gagosian Gallery to promote the late artist's works. It is rare for a top contemporary art gallery to become an agent for a late artist, but the gallery thought Paik was underrated in art history and saw potential in his work.
Paik’s solo exhibit runs through March 15. For more information, visit
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Lee Jung-seob’s “Family of Paradise” Courtesy of MoMA
Love for family
Korean painter Lee Jung-seob is known for his dynamic style, but his personal life was not even. Due to deterioration in health and financial problems, he separated with his wife Yamamoto Masako and two sons who left for Japan.
Lee's works portraying familial love are on display at Gallery Hyundai in central Seoul. Themed "Lee Jung-seob's Love and Family," the exhibit features some 70 oil paintings, drawings and letters.
Three silver foil paintings, part of the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) New York collection, is open to the public for the first time in 60 years.
These foil paintings were first displayed at Lee's solo exhibit in 1955 when Arthur McTaggart, director of the U.S. Culture Center in Korea purchased them. He eventually donated them to MoMA, the leading institution of contemporary art.
Lee drew and painted on the foil from cigarette packs because he could not afford to buy art materials. Though small in size, Lee’s silver foil paintings captured everyday life and purity of love in a simple, yet powerful way.
Ironically, the foil painting has become an icon for the tragic painter and now the 8.5 centimeter-by-15 centimeter paintings are sold for up to 100 million won at auctions.
The exhibit runs through Feb. 22. For more information, visit www.hyundaihwarang.com.